Italian Baroque Era Painter, ca.1571-1610
Italian painter. After an early career as a painter of portraits, still-life and genre scenes he became the most persuasive religious painter of his time. His bold, naturalistic style, which emphasized the common humanity of the apostles and martyrs, flattered the aspirations of the Counter-Reformation Church, while his vivid chiaroscuro enhanced both three-dimensionality and drama, as well as evoking the mystery of the faith. He followed a militantly realist agenda, rejecting both Mannerism and the classicizing naturalism of his main rival, Annibale Carracci. In the first 30 years of the 17th century his naturalistic ambitions and revolutionary artistic procedures attracted a large following from all over Europe. Related Paintings of Caravaggio :. | The Martyrdom of St Matthew (detail) dsf | Supper at Emmaus (detail) f | The Tooth Drawer | Johannes der Taufer | The Conversion on the Way to Damascus (detail) | Related Artists:
Lorenzo LottoItalian
1480-1556
Lorenzo Lotto Galleries
In this last period of his life, Lorenzo Lotto would frequently move from town to town, searching for patrons and commissions. In 1532 he went to Treviso. Next he spent about seven years in the Marches (Ancona, Macerata en Jesi), returning to Venice in 1540. He moved again to Treviso in 1542 and back to Venice in 1545. Finally he went back to Ancona in 1549.
This was a productive period in his life, during which he painted several altarpieces and portraits :
Santa Lucia before the Judge, 1532, Jesi, Pinacoteca comunale
The Sleeping Child Jesus with the Madonna, St. Joseph and St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1533, Bergamo, Accademia Carrara
Portrait of a Lady as Lucretia, 1533, National Gallery, London.
Holy Family with SS Jerome, Anna and Joachim, 1534, Firenze, Uffizi
Holy Family, ca 1537, Paris, Louvre
Portrait of a Young Man, Firenze, Uffizi
Crucifixion, Monte San Giusto, Church of S Maria in Telusiano
Rosary Madonna, 1539, Cingoli, Church of San Nicolo
Portrait of a Man, 1541, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada
Bust of a Bearded Man, 1541, ascribed, San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum
The Alms of Saint Anthony, 1542, Venezia, church SS Giovanni e Paolo
Madonna and four Saints, 1546, Venezia, Church of San Giacomo dell??Orio
Portrait of fra?? Gregorio Belo da Vicenza, 1548,New York, Metropolitan Museum
Assumption, 1550, Ancona, church San Francesco alle Scale
The Crossbowman, 1551, Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina
Portrait of an Old man, ascribed, ca 1552, Saint Petersburg, Ermitage
Presentation in the Temple, 1555, Loreto, Palazzo Apostolico
A Venetian woman in the guise of Lucretia (1533).At the end of his life it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to earn a living. Furthermore, in 1550 one of his works had an unsuccessful auction in Ancona. As recorded in his personal account book, this deeply disillusioned him. As he had always been a deeply religious man, he entered in 1552 the Holy Sanctuary at Loreto, becoming a lay brother. During that time he decorated the basilica of S Maria and painted a Presentation in the Temple for the Palazzo Apostolico in Loreto. He died in 1556 and was buried, at his request, in a Dominican habit.
Giorgio Vasari included Lotto's biography in the third volume of his book Vite. Lorenzo Lotto himself left many letters and a detailed notebook (Libro di spese diverse, 1538-1556), giving a certain insight in his life and work. Among the many painters he influenced are likely Giovanni Busi
George Gower1540-1596
English
George Gower Gallery
Little is known about his early life except that he was a grandson of Sir John Gower of Stettenham, Yorkshire.
His earliest documented works are the two 1573 companion portraits of Sir Thomas Kytson and his wife Lady Kytson, now in the Tate Gallery in London.
Gower painted a self-portrait in 1579 (right) that shows his coat of arms and his artist's tools of his trade. An allegorical device shows a balance with an artist's dividers outweighing the family coat of arms, "a startling claim in England where a painter was still viewed as little more than an artisan."
The Armada portrait of Elizabeth I by George Gower c. 1588Gower was appointed to the position of Serjeant Painter to Queen Elizabeth in 1581. This allowed him to paint most of England??s aristocracy. The post also made him responsible for painted decoration at the royal residences, and on coaches and furniture. Among his works were a fountain (now destroyed) and the astronomical clock, both at Hampton Court Palace. He also inspected portraits of the Queen by other artists prior to their official release.
Gower's best-known work is the version of the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth now at Woburn Abbey, painted to commemorate the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada. (A cut down version of this painting in the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom) is attributed to Gower; the "Drake" version is by a different hand.)
Francis Oliver FinchBritish watercolour painter, 1802-1862