England/Australia Painter , 1801-1878 Australian painter, lithographer and librarian of English birth. Son of a London merchant, he studied c. 1816 under Copley Fielding. His training was as a watercolourist and his most important works are watercolours, although he also produced paintings in oils. His early work displays the taste then current for the Picturesque. Francis Danby, David Cox and Turner were artists he admired. Martens left for India in 1832 or 1833 but at Montevideo joined Charles Darwin's expedition, replacing Augustus Earle as topographical draughtsman aboard the Beagle. The work strengthened his observation of detail and skill as a draughtsman. He left the expedition in October 1834 and, travelling via Tahiti and New Zealand, arrived in Sydney in April 1835. There he worked as a professional artist, in the 1840s and 1850s producing lithographic views of the Sydney area to augment his income. In 1863 he was appointed Parliamentary Librarian, which secured his finances. The skills he had acquired aboard the Beagle helped to gain him commissions to depict the estates around Sydney. However, his admiration for Turner, and with this the desire to elevate landscape as a subject, prompted him to subordinate line to mood in a Romantic treatment of the landscape. His thoughts were clearly stated in a lecture on landscape painting given in 1856 at the Australian Library, Sydney (see Smith, 1975).   Related Paintings of Conrad Martens :. | Cloud study | Cloud study | Cloud Study | Australian Landscape with cattle and a stockman at a creek | View of Sydney from St Leonards |
Related Artists:
Homer Dodge Martin
American Barbizon School Tonalist Painter, 1836-1897, He was an American artist, particularly known for his landscapes. Martin was born at Albany, New York. A pupil for a short time of William Hart, his earlier work was closely aligned with the Hudson River School. He was elected as associate of the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1868, and a full academician in 1874. During a trip to Europe in 1876 he was captivated by the Barbizon school, and thereafter his painting style gradually became darker, moodier, and more loosely-brushed. From 1882 to 1886 he lived in France, spending much of the time in Normandy.
Hippolyte Berteaux
(1843 - 1928)
Girodet-Trioson, Anne-Louis
French Neoclassical Painter, 1767-1824 French painter. Originally named Girodet de Roussy or Roucy, he was a student of J.-L. David, and his classical training was sometimes at variance with his often eccentrically romantic expression. He won the Prix de Rome and while in Italy painted the Sleep of Endymion (1791; Louvre), a sensual and erotically ambiguous work that brought him widespread recognition. His Deluge (Louvre) demonstrates Girodet's interest in unusual color and lighting problems. Much of his work, including a series for Malmaison (Napoleon's residence), glorifies Napoleon.