Spanish Baroque Era Painter, 1599-1660
Spanish painter. He was one of the most important European artists of the 17th century, spending his career from 1623 in the service of Philip IV of Spain. His early canvases comprised bodegones and religious paintings, but as a court artist he was largely occupied in executing portraits, while also producing some historical, mythological and further religious works. His painting was deeply affected by the work of Rubens and by Venetian artists, especially Titian, as well as by the experience of two trips (1629-31 and 1649-51) to Italy. Under these joint influences he developed a uniquely personal style characterized by very loose, expressive brushwork. Related Paintings of VELAZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y :. | Girl | Self Portrait set | Filipu Prince | Las Meninas or The Family of Philip IV | Jesus in the Mary-s home | Related Artists:
Tommaso Minardi1787-1871
Italian painter, draughtsman, teacher and theorist. He studied drawing with the engraver Giuseppe Zauli (1763-1822) who imbued Minardi with his enthusiasm for 15th-century Italian art and introduced him to his large collection of engravings after the work of Flemish artists such as Adriaen van Ostade. However, Minardi was strongly influenced by the Neo-classical painter Felice Giani, who ran a large workshop in Faenza, and whose frescoes of mythological scenes (1804-5) at the Palazzo Milzetti he saw being painted. In 1803 he went to Rome on an annual stipend provided by Count Virgilio Cavina of Faenza (1731-1808), and he received (1803-8) additional financial assistance from the Congregazione di S Gregorio. He was given the use of Giani's studio and through him met Vincenzo Camuccini who, with Canova, dominated the artistic establishment in Rome at that time. Although Minardi learnt the precepts of Neo-classicism from Camuccini, he did not share his interest in heroic art. His first works done in Rome show his interest in the theme of master and acolyte. In Socrates and Alcibiades (1807; Faenza, Pin. Com.), for example, he has included himself among a group of elderly philosophers and young students who are placed on either side of a portrait bust of Zauli. He sent this drawing to his patrons, the Congregazione di S Gregorio, no doubt to reassure them of his aptitude and moral correctness. Supper at Emmaus (c. 1807; Faenza, Pin. Com.) was another painting destined for the same patrons. The confined pictorial space, with a single source of light entering through a small window, and the casual poses of the figures are reminiscent of Flemish art and of the works of the northern Caravaggisti, familiar to the artist through engravings.
Johann ZoffanyGerman
(Resident in Britain)
1734-1810
Johann Zoffany Galleries
Painter of portraits, conversation pieces, and theatrical scenes, Zoffany was born in Germany and came to England about 1758 after studying in Italy. He began by painting clock faces and doing hack work, before turning to painting theatrical scenes, especially depicting David Garrick. He was favoured by the royal family. George III nominated him for the Royal Academy in 1769 and recommended him to the duke of Tuscany.
Procaccini, AndreaItalian, 1671-1734
Italian painter, draughtsman and architect. A pupil of Carlo Maratti, he is first documented in 1702, among the restorers of Raphael's fresco decorations (1511-14) in the Vatican. His Tarquinius and Lucretia (c. 1705; Holkham Hall, Norfolk) has cold colours and unnatural gestures that recall Guido Reni. Appointed by Pope Clement XI, between 1710 and 1717 Procaccini supervised the tapestry factory in S Michele a Ripa: the Purification of the Virgin (Rome, Vatican, Consistory Hall) is the only extant tapestry made from a cartoon (untraced) by Maratti and an oil painting (untraced) by Procaccini. The Baptism of Cornelius Centurion (1711; Urbino, S Francesco) for the Baptism Chapel in St Peter's, Rome, was previously attributed to Maratti or Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari, but Procaccini apparently based it on sketches supplied by Maratti, who also supervised and revised the work before it was displayed.