1831-1910 Swiss Albert Anker Galleries During his studies, Anker produced a series of works with historical and biblical themes, including paintings of Luther and Calvin. Soon after returning to Ins, though, he turned to what would become his signature theme: the everyday life of people in rural communities. His paintings depict his fellow citizens in an unpretentious and plain manner, without idealising country life, but also without the critical examination of social conditions that can be found in the works of contemporaries such as Daumier, Courbet or Millet. Although Anker did paint occasional scenes with a social significance, such as visits by usurers or charlatans to the village, his affirmative and idealistic Christian world-view did not include an inclination to issue any sort of overt challenge. Also prominent in Anker's work are the more than 30 still lifes he created. They depict both rural and urban table settings in the tradition of Chardin, their realist solidity reflecting Anker's vision of a harmonic and stable world order. In addition, Anker created hundreds of commissioned watercolours and drawings, mostly portraits and illustrations, including for an edition of Jeremias Gotthelf's collected works. To provide for a steady income, Anker also decorated more than 500 faience plates for the Alsatian producer Theodore Deck. Anker was quick to reach his artistic objectives and never strayed from his chosen path. His works, though, exude a sense of conciliation and understanding as well as a calm trust in Swiss democracy; they are executed with great skill, providing brilliance to everyday scenes through subtle choices in colouring and lighting. Their parochial motives belie the open-mindedness towards contemporary European art and events that Anker's correspondence reflects.  Related Paintings of Albert Anker :. | The Creche | Auf dem Ofen | Little Red Riding Hood | Die Kartenlgerin | Auf dem Ofen |
Related Artists:
Alfred de Dreux
1810 - 1860
Parrocel, Joseph
French, 1646-1704 He studied with his father Barthelemy Parrocel (1595-1660) and then with his elder brother Louis Parrocel (1634-94). He went to Paris for four years to perfect his work and then, c. 1667, to Rome, where he became the pupil of the battle painter Jacques Courtois and was influenced by Salvator Rosa. He remained in Italy for eight years and stayed for a time in Venice, before returning to settle in Paris in 1675. He was approved (agree) by the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in February 1676 and received as a full member in November of the same year, presenting the Siege of Maastricht (Draguignan, Mus. Mun.). His painted oeuvre consists principally of military scenes, particularly battles, and he received numerous royal commissions. In the period 1685-8 he executed 11 paintings for the Salle du Grand Couvert at the cheteau of Versailles (nine in situ; one in Tours, Mus. B.-A.; one in Dijon, Mus. B.-A.); in 1699 he painted the Crossing of the Rhine (Paris, Louvre.) for the cheteau of Marly, Yvelines, and in 1700 he executed the Fair at Bezons (Tours, Mus. B.-A.), anticipating the fetes galantes of Antoine Watteau. He was also the author of a number of hunting scenes . His most important religious paintings were the May of Notre-Dame de Paris of 1694, St John the Baptist Preaching (Arras, Mus. B.-A.) and St Augustin Succouring the Sick (c. 1703; Nantes, Mus. B.-A.), which was intended for the monastery in the Place des Victoires in Paris. He also contributed battle scenes to the backgrounds of portraits by Hyacinthe Rigaud and by Gabriel Blanchard. His technique was highly original in the context of his time; he employed a very free style of execution and used thick impasto and intense colours. He was also a prolific engraver, producing around 100 plates,
Antonio Pollaiuolo
1431-1498 Italian Antonio Pollaiuolo Galleries Sculptor, painter, designer and engraver. He was trained as a goldsmith and bronze sculptor, probably in Lorenzo Ghiberti workshop. In 1466 he joined the Arte della Seta, the silkworkers guild (to which goldsmiths traditionally belonged), and he listed himself as a goldsmith and painter in the membership records of the Compagnia di S Luca in 1473; this is the only documented reference to him as a painter. In his tax return in 1480 he reported that he was renting a workshop specifically for goldsmiths work. He still described himself as a goldsmith, and not as a painter, in his last tax return in 1496.