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 :. | Balance | Azrael | Turn of the left | Depression | Turner 1813 watercolour, Ivy Bridge |
Related Artists:
Baron Francois Gerard
1770-1837 French Baron Francois Gerard Galleries French portrait and historical painter, b. Rome. In Paris, after brief study under Pajou and others, he became a favorite pupil of J. L. David, who influenced such works as Psyche Receiving the Kiss of Cupid and Daphnis and Chloe, both in the Louvre. As a leading portraitist, Gerard was patronized by the court during the Empire and the Bourbon restoration. His portrait of Mme Recamier, of this period, is in the Louvre. Louis XVIII appointed him court painter in 1814. Many examples of his historical paintings are in the Versailles Museum. His portrait of the Countess Regnault de Saint-Jean-d Angely (1798; Louvre) exemplifies his style of studied elegance and meticulous finish.
Melendez, Luis Eugenio
Spanish, born in Italy, approx. 1716-1780
marie suzanne giroust roslin
Marie-Suzanne Giroust, född 9 mars 1734 i Paris, Frankrike, död 31 augusti 1772 i Paris, var en fransk konstnär, i huvudsak verksam inom pastellmåleri. Hon var gift med den svenske porträttmålaren Alexander Roslin från 1759 till sin död. Dotter till Barthelemy Giroust och Marie Suzanne Leroy. När Giroust var sju år gammal, dog hennes far som var juvelerare. Fyra år senare dog även hennes mor, och hon flyttade in hos släktingar. Arvet efter fadern gav henne möjlighet att uppta målarstudier. Hon inledde sina studier hos Maurice Quentin de La Tour, men det var hos Joseph-Marie Vien hon kom att finna sig tillrätta. I Viens atelj?? träffade hon 1752 Alexander Roslin och blev förälskad. Girousts förmyndare kunde dock inte acceptera den svenske målaren som blivande make, då han var fattig och protestant.[1] Paret kämpade för sin kärlek, och Giroust vägrade att träffa de friare som hennes förmyndare föreslog för henne.[1] Efter medling av bland andra Roslins vän och beskyddare, Comte de Caylus, kunde Roslin och Giroust gifta sig, den 5 januari 1759. Paret Roslin fick mellan 1760 och 1772 sex barn, tre döttrar och tre söner, varav två döttrar och två söner nådde vuxen ålder. Alexander Roslin erkände offentligen sin hustrus talang som konstnär, och han hävdade att hon var en skickligare pastellmålare än han själv. Giroust invaldes 1770 i den franska konstakademin, Acad??mie royale. 1771 utställde hon sitt porträtt av abb?? Lemonnier, som fick mycket beröm. Hon måladet i pastell. Marie-Suzanne Giroust avled i bröstcancer i slutet av augusti 1772.