German 1497-1543 Hans Holbein Galleries Holbein always made highly detailed pencil drawings of his portrait subjects, often supplemented with ink and colored chalk. The drawings emphasize facial detail and usually did not include the hands; clothing was only indicated schematically. The outlines of these drawings were then transferred onto the support for the final painting using tiny holes in the paper through which powdered charcoal was transmitted; in later years Holbein used a kind of carbon paper. The final paintings thus had the same scale as the original drawings. Although the drawings were made as studies for paintings, they stand on their own as independent, finely wrought works of art. How many portraits have been lost can be seen from Holbein's book (nearly all pages in the Royal Collection) containing preparatory drawings for portraits - of eighty-five drawings, only a handful have surviving Holbein paintings, though often copies have survived. David Hockney has speculated in the Hockney-Falco thesis that Holbein used a concave mirror to project an image of the subject onto the drawing surface. The image was then traced. However this thesis has not met with general acceptance from art historians. A subtle ability to render character may be noted in Holbein's work, as can be seen in his portraits of Thomas Cromwell, Desiderius Erasmus, and Henry VIII. The end results are convincing as definitive images of the subjects' appearance and personality.  Related Paintings of Hans Holbein :. | Jane Small, | Christian arrest | Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (mk45) | Christina of Denmark | Details of Thomas Cromwell |
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Pryanishnikov Illarion
1840-1894,Russian painter. He studied from 1856 to 1866 at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow and subsequently taught there (1873-94). Among his pupils were Sergey Ivanov and Sergey Korovin. Pryanishnikov was among the fifteen founder-members of the Peredvizhniki (WANDERERS) and contributed two works to their first exhibition. His narrative pictures of the 1860s embodied the critical trend in early Russian Realism and focused on the trials and sorrows of the lower classes; his Jokers (1865; Moscow, Tret yakov Gal.) shows a petty clerk performing stunts for the amusement of some wealthy merchants. The Convoy of Empty Sleds (1871; Kharkiv, Mus. F.A.) conveys a fine sense of the bleak winter landscape. His later work added northern scenery and genre scenes to his repertory as in Saviour Day in the North (1887; Moscow, Tret yakov Gal.) and Return from the Fair (1883; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.). Pryanishnikov is also known for his hunting scenes. In 1893 he became a member of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts.
Louise Rayner
Victorian Women Artists,English 1832 - 1924. He was a British watercolor artist. Her parents, Samuel Rayner and Anne Rayner (nee Manser) were both noted artists, the former Samuel having been accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy when he was 15. Four of Louise's sisters - Ann ("Nancy"), Margaret, Rose and Frances - and her brother Richard were also artists. The family lived in Matlock Bath and Derby before moving to London in 1842. Louise studied painting from 15, with the guidance of her father and later with artist friends such as George Cattermole, Edmund Niemann, David Roberts and Frank Stone. Her first exhibited work was entitled The Interior of Haddon Chapel, shown at the Royal Academy in 1852, the first of a series of oils. From 1860, however, her medium was watercolour, which she exhibited for over 50 years via organisations including the Society of Lady Artists, Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of British Artists. She lived in Chester but travelled extensively, painting British scenes, during the summers in 1870s and 1880s. Her paintings are very detailed and highly picturesque populated street scenes capturing the "olde worlde" character of British towns and cities. Her paintings are very popular today as prints and on jigsaw puzzles. Around 1910 she moved with her sister to Tunbridge Wells, and later to St Leonards, where she died in 1924.
Richard Burchett
British painter and art teacher , (1815-1875) was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art. He was later described as "a prominent figure in the art-schools, a well instructed painter, and a teacher exceptionally equipped with all the learning of his craft" by his ex-pupil, the poet Austin Dobson. Burchett's pupils included the extremely varied talents of Kate Greenaway, Christopher Dresser, Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler), Sir George Clausen, Sir Luke Fildes, Gertrude Jekyll, Hubert von Herkomer, William Harbutt and Helen Allingham. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Queen Victoria's daughter, and a talented artist, was also a student.As an artist he achieved some reputation for large history paintings, but View across Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight is seen by modern art historians as his best work.