German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1830-1902 Bierstadt was born in Solingen, Germany. His family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1833. He studied painting with the members of the D??sseldorf School in D??sseldorf, Germany from 1853 to 1857. He taught drawing and painting briefly before devoting himself to painting. Bierstadt began making paintings in New England and upstate New York. In 1859, he traveled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government, returning with sketches that would result in numerous finished paintings. In 1863 he returned west again, in the company of the author Fitz Hugh Ludlow, whose wife he would later marry. He continued to visit the American West throughout his career. Though his paintings sold for princely sums, Bierstadt was not held in particularly high esteem by critics of his day. His use of uncommonly large canvases was thought to be an egotistical indulgence, as his paintings would invariably dwarf those of his contemporaries when they were displayed together. The romanticism evident in his choices of subject and in his use of light was felt to be excessive by contemporary critics. His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist to accentuate and complement the feel of his work. Bierstadt sometimes changed details of the landscape to inspire awe. The colors he used are also not always true. He painted what he believed is the way things should be: water is ultramarine, vegetation is lush and green, etc. The shift from foreground to background was very dramatic and there was almost no middle distance Nonetheless, his paintings remain popular. He was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 (possibly as many as 4000) paintings during his lifetime, most of which have survived. Many are scattered through museums around the United States. Prints are available commercially for many. Original paintings themselves do occasionally come up for sale, at ever increasing prices.  Related Paintings of Albert Bierstadt :. | Puget Sound, Pacific Coast | Mount Hood, Oregon | The Arch of Octavius | Estes Park | Autumn in America, Oneida County, New York |
Related Artists:
Sir Edward john Poynter,Bart.PRA,RWS
1836-1919
BENING, Simon
Flemish Northern Renaissance Manuscript Illuminator, ca.1483-1561 Simon Bening (1483?C1561) was a 16th century miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school, the last major artist of the Netherlandish tradition. Bening was trained in his father Alexander Bening's miniature painting workshop in Ghent. He made his own name after moving to Bruges. His specialty was the book of hours, but by his time these were becoming relatively unfashionable, and only produced for royalty and the very rich. He also created genealogical tables and portable altarpieces on parchment. Many of his finest works are Labours of the Months for Books of Hours which are largely small scale landscapes, at that time a nascent genre of painting. In other respects his style is relatively little developed beyond that of the years before his birth, but his landscapes serve as a link between the 15th century illuminators and Peter Brueghel. His self-portrait and other portraits equally are early examples of the portrait miniature. He served as dean of the calligraphers, booksellers, illuminators, and bookbinders in the Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke. He created books for German rulers, like Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, and royalty like Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infante of Portugal. The artistic tradition continued in his family. His eldest daughter, Levina Teerlinc, became a miniature painter, mostly of portrait miniatures and another daughter became a dealer in paintings, miniatures, parchment, and silk.
Nasi
Italian, 19th century Born in the town of Castel del Piano, near Grossetto, Giuseppe Nicola Nasini trained under Ciro Ferri at the Accademia Medicea in Rome in the early 1680??s. He also studied at the Accademia di San Luca, where he won several prizes, and later worked extensively in Rome. In 1689 he entered the service of the Grand Duke Cosimo III de?? Medici in Florence, for whom he painted a series of four large canvases on the theme of the Last Judgement for the Salone dei Novissimi of the Palazzo Pitti, executed between 1690 and 1694. Transferred at the end of the 18th century to a church in Siena, these are now lost. In the first quarter of the 18th century Nasini painted a number of works for churches in Rome, including an altarpiece of The Madonna and Child with Saints for the Chiesa dei Re Magi in 1707, and a Baptism of Christ for San Lorenzo in Lucina, completed in 1716. In 1718 Nasini was one of twelve leading painters working in Rome (including Benedetto Luti, Francesco Trevisani, Sebastiano Conca and Pier Leone Ghezzi) who were commissioned by Pope Clement XI to paint seated prophets in the oval niches of the nave of the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. One of Nasini??s last Roman works was a frescoed Glory of Saint Anthony for the church of SS. Apostoli, painted between 1721 and 1722. By the late 1720??s Nasini had risen to a position as the leading painter in Siena, where he headed a large and busy workshop. In such works as the decoration of the Oratorio del Crocifisso and the church of the Visitation he introduced the Baroque manner of Luca Giordano to his native city. His older brother Antonio was also a painter; the two collaborated on the decoration of the vault of the church of San Gaetano di Thiene in Siena, completed in 1734.