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 :. | Bust of an Apostle | The Risen Christ | St. Louis | assumption of the virgin | fray hortensio felix paravicino |
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Georgios Jakobides
Lesbos 11 January 1853 - Athens 13 December 1932) was a Greek painter and one of the main representatives of the Greek artistic movement of the Munich School. He founded and was the first curator of the National Gallery of Greece in Athens. His first education was in Izmir, Turkey. From 1870 to 1876 Jakobides studied sculpture and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and in 1877 he went to the Akademie der Bildenden Kenste in Munich on a scholarship to continue his painting studies under Karl Theodor von Piloty. In Munich he lived for 17 years where he worked in his studio, painting mythological scenes, genre pictures, and portraits. His work is influenced by German academic Realism, his most famous paintings were of children. In the capital of Bavaria he was regarded as a successful German artist selling many of his works at high prices. The Greek government invited him in 1900 to return to Athens to organize the National Gallery of Athens, and in 1904 he was appointed Director of the Athens School of Fine Arts where he taught for 25 years. At this time, additional to his themes he produced formal portraits of eminent Greeks (e.g.Queen Sophia). He opposed all new artistic tendencies, including Impressionism and Expressionism, but supported younger artists to follow their own individual artistic tendencies. He was given awards at five international exhibhits: among those in Berlin 1891 and in Paris 1900.
David Maitland Armstrong
1836-1918
Nardo di Cione
Italian Byzantine Style Painter, active 1343-ca.1365 was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect from Florence. He was the brother of the more accomplished Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna, as well as Jacopo di Cione; they were important members of the Painter's Guild of Florence. While Orcagna has been noted as the more accomplished artist, Nardo developed his own unique style, described as a pronounced lyrical vein, a feeling for poetic values, strong human sympathies and great sensitivity to colour as a means of subtle differentiation and soft modeling. The brothers collaborated on a number of works from their studio together, including the decorations from the Cappella Strozzi in the Santa Maria Novella. While Orcagna painted the altarpiece, Nardo executed the frescoes of The Last Judgment, Paradise and Hell.