1851-1892 Harnett was born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland during the time of the potato famine. Shortly after his birth his family emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia. Becoming a United States citizen in 1868, he made a living as a young man by engraving designs on table silver, while also taking night classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later, in New York, at Cooper Union and at the National Academy of Design. His first known oil painting, a still life, dates from 1874. The style of trompe l'oeil painting that Harnett developed was distinctive and inspired many imitators, but it was not without precedent. A number of 17th century Dutch painters, Pieter Claesz. for instance, had specialized in tabletop still life of astonishing verisimilitude. Raphaelle Peale, working in Philadelphia in the early 19th century, pioneered the form in America. What sets Harnett's work apart, besides his enormous skill, is his interest in depicting objects not usually made the subject of a painting. Harnett painted musical instruments, hanging game, and tankards, but also painted the unconventional Golden Horseshoe (1886), a single rusted horseshoe shown nailed to a board. He painted a casual jumble of second-hand books set on top of a crate, Job Lot, Cheap (1878), as well as firearms and even paper currency. His works sold well, but they were more likely to be found hanging in a tavern or a business office than in a museum, as they did not conform to contemporary notions of high art. Harnett spent the years 1880?C1886 in Europe, staying in Munich from 1881 until early 1885. Harnett's best-known paintings, the four versions of After The Hunt, were painted between 1883 and 1885. Each is an imposing composition of hunting equipment and dead game, hanging on a door with ornate hinges at the right and keyhole plate at the left. These paintings, like the horseshoe or currency depictions mentioned earlier, are especially effective as trompe l'oeil because the objects occupy a shallow space, meaning that the illusion is not spoiled by parallax shift if the viewer moves. Overall, Harnett's work is most comparable to that of the slightly younger John F. Peto. The two artists knew each other, and a comparison can be made between two paintings featuring violins. Harnett's Music and Good Luck from 1888 shows the violin hanging upright on a door with ornate hinges and with a slightly torn piece of sheet music behind it. The elements are arranged in a stable, deliberate manner. Peto's 1890 painting shows the violin hanging askew, as well as chipped and worn, with one string broken. The sheet music is dog-eared and torn around the edges, and placed haphazardly behind the instrument. The hinges are less ornate, and one is broken. Harnett's objects show signs of use but are well preserved, while Peto's more humble objects are nearly used up. Crippling rheumatism plagued Harnett in his last years, reducing the number but not the quality of his paintings. He died in New York City in 1892. Other artists who painted similar compositions in Harnett's wake include his contemporary John Haberle and successors such as Otis Kaye and Jefferson David Chalfant.  Related Paintings of William Michael Harnett :. | Munich Still Life | Charles II (mk25 | Munich Still Life | After the Hunt | Job Lot Cheap |
Related Artists:
Jean de Beaumetz
Artois,active from 1361-Dijon 1396
carl kylberg
Carl Oscar Kylberg, född 23 september 1878 på Vasängen i Fridene församling, död 6 januari 1952 i Stockholm, svensk konstnär och representant för Göteborgskoloristerna. Carl Kylberg var son till kontorschef Gustaf Kylberg och friherrinnan Eleonora von Essen och storebror till konstnären Erik Kylberg. Hans fastrar och farbror var konstnärerna Regina Kylberg-Bobeck, Marina Kylberg och Hjalmar Kylberg. Farfadern Lars Wilhelm Kylberg var konstnär vid sidan av lantbruket på familjegodset Såtenäs i Västergötland. Kylberg studerade först vid tekniska skolan i Stockholm och i Berlin för att bli arkitekt men övergick till måleri omkring 1900. Han studerade under en tid vid Valand i Göteborg som elev till Carl Wilhelmson. Hans verk kännetecknas ofta av ett glödande oljemåleri med starka färger och han avbildade ofta landskap och figurkompositioner på ett avskalat man??r. Under senare delen av sitt konstnärskap skapade han en mängd religiösa motiv. Kring 1930-talet fick han sitt genombrott och han kom att ställa ut, förutom i Sverige även i Köpenhamn, Paris, London, Budapest och i USA men hans måleri var för många provocerande och 1938 gick regeringen in och stoppade ett köp av målningen Uppbrottet för Nationalmuseum i Stockholm. En av hans mest välkända målningar är Hemkomsten från 1938 som hänger på Göteborgs konstmuseum och som föreställer ett skepp i silhuett mot en nästan brinnande gul himmel och ett rödfärgat hav. Denna målning förevigades också 1978 på ett svenskt frimärke av valören 90 öre. Sedan 1980-talet har många av hans tavlor sålts för rekordpriser vid olika internationella konstauktioner.
Thomas Beach
British Painter, 1738-1806,English painter. He studied with Joshua Reynolds from 1760 until early in 1762, during which time he was also a student at the St Martin's Lane Academy, London. He probably settled in Bath; his recorded portraits of the 1760s are all of sitters from Dorset or Somerset, and he sent two portraits from an address in Bath to the Society of Artists exhibition of 1772. He exhibited with the Society until 1783, becoming its vice-president (1782) and president (1783) he also exhibited at the Royal Academy (1785-90, 1797). He probably divided his mature practice between London and Bath. His early reliance on Reynolds's ideas of propriety gave way to a more direct approach, seen at its best in such group portraits as The Stapleton Family (1789; U. Bath, Holburne of Menstrie Mus.). In this work, the four children are shown in costume, as a fortune-teller and her customers. The theatrical element in Beach's work, reflecting his interest in the stage, is seen most strikingly in Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble in 'Macbeth' Act 2, Scene ii (1786; London, Garrick Club). Beach's diary for 1798, the only one to have survived, chronicles what appears to have been an annual tour of the west country; that year he completed 31 portraits between June and December. Beach was able to capture a strong likeness and this, despite a certain naivety and awkwardness in composition, was enough to establish his reputation in moderately fashionable provincial circles. His last recorded work is a Self-portrait