Italian Early Renaissance Painter, 1449-1494 Florentine painter, whose family name was Bigordi. He may have studied painting and mosaics under Alesso Baldovinetti. Ghirlandaio was an excellent technician. Keenly observant of the contemporary scene, he depicted many prominent Florentine personalities within his religious narrative paintings. Among his earliest frescoes are the Madonna with the Vespucci Family and the Last Supper (Church of the Ognissanti, Florence). He painted scenes from the life of Santa Fina (collegiate church in San Gimigniano) and frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV called him to Rome, along with Botticelli, to decorate the Sistine Chapel. He painted the Calling of the First Apostles, a scene close in spirit to Masaccio. He returned to Florence to work on the frescoes in the Sassetti Chapel in Santa Trinita. He introduced Sassetti, Corsi, Poliziano, the Medici, and many other contemporaries as participants in the life of St. Francis. Ghirlandaio's most famous achievement is his fresco cycle of the life of Mary and St. John the Baptist for the choir of Santa Maria Novella. Michelangelo served an apprenticeship with him at this time and probably worked on these frescoes. Other examples of his art are the Adoration of the Magi (Uffizi); another Adoration (Hospital of the Innocents); a mosaic of the Annunciation for the Cathedral; a portrait of Francesco Sassetti and his son (Metropolitan Mus.);   Related Paintings of GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico :. | Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints | Baptism of Christ dfg | Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple | St Mark the Evangelist | Old Man and Young Boy |
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Sir Thomas Lawrence
1769-1830 British Sir Thomas Lawrence Galleries was a notable English painter, mostly of portraits. He was born in Bristol. His father was an innkeeper, first at Bristol and afterwards at Devizes, and at the age of six Lawrence was already being shown off to the guests of the Bear as an infant prodigy who could sketch their likenesses and declaim speeches from Milton. In 1779 the elder Lawrence had to leave Devizes, having failed in business and Thomas's precocious talent began to be the main source of the family's income; he had gained a reputation along the Bath road. His debut as a crayon portrait painter was made at Oxford, where he was well patronized, and in 1782 the family settled in Bath, where the young artist soon found himself fully employed in taking crayon likenesses of fashionable people at a guinea or a guinea and a half a head. In 1784 he gained the prize and silver-gilt palette of the Society of Arts for a crayon drawing after Raphael's "Transfiguration," and presently beginning to paint in oil.
Albert Chmielowski
(born Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski; 1845 - 1916) was a Polish religious brother and founder of the Albertines. He is a saint of the Catholic Church. Albert is also known as Brat Albert (Brother Albert); in recognition of his holiness, he has also been called the "Brother of Our Lord", "Brother of Our God", and "Our God's Brother". Adam Chmielowski was born to a wealthy aristocratic family, and initially studied agriculture with the intention of managing the family estate. Involved in politics since his youth, he lost a leg at the age of 17 while fighting in an insurrection. He became a well-known and well-liked artist in Krakew, his political convictions inspiring his interest in the human condition. A gentle and compassionate spirit, Chmielowski felt compelled to help those in need and after years of reflection, decided to follow his calling into the service of God. In 1880, Chmielowski joined the Jesuits, took up the name Albert and abandoned painting. He began a life of service to the poor. In 1887, he founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants of the Poor, known in honor of their founder as the Albertines or the Gray Brothers, after their rough gray habits. In 1891, he founded the women's congregation, the Gray Sisters. The Albertines organized food and shelter for the poor and homeless. Albert believed that the great calamity of our time is that so many refuse to see and relieve the suffering of others. The so-called "haves" live away from the "have-nots", ignoring them and leaving their care to society.
Charles le Brun
French Baroque Era Painter, 1619-1690 French painter and designer. He dominated 17th-century French painting as no other artist; it was not until over a century later, during the predominance of Jacques-Louis David, that artistic authority was again so concentrated in one man. Under the protection of a succession of important political figures, including Chancellor Pierre S?guier, Cardinal Richelieu and Nicolas Fouquet, Le Brun created a series of masterpieces of history and religious painting. For Louis XIV and his chief minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert he executed his greatest work, the royal palace of Versailles: an almost perfect ensemble of architecture, decoration and landscape. After Colbert's death in 1683, he was no longer able to count on prestigious commissions