Artist Archives
Peter Paul Rubens
A name which conjures images of the theatrical, grandiose and very voluptuous, Rubens (1577-1640) was a key figure of Baroque art. The word ‘Rubenesque‘ describes a specific shape of woman which the artist painted and used to bring goddesses and wealthy beauties alike into the viewer’s realm. His abundance of flesh brought a totally new level of reality…
Read MoreAgnolo di Cosimo (Bronzino)
The artist is Agnolo di Cosimo (1503-1572), more commonly known as Bronzino was key figure in the very vernacular Mannerist style of Florence during the 16th century. A pupil of Pontormo and fellow Florentine Andrea del Sarto, Bronzino’s work is aesthetically idiosyncratic. The mix of High Renaissance and Mannerist qualities (like those of Michelangelo) paired with his own peculiarly elegant style make him something of an anomaly….
Read MoreAnnibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci (1560 – 1609) Bolognese painter who with his brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico were the main proponents of the Baroque style in Rome in around 1600. In 1582 the three founded a workshop which came to be known as the Academia dei Desiderosi (those desiring fame or perfection) of which Guido Reni later became a member….
Read MoreMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (or Amerighi) da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was a Northern Italian painter active from around 1592 to his death. In his short career he achieved fame through his works commissioned by the Catholic Church, and as such many of his large paintings are altarpieces still in-situ throughout Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily. Despite his success…
Read MoreVeronese
Paolo Caliari (1528 – 1588), better known as Paolo Veronese (born in Verona) was a painter who loved in Venice for most of his life. Heavily influenced by his predecessor Titian, a native Venetian, it was from him that he learnt about the importance of colour and composition. He fused this with a mainland Italian sense of classical…
Read MoreTitian
Painter Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio is better known to us as Titian (c. 1488/1490-1576) was the most important artist of the 16th-century Venetian school. Hailed by his contemporaries as “The sun amidst small stars” (a line borrowed from Dante’s Paradiso) Titian enjoyed immense success and fame through his career. Able to turn his hand to any subject he…
Read MoreJohn Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) spent most of his childhood moving around America and Europe for his father’s work and mother’s health. It was his mother (an amateur artist herself) that noticed her son’s “quick and correct eye” and nurtured his natural talent. While travelling he was encouraged to visit galleries and museums, he said that “I have…
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