Auguste Toulmouche (1829—1890) was, especially between the 1850s and 1870s, a highly regarded French portraitist and is most famous for his work Vanity from 1870. Toulmouche was born in Nantes, on the French Atlantic coast. In his home city, he benefitted from the teaching of Amédée Ménard, a well-established academic sculptor. After arriving in Paris …
Berthold Woltze (1829—1896) is a little-known German painter, illustrator, and art teacher of the second half of the 19th century. He is most commonly cited for his painting The Annoying Gentleman (1874). Early Life Woltze was born in Saxony-Anhalt, a region in the North-East of Germany. He relocated to Weimar, the intellectual and artistic centre …
Maria Blanchard or María Gutiérrez-Cueto y Blanchard (6 March 6, 1881- 5 April 1932), a Spanish painter, was one of the most important female artists of the 20th century and is known as the First Lady of Cubism. She developed a unique style of Cubism that has been enormously influential, and her works now hang …
Childe Hassam was an artist who was a leader of the American Impressionist movement. Fredrick Childe Hassam (1859-1935) was born to a New England family in Boston, Massachusetts. He became one of the main figures of Impressionism in America by the turn of the 20th century and, finally, one of America’s great artistic authorities prior …
Kazimir Malevich was a Polish-Ukrainian Russian painter who pioneered the development of abstract art in the early 20th-century and had a significant impact on both technique and social art history. Kazimir Malevich (1879—1935) was born in Kyiv, in the Russian Empire, to a Polish family that had migrated following the partition of their country. Malevich’s …
Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647) was a Flemish painter who was mostly known for his depiction of battle scenes. Sebastiaen Vrancx Summary: He trained under Adam van Noort who was also the master of Peter Paul Rubens. In 1600, he became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He is said to have pioneered the …
George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) was an American portraitist and landscape artist. George Caleb Bingham Summary: His love for painting developed after an apprenticeship with a cabinet maker. He was mostly self-taught but studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for three months. Scenes of river life are among his most famous pieces. Bingham …
Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) was a Dutch artist who contributed to the Mannerist and Baroque movements. Abraham Bloemaert Summary: He was influenced by Caravaggio. After his studies in Utrecht, he trained in the School of Fontainebleau in Paris under Hieronymus Francken. His father became the city architect of Amsterdam in 1591. Bloemart taught at the Utrecht …
Edouard Debat-Ponsan (1847-1913) was a French academic painter known for his paintings that tackled allegories and peasant life. Edouard Debat-Ponsan Summary: He entered art school in Toulouse at the age of 14 and moved to l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris shortly after. He received the Second Place in the Prix de Rome and was disappointed. …
Plautilla Nelli (1524-1588) was an Italian nun and Renaissance artist. Plautilla Nelli Summary: She is the first known female Renaissance artist. She was influenced by the teachings of Savonarola and the art of Fra Bartolomeo. She established an all-women painting class in her convent and taught other sisters to paint. Her rendition of the Last …
Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) was a Spanish artist known for his depictions of religious and mythological subjects in Baroque dramatic realism. Jusepe de Ribera Summary: He was initially supposed to have a career in literature but pursued art instead. He was given the nickname “Lo Spagnoletto” or Little Spaniard by Roman artists. He became a …
Jean-André Rixens (1846-1925) was a classical painter and portraitist from France. Jean-André Rixens Summary: He supported himself through art school by making copies of artworks and painting commercial signs. Although his goal was to win the prestigious Prix de Rome award, he did win the Second Prize in 1873. He won a medal at the …
Herbert Gustave Schmalz (1856-1935) was a historical painter from England. Herbert Gustave Schmalz Summary: His grandfather was painter James Wilson Carmichael. He studied at the South Kensington Art School, then at the Royal Academy of Arts. After a trip to Jerusalem, he created a series of paintings that tackled scenes from the New Testament. He …
Théo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926) was a neo-impressionist painter from Belgium. Théo van Rysselberghe Summary: He was born to a bourgeois family and studied at various art academies in Belgium. He was only 18 when he first participated at the Salon of Ghent. He was influenced by post-impressionist painters like Georges Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh. …
Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873) was an artist who was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Charles Allston Collins Summary: His father, William Collins, was a landscape and genre painter. He stopped making art in the late 1850s to focus on writing. He was a successful writer of humorous essays. Collins was married to Charles Dickens’s daughter …
Palma Vecchio (1480-1528) was an artist during the period of the Italian High Renaissance. Palma Vecchio Summary: Born Jacopo Palma (also known as Jacopo Negretti), he changed his name to Palma Vecchio (Palma the Elder) to distinguish himself from his artist-nephew Palma il Giovane (Palma the Younger). He specialized in sacra conversazione or two or …
Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) was a portraitist from Scotland. Henry Raeburn Summary: Although he trained with fellow artists, he was mostly self-taught.’ He began painting miniatures and slowly made his way to bigger portraits. He was elected president of the Edinburgh Society of Artists in 1812. He was knighted in 1822 and became the official portrait …
Adolph Menzel (1815-1905) was known for being one of the most successful painters of 19th century Germany. Adolph Menzel Summary: He was incredibly popular because of his historical paintings and graphic work. Menzel was short. He was four feet and six inches tall. He traveled around a lot, but his heart was always settled in …
Henry Liverseege (1802-1832) was a genre painter from England. Henry Liverseege Summary: When he was born, one of his lungs failed to develop which led to him having asthma. He also had a spinal deformity that caused his left shoulder to droop lower than his right. He had no formal artistic training but was very …
Philipp Otto Runge (1777-1810) was a German painter of the Romanticism movement. Philipp Otto Runge Summary: He had no formal art training but took several private drawing lessons. He was a student at Royal Danish Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture Academy from 1799-to 1801. He continued his studies at the Academy of Art in Dresden afterward. …
