Italian High Renaissance Painter, ca.1485-1576
Italian painter active in Venice. As a young man he was taught by the Bellini family and worked closely with Giorgione. His early works are so similar in style to Giorgione's as to be indistinguishable, but soon after Giorgione's early death Titian established himself as the leading painter of the Republic of Venice. Among his most important religious paintings is the revolutionary and monumental Assumption (1516 ?C 18) for Santa Maria dei Frari, in which the Virgin ascends to heaven in a blaze of colour accompanied by a semicircle of angels. Titian was also interested in mythological themes, and his many depictions of Venus display his work's sheer beauty and inherent eroticism. Bacchus and Ariadne (1520 ?C 23), with its pagan abandon, is one of the greatest works of Renaissance art. Titian was sought after for his psychologically penetrating portraits, which include portrayals of leading Italian aristocrats, religious figures, and Emperor Charles V. He reached the height of his powers in The Rape of Europa (c. 1559 ?C 62), one of several paintings done for Philip II of Spain. He was recognized as supremely gifted in his lifetime, and his reputation has never declined. Related Paintings of Titian :. | Assumption of the Virgin | The Allegory of Age Governed by Prudence is thought to depict Titian, | Charles V, Seated | Female Portrait. | Ritratto di Ludovico Beccadelli | Related Artists:
Richard Brompton1734-1783
English painter. He trained in London with Benjamin Wilson before going to Rome in 1757, where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs. In Rome he met Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northampton, who paid him an allowance and in Venice in 1763 introduced him to Edward Augustus, Duke of York. The Duke commissioned a conversation piece of himself and his travelling companions (version, 1764; London, Kew Pal., Royal Col.). The figures are awkwardly posed, but the polished elegance of each shows the influence of Mengs. In 1765 Brompton returned to London with Nathaniel Dance and established a good practice with small-scale works in the manner of Johann Zoffany, such as William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1772; Chevening, Kent), which exists in several versions. He also produced portraits on a larger scale, including the enormous Henry Dawkins with his Family (1773; Over Norton Hall, Oxon).
Tytus Czyzewski(1880-1945) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, Futurist poet, playwright, member of the Polish Formists, and Colorist.
In 1902 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the painting studios of Jezef Mehoffer and Leon Wycz??łkowski. Czyżewski travelled to Paris and learned from the artistic trends there. He began exhibiting in 1906. Czyżewski painting style was highly influenced by Cezanne and El Greco, whose work he admired until his death.
In 1917, with the brothers Zbigniew Pronaszko and Andrzej Pronaszko, he organized in Krakew an exhibition of Polish Expressionist works. The group later became known as the Polish Formists. Until the break-up of the Formists in 1922, he was the primary artist and theoretician behind the movement as well as the joint editor of the periodical Formiści.
Sir Henry Raeburn1756-1823
Scottish Sir Henry Raeburn Galleries
He was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, a former village now within the city of Edinburgh. Orphaned, he was supported by his older brother and placed in Heriot's Hospital, where he received an education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a goldsmith, and various pieces of jewellery, mourning rings and the like, adorned with minute drawings on ivory by his hand, still exist. Soon he took to the production of carefully finished portrait miniatures; meeting with success and patronage, he extended his practice to oil painting, at which he was self-taught. The goldsmith watched the progress of his pupil with interest, and introduced him to David Martin, who bad been the favourite assistant of Allan Ramsay the Latter, and was now the leading portrait painter in Edinburgh. Raeburn was especially aided by the loan of portraits to copy. Soon he had gained sufficient skill to make him decide to devote himself exclusively to painting.
In his early twenties, he was asked to paint the portrait of a young lady whom he had previously observed and admired when he was sketching from nature in the fields. She was the daughter of Peter Edgar of Bridgelands, and widow of Count Leslie. Fascinated by the handsome and intellectual young artist, she became his wife within a month, bringing him an ample fortune. The acquisition of wealth did not affect his enthusiasm or his industry, but spurred him on to acquire a thorough knowledge of his craft. It was usual for artists to visit Italy, and Raeburn set off with his wife. In London he was kindly received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who advised him on what to study in Rome, especially recommending the works of Michelangelo. Raeburn carried with him to Italy many valuable introductions from the president of the Royal Academy. In Rome he met Gavin Hamilton, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni and Byers, an antique dealer whose advice proved particularly useful, especially the recommendation that "he should never copy an object from memory, but, from the principal figure to the minutest accessory, have it placed before him." After two years of study in Italy he returned to Edinburgh in 1787, and began a successful career as a portrait painter. In that year he executed a seated portrait of the second Lord President Dundas.
Raeburn's portrait of Sir Walter Scott (1822)Examples of his earlier portraiture include a bust of Mrs Johnstone of Baldovie and a three-quarter-length of Dr James Hutton, works which, if somewhat timid and tentative in handling and not as confident as his later work, nevertheless have delicacy and character. The portraits of John Clerk, Lord Eldin, and of Principal Hill of St Andrews belong to a later period. Raeburn was fortunate in the time in which he practised portraiture. Sir Walter Scott, Hugh Blair, Henry Mackenzie, Lord Woodhouselee, William Robertson, John Home, Robert Fergusson, and Dugald Stewart were resident in Edinburgh, and were all painted by Raeburn. Mature works include his own portrait and that of the Rev. Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood, the bust of Dr Wardrop of Torbane Hill, the two full-lengths of Adam Rolland]] of Gask, the remarkable paintings of Lord Newton and Dr Alexander Adam in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of William Macdonald of St Martin's.
It was commonly believed that Raeburn was less successful in painting female portraits, but the exquisite full-length of his wife, the smaller likeness of Mrs R. Scott Moncrieff in the National Gallery of Scotland, and that of Mrs Robert Bell, and others, argue against this. Raeburn spent his life in Edinburgh, rarely visiting London, and then only for brief periods, thus preserving his individuality. Although he, personally, may have lost advantages resulting from closer association with the leaders of English art, and from contact with a wider public, Scottish art gained much from his disinclination to leave his native land. He became the acknowledged chief of the school which was growing up in Scotland during the earlier years of the 19th century, and his example and influence at a critical period were of major importance. So varied were his other interests that sitters used to say of him, "You would never take him for a painter till he seizes the brush and palette."
In 1812 he was elected president of the Society of Artists in Edinburgh, in 1814 associate, and in the following year full member of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1822 he was knighted by George IV and appointed His Majesty's limner for Scotland. He died at Edinburgh.
The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known as The Skating Minister (1790s)Raeburn had all the essential qualities of a popular and successful portrait painter. He was able to produce a telling and forcible likeness; his work is distinguished by powerful characterisation, stark realism, dramatic and unusual lighting effects, and swift and broad handling of the most resolute sort. David Wilkie recorded that, while travelling in Spain and studying the works of Diego Vel??zquez, the brushwork reminded him constantly of the "square touch" of Raeburn.
Raeburn was unusual amongst many of his contemporaries, such as Reynolds, in the extent of his philosophy of painting everything directly from life. This attitude partly explains the often coarse modelling and clashing colour combinations he employed, in contrast to the more refined style of Thomas Gainsborough and Reynolds. However these qualities and those mentioned above anticipate many of the later developments in painting of the nineteenth century from romanticism to Impressionism.
Sir Henry Raeburn died in St Bernard's House, Stockbridge, Edinburgh.