British Painter, 1831-1923 was an English artist. Born in Worcester as Benjamin Leader Williams, he was the son of civil engineer Edward Leader Williams (who was also a keen amateur artist and friend of John Constable) and Quaker Sarah Whiting. His brother, also called Edward Leader Williams, followed in his father's footsteps and became a notable civil engineer. The family lived in Worcester at Diglis House. Williams Leader was educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester and then the Royal Academy Schools. He immediately became successful as an artist and first exhibited his work at the Royal Academy in 1854. Since that year until his death in 1923 his paintings were hung in every summer exhibition at the Royal Academy. He was knighted as Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the French in 1889 and was created a full member of the Royal Academy in 1898 (RA - Royal Academician). In 1914 he was given the Freedom of the City of Worcester in recognition of his services (as a director of Royal Worcester Porcerlain and a native of the city). Famous paintings include February Fill Dyke and Autumn's Last Gleam. His paintings were bought by King George V and William Gladstone amongst others, and he became one of the most popular and expensive artists of his day. His works received popular approval for their verisimilitude, and the fame of February Fill Dyke, facilitated by an etching, spread to London, Paris, and the United States.  Related Paintings of Benjamin Williams Leader :. | Mythos des Prometheus | legend of the true cross | Queen Mariana (df01) | Smygrokande gossar | Arrival of the Duke of Alba at Rotterdam in 1567 |
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Marstrand, Wilhelm
Danish, 1810-1873 Danish painter and illustrator. He was a student of C. W. Eckersberg at the Kunstakademi in Copenhagen (1825-33). His art reflects his constant observation of the world around him, in particular middle-class society, and the narrative element dominated his pictures of crowds in the city streets. Throughout his life he sought inspiration from literature and the theatre. In his early genre painting Moving Day Scene (1831; Niv?, Nivaagaards Malsaml.) it was the popular novelty of vaudeville that interested him. The October Festival (1839; Copenhagen, Thorvaldsens Mus.) reveals how Marstrand's five-year stay (1836-41) in Italy opened his eyes to the classical ideal of beauty. It was, however, an ideal that found little response in contemporary Denmark, and he turned towards a more anecdotal and humorous approach. In Scene of Country Life (1843; Copenhagen, Kon. Dan. Kstakad.), painted as a set subject for the Kunstakademi, Marstrand took as his theme a scene from Erasmus Montanus, a play by the 18th-century Danish poet and playwright Ludvig Holberg. Thereafter Holberg's comedies provided an inexhaustible source that satisfied Marstrand's need to pursue his investigations of human character. Family life similarly interested him throughout his career, as in his Scene of Daily Life (1857; Copenhagen, Stat. Mus. Kst). Such group portraits as The Waagepetersen Family (1836; Copenhagen, Stat. Mus. Kst) show an equal concern to depict the quiet details of Danish domestic life. Marstrand continued to travel abroad in search of inspiration. His stay in Venice in 1853-4 was particularly important; his studies there of the great Venetian painters improved his understanding of the handling of colour, as seen clearly in the many historical and religious paintings of his last years. Of particular interest is his mural decoration of Christian IV's chapel in Roskilde Cathedral (1864-6) with scenes from the life of the Danish monarch. Marstrand's paintings have a certain facetiousness which often obscures a much deeper philosophical content. For this reason, it is his drawings that arouse more admiration.
kilian zoll
Kilian Christoffer Zoll (29 september 1818 - 9 november 1860) was a Swedish artist. He belonged to the Dusseldorf school of painting and painted genre pictures, landscape, portraits, children and altarpieces. Zoll studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm 1835-1839. Within the Academy, Zoll and his fellow students mostly treated mythical and historical subjects, but as soon as he became independent he devoted himself to genre painting. He travelled and made sketches through Sweden; Skåne, Halland, Småland and Dalarna. He participated in the academy exhibitions 1850, 1853, 1856 and 1858 with a total of 19 oil paintings. His paintings from this period address topics such as Children playing with a cat, Grandma's joy, Old Woman at the Spinning Wheel. In 1854 he traveled to Dusseldorf in the company of a fellow artist Bengt Nordenberg. In Dusseldorf he studied art together with another Swedish artist Marcus Larson - together they executed several paintings. He returned to Sweden in 1855. He and Nordenberg tried to get a travel grant from the Swedish Academy of Arts, but he could not get it because he was older than the rules allowed. The following year he went back to Dusseldorf, now married, and returned to Sweden 1858. Once again, he traveled through the province of Halland in artistic studies and had planned to return to Dusseldorf. He, however, fell ill and died before then.
Zacarias Gonzalez Velazquez
Spanish , Madrid 1763 - 1834