English Romantic Painter, 1775-1851 Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 ?C 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Although Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, he is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Turner's talent was recognised early in his life. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate freely; his mature work is characterised by a chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint. According to David Piper's The Illustrated History of Art, his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles." However, Turner was still recognised as an artistic genius: the influential English art critic John Ruskin described Turner as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature." (Piper 321) Suitable vehicles for Turner's imagination were to be found in the subjects of shipwrecks, fires (such as the burning of Parliament in 1834, an event which Turner rushed to witness first-hand, and which he transcribed in a series of watercolour sketches), natural catastrophes, and natural phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent power of the sea, as seen in Dawn after the Wreck (1840) and The Slave Ship (1840). Turner placed human beings in many of his paintings to indicate his affection for humanity on the one hand (note the frequent scenes of people drinking and merry-making or working in the foreground), but its vulnerability and vulgarity amid the 'sublime' nature of the world on the other hand. 'Sublime' here means awe-inspiring, savage grandeur, a natural world unmastered by man, evidence of the power of God - a theme that artists and poets were exploring in this period. The significance of light was to Turner the emanation of God's spirit and this was why he refined the subject matter of his later paintings by leaving out solid objects and detail, concentrating on the play of light on water, the radiance of skies and fires. Although these late paintings appear to be 'impressionistic' and therefore a forerunner of the French school, Turner was striving for expression of spirituality in the world, rather than responding primarily to optical phenomena. Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway painted (1844).His early works, such as Tintern Abbey (1795), stayed true to the traditions of English landscape. However, in Hannibal Crossing the Alps (1812), an emphasis on the destructive power of nature had already come into play. His distinctive style of painting, in which he used watercolour technique with oil paints, created lightness, fluency, and ephemeral atmospheric effects. (Piper 321) One popular story about Turner, though it likely has little basis in reality, states that he even had himself "tied to the mast of a ship in order to experience the drama" of the elements during a storm at sea. In his later years he used oils ever more transparently, and turned to an evocation of almost pure light by use of shimmering colour. A prime example of his mature style can be seen in Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway, where the objects are barely recognizable. The intensity of hue and interest in evanescent light not only placed Turner's work in the vanguard of English painting, but later exerted an influence upon art in France, as well; the Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet, carefully studied his techniques.  Related Paintings of Joseph Mallord William Turner :. | The passage of Mount St.Gothard,taken from the centre of the Teufels Broch Switzerland (mk31) | Tender advocacy | Mountain | Avalanche in the Grisons (mk10) | Lake |
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Edward Armitage
(May 20, 1817 - May 24, 1896) was an English Victorian era painter whose work focussed on historical, classical and biblical subjects. Armitage was born in London to a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialists, the eldest of seven sons of James Armitage (1793 - 1872) and Anne Elizabeth Armitage nee Rhodes (1788 - 1833), of Farnley Hall, just south of Leeds, Yorkshire. His great-grandfather James (1730 - 1803) bought Farnley Hall from Sir Thomas Danby in 1799 and in 1844 four Armitage brothers, including his father James, founded the Farnley Ironworks, utilising the coal, iron and fireclay on their estate. His brother Thomas Rhodes Armitage (1824 - 1890) founded the Royal National Institute of the Blind. Armitage was the uncle of Robert Armitage (MP), the great-uncle of Robert Selby Armitage, and first cousin twice removed of Edward Leathley Armitage.
Pieter Wouwerman
1623-1682
tidemand
Tidemand kom vid 17 års ålder till Köpenhamns konstakademi, studerade där i fem år, tänkte sedan utbilda sig till historiemålare i Munchen, men valde i stället på en kamrats råd Dusseldorf till studieort och reste dit 1837. Han blev elev av Theodor Hildebrandt, men tog tidigare intryck av Carl Friedrich Lessings relativt realistiska historiemåleri. Hans första större målning behandlade ett svenskt ämne, Gustaf Vasa talar till dalkarlarna vid Mora (1841). Målningen inköptes av Rhens och Westfalens konstförening samt förskaffade Tidemand ett resestipendium från Norge och beställning på en altartavla till Vor Freisers kirke i Kristiania. Han reste sedan till Munchen och Italien, återvände till Norge på ett kort besök sommaren 1842, gjorde en studieresa i fjälltrakterna för att samla material till en påtänkt fosterländsk historiemålning, men kom nu till klarhet över sitt mål. Han ville, som han själv yttrat, skildra detta kraftiga naturfolks karaktär seder och vanor. Hans första tavla i detta syfte var Sagoberätterskan 1844, inköptes av drottning Josefina och förskaffade konstnären medlemskap av svenska konstakademien. Efter nya studieresor i Norge målade han Söndagskväll i Hardanger köptes av Oscar I, på slottet i Kristiania och Gudstjänst i en landskyrka. Han bosatte sig 1845 på allvar i Dusseldorf och vann snart ett namn genom de norska bondelivsbilderna. Samma år målade Tidemand i samarbete med Hans Fredrik Gude den romantiska Brudefärden i Hardanger. Revolutionsoroligheterna hade vid denna tid drivit de norske konstnärerna hem till Norge, och det såg ut, som skulle konsten nu bli rotfäst i hemlandet. Impulsen till en nationell konst gavs, men då lugn åter inträdde, återvände konstnärerna till utlandet. Under de närmaste åren målade Tidemand för det av Oscar I uppförda lilla lustslottet Oskarshal, som pryddes av uteslutande norska konstverk, serien Norskt bondeliv. Hans sista arbete var förstudier till en aldrig utförd historiemålning, Kristian IV grundlägger Kristiania, beställd av Oscar II. Tidemand skapade även tre altartavlor. I samarbete med Gude målade han Afton på Kröderen (1849), Ljustring (1850), Likfärd på Sognefjorden (1853), Fiskare i fara (1859), med Sophus Jacobsen Lappar på renjakt (1873) och med Morten M??ller Sinclairs landstigning i Romsdalen (1875). Han blev av sin samtid hyllad som Norges främsta representativa konstnär. Hans betydelse ligger i att han i sin konst gav uttryck åt det nationella uppvaknandet i sitt hemland. På samma gång föreställde han det norska folket för den stora allmänheten i utlandet. I Tyskland betraktades han som en av de främsta representanter i samtidens konst. Han fick många utmärkelser såväl i Tyskland som i Paris och i England, och hans arbeten såldes till höga pris. Sina mest omtyckta målningar upprepade han med tillhjälp av flera medhjälpare gång på gång, några i ända till 12 exemplar. Många av hans arbeten är återgivna i kopparstick och litografi. L. Dietrichson utgav Adolph Tidemand, hans liv og hans værker (2 delar, 1878-79).