German Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1480-1538 Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480 near Regensburg ?C 12 February 1538 in Regensburg) was a German painter, printmaker and architect of the Renaissance era, the leader of the Danube School in southern Germany, and a near-contemporary of Albrecht D??rer. He is best known as a significant pioneer of landscape in art. He most often painted religious scenes, but is mainly famous as the first frequent painter of pure landscape, and also compositions dominated by their landscape. Taking and developing the landscape style of Lucas Cranach the Elder, he shows the hilly landscape of the Danube valley with thick forests of drooping and crumbling firs and larches hung with moss, and often dramatic colouring from a rising or setting sun. His Landscape with footbridge (National Gallery, London) of 1518-20 is claimed to be the first pure landscape in oil. [1] He also made many fine finished drawings, mostly landscapes, in pen and watercolour. His best religious scenes are intense, sometimes verging on the expressionistic, and often depict moments of intimacy between Christ and his mother, or others. His most famous religious artwork is the The Legend of St. Sebastian and the Passion of Christ that decorated the altar in the St. Florian monastery in Linz, Austria. He often distorts perspective to subtle effect. His donor figures are often painted completely out of scale with the main scene, as in paintings of the previous centuries. He also painted some portraits; overall his painted oeuvre was not large.  Related Paintings of ALTDORFER, Albrecht :. | Danubian Landscape g | Christ on the Cross (detail) vfgf | Landscape kk | Lovers | Landscape with a Footbridge |
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George Henry Harlow
British 1787-1819 He was born in St. James's Street, London, on 10 June 1787, the posthumous son of a China merchant, who after some years' residence in the East had died about five months before his son's birth, leaving a widow with five infant daughters. Indulged and petted by his mother, Harlow was sent when quite young to Dr. Barrow's classical school in Soho Square, and subsequently to Mr. Roy's school in Burlington Street. He was for a short time at Westminster School, but having shown a predilection for painting, he was placed under Henry De Cort, the landscape-painter. He next worked under Samuel Drummond, A.R.A., the portrait-painter, but after about a year entered the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. This step is said to have been taken at the suggestion of Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire; but Harlow's natural affinity to Lawrence's style in painting would be quite sufficient to account for his choice. Harlow paid Lawrence handsomely for his admission and the right to copy, but according to the contract was not entitled to instruction. Harlow now determined to devote himself to painting, and refused an offer of a writership in the East India trade made by his father's friends. He remained for about eighteen months in Lawrence's studio, copying his pictures, and occasionally drawing preliminary portions of Lawrence's own productions. A difference about Harlow's work for one of Lawrence's pictures led to a breach with Lawrence, and Harlow rendered reconciliation impossible by painting a caricature signboard for an inn at Epsom in Lawrence's style and with Lawrence's initials affixed to it. Harlow henceforth pursued an original system of art education. He inveighed strongly against all academical rules and principles. Young, headstrong, and impatient of restraint, with a handsome person and amiable disposition, he was generally popular in society. He affected, however, an extravagance in dress far beyond his means, a superiority of knowledge, and a license of conversation which gave frequent offence even to those really interested in the development of his genius. His foibles led his friends to nickname him "Clarissa Harlowe." He worked, however, with industry and enthusiasm in his art. He possessed a power of rapid observation and a retentive memory which enabled him to perform astonishing feats, like that of painting a satisfactory portrait of a gentleman named Hare, lately dead, whom Harlow had only once met in the street. Though openly opposed to the Royal Academy, he was a candidate for the dignity of academician, but he only received the vote of Henry Fuseli. He exhibited for the first time at the Academy in 1804, sending a portrait of Dr. Thornton. In later years he exhibited many other portraits. His practice in this line was extensive. His portraits are well conceived, and, though much in the manner and style of Lawrence, have a character of their own. His portraits of ladies were always graceful and pleasing. He was less successful, owing to his defective art-education, in historical painting, in which he aspired to excel. His first exhibited historical pictures were Queen Elizabeth striking the Earl of Essex, at the Royal Academy, 1807, and The Earl of Bolingbroke entering London, at the British Institution, 1808. In 1815 he painted Hubert and Prince Arthur for Mr. Leader, a picture subsequently exchanged for portraits of that gentleman's daughters. In 1814 he painted a group of portraits of Charles Mathews, the actor, in various characters, which attracted general attention. It was engraved by W. Greatbach for Yate's Life of Mathews. Harlow received a commission from Mr. Welch, the musician, to paint a portrait of Mrs. Siddons as Queen Katharine in Shakespeare's Henry VIII. This was commenced from memory, but subsequently the actress, at Mr. Welch's request, gave the painter a sitting. While painting the portrait, Harlow resolved to expand the picture into the "Trial Scene" from the same play, introducing portraits of the various members of the Kemble family and others. Mr. Welch, though not consulted by Harlow concerning this change of plan, behaved generously. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817, and excited great public interest. It was neither well composed nor well executed, and owed much to the criticism and suggestions of Fuseli, whose portrait Harlow was painting at the time. Still, the portrait of Mrs. Siddons herself as the queen will remain one of the most striking figures in English art. The fine engraving of it in mezzotint hy George Clint has enhanced its reputation. The picture passed eventually into the possession of Mr. Morrison at Basildon Park, Berkshire. It was exhibited at Manchester in 1857. Harlow's next picture, The Virtue of Faith, at the Royal Academy, lacked originality, and had less success. It was purchased by his friend Mr. Tomkisson, who divided it into pieces for the sake of the heads. In 1818 Harlow, conscious of deficiencies in his executive powers, visited Italy for the purpose of studying the old masters. At Rome his personal gifts and accomplishments, and his remarkable powers of execution, made him the hero of the day. He was f??ted and flattered in every direction. Canova was especially attracted by him, and obtained for him an introduction to the pope. Harlow, however, worked very hard, and completed a copy of Raphael's Transfiguration in eighteen days. He was elected a member for merit of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, a most unusual distinction for an English artist, and was invited to paint his own portrait for the Uffizi gallery of painters at Florence. He painted a picture of Wolsey receiving the Cardinal's Hat in Westminster Abbey, and presented it to the Academy at Rome. His artistic progress in Italy was remarkable, but on his return to England on 13 Jan. 1819 he was seized with a glandular affection of the throat, which being neglected proved fatal on 4 Feb. He was in his thirty-second year. He was buried under the altar of St. James's, Piccadilly, and his funeral was attended by the eminent artists of the day. An exhibition of his principal works was held in Pall Mall. His collections, including many sketches, were sold by auction 21 June 1819. Harlow is one of the most attractive figures in the history of English painting. His works only suggest what lie might have achieved. Many of his portraits have been engraved, and those of James Northcote, Fuseli, Thomas Stothard, William Beechey, John Flaxman, and others are highly esteemed. His own portrait, painted by himself for the gallery at Florence, was engraved for Ranalli's Imperiale e Reale Galleria di Firenze. A drawing from it by J. Jackson, R.A., was bequeathed to the trustees of the National Portrait Gallery in 1888 by the painter's nephew, G. Harlow White. Another drawing by himself was engraved by B. Holl for the Library of the Fine Arts. His own portrait is introduced in the background in the picture of The Trial of Queen Katharine. A portrait of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV) by Harlow was engraved in mezzotint by W. Ward.
Andrea Mantegna
Italian 1431-1506 Andrea Mantegna Locations Mantegna was born in Isola di Carturo, close to Padua in the Republic of Venice, second son of a carpenter, Biagio. At the age of eleven he became the apprentice of Francesco Squarcione, Paduan painter. Squarcione, whose original vocation was tailoring, appears to have had a remarkable enthusiasm for ancient art, and a faculty for acting. Like his famous compatriot Petrarca, Squarcione was something of a fanatic for ancient Rome: he travelled in Italy, and perhaps Greece, amassing antique statues, reliefs, vases, etc., forming a collection of such works, then making drawings from them himself, and throwing open his stores for others to study. All the while, he continued undertaking works on commission for which his pupils no less than himself were made available. San Zeno Altarpiece, (left panel), 1457-60; San Zeno, VeronaAs many as 137 painters and pictorial students passed through Squarcine's school, which had been established towards 1440 and which became famous all over Italy. Padua was attractive for artists coming not only from Veneto but also from Tuscany, such as Paolo Uccello, Filippo Lippi and Donatello. Mantegna's early career was shaped indeed by impressions of Florentine works. At the time, Mantegna was said to be a favorite pupil; Squarcione taught him the Latin language, and instructed him to study fragments of Roman sculpture. The master also preferred forced perspective, the lingering results of which may account for some Mantegna's later innovations. However, at the age of seventeen, Mantegna separated himself from Squarcione. He later claimed that Squarcione had profited from his work without paying the rights. His first work, now lost, was an altarpiece for the church of Santa Sofia in 1448. The same year Mantegna was called, together with Nicol?? Pizolo, to work with a large group of painters entrusted with the decoration of the Ovetari Chapel in the apse of the church of Eremitani. It is probable, however, that before this time some of the pupils of Squarcione, including Mantegna, had already begun the series of frescoes in the chapel of S. Cristoforo, in the church of Sant'Agostino degli Eremitani, today considered his masterpiece. After a series of coincidences, Mantegna finished most of the work alone, though Ansuino, who collaborated with Mantegna in the Ovetari Chapel, brought his style in the Forl?? school of painting. The now censorious Squarcione carped about the earlier works of this series, illustrating the life of St James; he said the figures were like men of stone, and had better have been colored stone-color at once. This series was almost entirely lost in the 1944 Allied bombings of Padua. The most dramatic work of the fresco cycle was the work set in the worm's-eye view perspective, St. James Led to His Execution. (For an example of Mantegna's use of a lowered view point, see the image at right of Saints Peter and Paul; though much less dramatic in its perspective that the St. James picture, the San Zeno altarpiece was done shortly after the St. James cycle was finished, and uses many of the same techniques, including the classicizing architectural structure.) San Luca Altarpiece, 1453; Tempera on panel; Pinacoteca di Brera, MilanThe sketch of the St. Stephen fresco survived and is the earliest known preliminary sketch which still exists to compare to the corresponding fresco. Despite the authentic look of the monument, it is not a copy of any known Roman structure. Mantegna also adopted the wet drapery patterns of the Romans, who derived the form from the Greek invention, for the clothing of his figures, although the tense figures and interactions are derived from Donatello. The drawing shows proof that nude figures were used in the conception of works during the Early Renaissance. In the preliminary sketch, the perspective is less developed and closer to a more average viewpoint however. Among the other early Mantegna frescoes are the two saints over the entrance porch of the church of Sant'Antonio in Padua, 1452, and an altarpiece of St. Luke and other saints (at left) for the church of S. Giustina, now in the Brera Gallery in Milan (1453). As the young artist progressed in his work, he came under the influence of Jacopo Bellini, father of the celebrated painters Giovanni and Gentile, and of a daughter Nicolosia. In 1453 Jacopo consented to a marriage between Nicolosia to Mantegna in marriage.
Domenico Puligo
(1492-1527) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Florence. His real name was Domenico di Bartolommeo Ubaldini. He was trained by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, but acquired a style consistent with his contemporary Andrea del Sarto. He painted a Vision of Saint Bernard altarpiece, now in Walters' Gallery in Baltimore. He was also in demand for portraits. He is featured in Giorgio Vasari's Vite or biographies of artists. He excelled as a portrait painter. He befriended Andrea del Sarto ane worked with Ridolfo Ghirlandaio. His brother, Jacone Puligo was also a Renaissance painter.