English 1861-1922 Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble. The vast majority of Godward's extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward's source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton. Given that Classical scholarship was more widespread among the potential audience for his paintings during his lifetime than in the present day, meticulous research of detail was important in order to attain a standing as an artist in this genre. Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artefacts that were later used in his paintings: Godward, too, studied such details as architecture and dress, in order to ensure that his works bore the stamp of authenticity. In addition, Godward painstakingly and meticulously rendered those other important features in his paintings, animal skins (the paintings Noon Day Rest (1910) and A Cool Retreat (1910) contain superb examples of such rendition) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906), illustrated above, and Summer Flowers (1903) are again excellent examples of this). The appearance of beautiful women in studied poses in so many of Godward's canvases causes many newcomers to his works to categorise him mistakenly as being Pre-Raphaelite, particularly as his palette is often a vibrantly colourful one. However, the choice of subject matter (ancient civilisation versus, for example, Arthurian legend) is more properly that of the Victorian Neoclassicist: however, it is appropriate to comment that in common with numerous painters contemporary with him, Godward was a 'High Victorian Dreamer', producing beautiful images of a world which, it must be said, was idealised and romanticised, and which in the case of both Godward and Alma-Tadema came to be criticised as a world-view of 'Victorians in togas'.  Related Paintings of John William Godward :. | The Peacock Fan | A Priestess | Study of Campaspe | Idle Thoughts | At the Thermae |
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CASTELLO, Valerio
Italian painter, Genoese school (b. 1624, Genova, d. 1659, Genova) Painter and draughtsman, son of Bernardo Castello. He was one of the leading Ligurian painters of the 17th century, whose art developed from a continuous and passionate study of a wide range of sources. His paintings of mythological and religious subjects unite an elegant figure style with an interest in dramatic and violent compositions; his touch is spontaneous and his palette vibrant with reds and pinks, blues and yellows. His brilliant decorative frescoes introduced the splendour of the High Baroque to Genoese painters. He was well known for his rapid oil sketches, with light and lively brushwork, which anticipate aspects of the Rococo.
HOOCH, Pieter de
Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1629-1684 Dutch painter. He was one of the most accomplished 17th-century Dutch genre painters, excelling in the depiction of highly ordered interiors with domestic themes and merry companies and pioneering the depiction of genre scenes set in a sunlit courtyard. The hallmarks of his art are an unequalled responsiveness to subtle effects of daylight, and views to adjoining spaces, either through a doorway or a window,
Francois Stroobant
Francois Stroobant (14 June 1819 Brussels - 1 June 1916 Elsene) was a Belgian painter and lithographer, and brother of the lithographer Louis-Constantin Stroobant (1814-1872) noted for his part in Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe. He attended the Brussels Academie des Beaux-Arts between 1832 and 1847, studying under Francois-Joseph Navez, Paul Lauters and Francois-Antoine Bossuet (1798 - 1889). In 1835 he worked in the studio of the lithographer Dewasme-Pletinckx in Brussels. Stroobant's subjects were mainly landscapes and architecture. He travelled extensively through the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Hungary, exhibiting in the galleries of the Belgian towns Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels. His romantic painting style stayed constant throughout his career. He was founder and first director in 1865 of the Academie des Beaux-Arts at Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in Brussels.