Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat
(20 June 1833 - 8 September 1922) was a French painter.
He was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 he lived in Madrid, where his father owned a bookshop. While tending his father's shop, he copied engravings of works by the Old Masters, developing a passion for drawing. In Madrid he received his artistic training under Madrazo. He later worked in Paris, where he became known as a leading portraitist, never without a commission. His many portraits show the influence of Velezquez, Jusepe de Ribera and other Spanish masters, as well as Titian and Van Dyke, whose works he studied in the Prado. Following the period in Spain Bonnat worked the ateliers of the history painters Paul Delaroche and Leon Cogniet (1854) in Paris. Despite repeated attempts, he failed to win the prix de Rome, finally receiving only a second prize. However, a scholarship from his native Bayonne allowed him to spend three years in Rome (1858 - 60) independently. During his stay in Rome, he became friends with Edgar Degas, Gustave Moreau, Jean-Jacques Henner and the sculptor Henri Chapu.
He won a medal of honor in Paris in 1869, going on to become one of the leading artists of his day. Bonnat went on to win the Grand Officer of the Legion d'honneur and became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1882. Bonnat was quite popular with American students in Paris. In addition to his native French, he spoke Spanish and Italian and knew English well, to the relief of many monolingual Americans. In May 1905 he succeeded Paul Dubois as director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Bonnat "was a liberal teacher who stressed simplicity in art above high academic finish, as well as overall effect rather than detail," explains Julius Kaplan (see References). Bonnat's emphasis on overall effect on the one hand, and rigorous drawing on the other, put him in a middle position with respect to the Impressionists and academic painters like his friend Jean-Leon Gerôme.
Related Paintings of Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat :. | Women portrait | bal au Moulin de la Galette (mk09) | Stained glass background | Portrait of Mill L L,Called woman in Red Vest | Aqueduct near Rome (mk13) | Related Artists: William Griffith1866-1940 johann friedrich august tischbeinGerman Painter, 1750-1812. 1750 Maastricht ?C Heidelberg 1812. First he was a pupil of his father Johann Valentin Tischbein (1715-1768) in Hildburghausen, from 1768 one of his uncle Johann Heinrich Tischbein the elder (1722-1789) in Kassel.
Supported by Prince Friedrich von Waldeck he stayed in Paris from 1772 until 1777, where he studied at the academy of arts under N. B. L??pici?? (1735-1784).
Afterwards he travelled to Rome, where he got in contact with the painters A.R. Mengs (1728-1779), J.L. David (1748-1825) and Fr.H. F??ger (1751-1818) and probably also with the English style of portrait painting. 1779 he travelled to Naples.
In 1780 he returned to Arolsen via Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart and Kassel, where he worked for the Prince of Waldeck. From 1780 he was his councillor
and court painter. During this time he made several journeys e.g. to Holland and after 1785 to Weimar where he met Wieland (1785), Schlegel (1792) and other important people.
From 1795 he worked for Leopold III. of Anhalt-Dessau. 1800 he succeeded A. Fr. Oeser (1717-1799) as director of the academy of arts in Leipzig. From 1806 to 1808 he stayed in St Petersburg. He died 1812 when he visited his daughter Caroline Wilken (1783-1843) in Heidelberg
Pollaiuolo, PieroItalian, 1443-96
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