Greek-born Spanish Mannerist Painter, 1541-1614
Considered a representative of late Renaissance Spanish art, El Greco was actually born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After studying in Venice under Titian, El Greco settled in Toledo, Spain in 1577. At the time he was wildly popular, his emotionally religious paintings being just the ticket for the hometown of the Spanish Inquisition. After his death his work was largely ignored until the beginning of the 20th century; now he considered one of the inspired geniuses of Western art. His distinctive style features bold shapes and colors, with elongated and slightly distorted figures.
In Toledo El Greco was in constant demand and liked living large: he maintained a private orchestra to accompany his meals. Related Paintings of El Greco :. | The Coronation of the Virgin | St Sebastian | Madonna and child, and Sta Martina and Sta Agnes | The Disrobing of Christ | Portrait of the Artist's Son,jorge Manuel Greco | Related Artists:
Ignacio Pinazo CamarlenchSpanish painter , 1849-1916
was a Spanish painter, and one of the most prominent artists of Valencia from the end of the nineteenth century, working in the Impressionist style. Born into a poor family, Pinazo was forced from a young age to assist in supporting the family by practising various trades. He had only attended eight grades when his mother died of the cholera, and young Ignazio was variously employed as a silversmith, a painter of tiles, and a decorator of fans. After his father's death, he lived with his grandparents, and in 1864 enrolled in the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, Valencia, earning his living as a hatter. His artistic career started when he was 21, and he achieved his first success in Barcelona three years later. In 1871, work by him was displayed in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts for the first time. He visited Rome twice, the first time (1873) thanks to the sale of a painting. From 1876 to 1881 he lived in that city on a grant. When he returned to his native city in 1874, he abandoned the conventional historic themes he had so far devoted his efforts to, and instead started painting family subjects, nude figures, and scenes from daily life, thereby anticipating Joaqu'n Sorolla y Bastida and Francisco Domingo both in subject and style.
Bellows, GeorgeAmerican, 1882-1925.American painter and lithographer. He was the son of George Bellows, an architect and building contractor. He displayed a talent for drawing and for athletics at an early age. In 1901 he entered Ohio State University, where he contributed drawings to the school yearbook and played on both the basketball and baseball teams. In spring of his third year he withdrew from university to play semi-professional baseball until the end of summer 1904;
Ferdinand von Pilotypainted King Ludwig II of Bavaria in generals' uniform and coronation robe in 1865