Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614 Considered a representative of late Renaissance Spanish art, El Greco was actually born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After studying in Venice under Titian, El Greco settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577. At the time he was wildly popular, his emotionally religious paintings being just the ticket for the hometown of the Spanish Inquisition. After his death his work was largely ignored until the beginning of the 20th century; now he considered one of the inspired geniuses of Western art. His distinctive style features bold shapes and colors, with elongated and slightly distorted figures. In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals.  Related Paintings of El Greco :. | The Burial of Count Orgaz | St Sebastian | Apostles Peter and Paul | The Holy Family with St Anne and the Young St JohnBaptist | The Stigmatization of St Francis |
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Paolo Antonio Barbieri
(1603-1649) was an Italian painter who was the brother of Guercino. He was born at Cento, a village near Bologna. The subjects of his pictures are flowers, fruit, and game, but he particularly excelled in painting fish
Diego Quispe Tito
(1611-1681) was a Peruvian painter. He is considered the leader of the Cuzco School of painting. The son of a noble Inca family, Quispe Tito was born in Cuzco, and worked throughout his life in the district of San Sebastien; his house is still extant, and shows his coat of arms on its door. His earliest signed painting is an Immaculate Conception from 1627, gilded in a fashion typical of the Cuzco school. The work's elongated forms reveal a knowledge of Mannerism; where Quispe Tito learned the style is unknown, but it is hypothesized that he encountered it in the work of Italian Jesuit Bernardo Bitti, who was active at the time in Cuzco. In addition, he is believed to have known Luis de Riaño in his youth, and may have derived some elements of his style from the older artist; de Riaño, a painter from Lima, had trained in the workshop of Angelino Medoro, and so would have provided another source of Italian influence. Quispe Tito also was influenced in his work by engravings from Flanders; indeed, his best-known work, the 1681 Signs of the Zodiac in Cuzco Cathedral, is a series of copies of Flemish engravings in which each zodiac sign is tied to a parable from the life of Christ. These engravings were designed for distribution in Peru, where worship of the sun, moon, and stars was still practiced in some quarters; they were designed to encourage worship of Christ and His miracles in place of the zodiac. A further series, depicting scenes from the life of John the Baptist and dating to 1663, was also produced on Flemish models.
Guillaume Descamps
Guillaume-Desire-Joseph Descamps, a painter and engraver, was born at Lille in 1779. He was a pupil of Vincent, but, obtaining the "prix de Rome," he improved himself by travelling in Italy, and became court-painter of Murat in Naples. He died in Paris in 1858. The following paintings were executed by him: The Women of Sparta (in the Lille Museum). 1808. The Martyrdom of St. Andrew (in St. Andre, Lille). Murat on board the Ceres distributing Rewards (engraved hy himself). The Conversion of St. Augustine (in St. Eustache, Paris). The Apotheosis of Cardinal Tommasi (in San Martino di Monti, Rome). The Neapolitan Troops marching out against Capri.