German painter (b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar). German painter and engraver. The son of a painter, he settled in Wittenberg c.1504 and was court painter successively under three electors of Saxony. There he maintained a flourishing workshop and was twice burgomaster. Cranach was a close friend of Martin Luther, whose doctrine he upheld in numerous paintings and woodcuts, and he has been called the painter of the Reformation. He was a rapid and prolific painter, and the work turned out by his studio is uneven in quality. Naïve and fanciful, often awkward in draftsmanship, it has, nonetheless, freshness and originality and a warm, rich palette. His portraits are particularly successful. Among his best-known works are Repose in Egypt (Gemäldgalerie, Staatliche Mus., Berlin-Dahlem); Judgment of Paris (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe); Adam and Eve (Courtauld Inst., London); and Crucifixion (Weimar). The latter contains figures of Luther and Cranach. His many famous protraits include those of Elector John Frederick and Self-Portrait (Uffizi). Cranach was also an accomplished miniaturist. He produced a few copperplates and designs for woodcuts. His son and pupil Lucas Cranach, the Younger, 1515C86,   Related Paintings of CRANACH, Lucas the Elder :. | Saxon Princesses Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia dfg | The Rest on the Flight into Egypt dfg | Venus and Cupid | Portrait of Johannes Geiler von Kaysersberg fg | Cupid Complaining to Venus df |
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Robert Wilhelm Ekman
(August 13, 1808 - February 19, 1873), aka R. W. Ekman, was a significant teacher and painter of the Finnish romantic portraits and early national romanticism. Robert Ekman was born in Uusikaupunki, Finland to an upper class family. His father was Karl Kristoffer Ekman, a medical doctor and a mayor. Mother was Sara Elisabet (maiden name Gadolin). Robert Ekman's both parents died when he was about 10 years old. They left behind five orphans who were placed in foster homes. Schooling was incomplete and there was no chance of academic education. Robert Ekman first studied in Finland under the guidance of Gustaf Wilhelm Finnberg, but in 1824, with his brother Fredrubjm begun studies in Kungliga Akademien för de Fria Konsterna (The royal academy for free arts) in Stockholm. Already as a student Ekman specialized in portraying the life of the common people, instead of Classicism of the academic arts. Ekman graduated in 1836, and was granted a generous traveling scholarship for excelling in his studies. That supported him working in Holland, France and Italy between years 1837-1844. As the scholarship was not plausible otherwise, Ekman took the Swedish citizenship.
Master of san Francesco
Tuscany ca.1350
Blanchet, Louis-Gabriel
French Painter, 1705-1772 French painter, active in Rome. He won second place in the Prix de Rome competition in 1727 and thereafter settled in Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of Nicolas Vleughels, Director of the Acad?mie de France, and the Duc de Saint-Aignan (1684-1776), who at that time was French Ambassador to the Holy See. In 1752 Blanchet painted the Vision of Constantine (Paris, Louvre), a copy of Giulio Romano's fresco in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican. He was, however, principally a portrait painter. His portrait of Tolozan de Montfort (1756; Lyon, Mus. B.-A.) is a fine example of his elegant, rather nervous style and his distinctive use of colour. In the same year Blanchet executed a portrait of the contemporary painter Johann Mandelberg (1730-86; Copenhagen, Kon. Dan. Kstakad.). Other surviving works of his include St Paul (signed and dated 1757; Avignon, Mus. Calvet) and his full-length portrait of P. P. Lesueur and E. Jacquier (1772; Nantes, Mus. B.-A.).