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 :. | assumption of the virgin | Christ as Saviour | The Pentecost | Pentecost | Antonio de Covarrubias y Leiva (mk05) |
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Louis Aston Knight
American Painter, 1873-1948
Morton Schamberg
American Painter and Architect , b.1881-d.1918 American painter and photographer. After training as an architect at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (A.B., 1903), he studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, also in Philadelphia, from 1903 to 1906 under William Merritt Chase, with whom he travelled to Europe. From 1907 to 1909 he lived mostly in Paris, where he saw the work of major avant-garde artists, including C?zanne, Picasso and Matisse, and benefited from contact with Leo Stein, an important collector and writer. By 1909 Schamberg had responded to the example of C?zanne's paintings, including simplified and more solid forms in his own work. Following his participation in the Armory Show in 1913, Cubism became the dominant element of his art, modified in such works as Figure B, Geometric Patterns
Felix Maria Diogg
(b Andermatt, 1 July 1762; d Rapperswil, Schwyz, 19 Feb 1834). Swiss painter. From 1782 he was a pupil of Johann Melchior Wyrsch in Besanion, under whom he developed the essential aspects of his portrait style. He also studied further in Rome and Naples from 1786 to 1788. He was capable of executing bright, incisive portraits in the manner of Angelica Kauffman, as in Portrait of an Artist or psychological studies, best seen in Ulysses von Salis-Marschlins. Several of his group portraits, such as the Esslinger Family, show the influence of Italian and British painting, with which he seemed to be familiar. He was a friend of Johann Kaspar Lavater, discoursed with Goethe and enjoyed the company of the Swiss historian Johannes von Miller (1752-1809), whose portrait he painted. His portraits are generally bust-length types set against a solid, dark background. This format was favoured by his Swiss clientele and is seen in Burgomaster Heinrich Krauer (1799; Lucerne, Kstmus.), which also reveals the dignified wooden pose frequently selected by his models. His direct, fashionable treatment of the sitter attracted a wide range of clients from all levels of society. He seemed to be as much at ease painting the Empress of Russia, Yelisaveta Alekseyevna (1814; Karlsruhe, Staatl. Ksthalle) as he was portraying the bourgeoisie of central Switzerland.