Ferrara ca 1487-after 1524 Related Paintings of Giovanni Battista Ortolano :. | Portrait of a Gentleman | A View of Loch Lomond | Nymph and Fauns | Landscape with Wild Animals a | modellen pa | Related Artists:
David Martinpainted Portrait of Elizabeth Rennie, Viscountess Melville in 1750-1847
Gustave Dore (French pronunciation: January 6, 1832 - January 23, 1883) was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Dore worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.
Dore was born in Strasbourg and his first illustrated story was published at the age of fifteen. His skill had manifested itself even earlier, however. At age five he had been a prodigy troublemaker, playing pranks that were mature beyond his years. Seven years later, he began carving in cement. Subsequently, as a young man, he began work as a literary illustrator in Paris, winning commissions to depict scenes from books by Rabelais, Balzac, Milton and Dante.
In 1853, Dore was asked to illustrate the works of Lord Byron. This commission was followed by additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated English Bible. A decade later, he illustrated a French edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote, and his depictions of the knight and his squire, Sancho Panza, have become so famous that they have influenced subsequent readers, artists, and stage and film directors' ideas of the physical "look" of the two characters. Dore also illustrated an oversized edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", an endeavor that earned him 30,000 francs from publisher Harper & Brothers in 1883.
Dore's English Bible (1866) was a great success, and in 1867 Dore had a major exhibition of his work in London. This exhibition led to the foundation of the Dore Gallery in Covelant Bond Street. In 1869, Blanchard Jerrold, the son of Douglas William Jerrold, suggested that they work together to produce a comprehensive portrait of London. Jerrold had obtained the idea from The Microcosm of London produced by Rudolph Ackermann, William Pyne, and Thomas Rowlandson in 1808. Dore signed a five-year contract with the publishers Grant & Co that involved his staying in London for three months a year, and he received the vast sum of £10,000 a year for the project. Dore was mainly celebrated for his paintings in his day. His paintings remain world renowned, but his woodcuts and engravings, like those he did for Jerrold, are where he really excelled as an artist with an individual vision.
The completed book, London: A Pilgrimage, with 180 engravings, was published in 1872. It enjoyed commercial and socioeconomical success, but the work was disliked by many contemporary critics. Some of these critics were concerned with the fact that Dore appeared to focus on the poverty that existed in parts of London. Dore was accused by the Art Journal of "inventing rather than copying." The Westminster Review claimed that "Dore gives us sketches in which the commonest, the vulgarest external features are set down." The book was a financial success, however, and Dore received commissions from other British publishers.
Martin Schongauer1430-1491
German
Martin Schongauer Galleries
His father was a goldsmith named Casper, a native of Augsburg, who had settled at Colmar, where the chief part of Martin's life was spent. He may well have been trained by Master E. S.; A. Hyatt Mayor saw both their styles in different parts of one engraving, and all the works with Schongauer's M†S monogram show a fully developed style. Schongauer established at Colmar a very important school of engraving, out of which grew the "Little Masters" of the succeeding generation, and a large group of Nuremberg artists.
As a painter, Schongauer was a follower of the Flemish Rogier van der Weyden, and his rare existing pictures closely resemble, both in splendour of color and exquisite minuteness of execution, the best works of contemporary art in Flanders.
Porträt einer jungen Frau, by Martin Schongauer, c. 1478, located in Sammlung Heinz Kisters, Kreuzlingen (Schweiz) in GermanyAmong the very few paintings which can with certainty be attributed to him, the chief is a magnificent altar-piece in the church of Saint Martin at Colmar. The Mus??e d´Unterlinden in Colmar possesses eleven panels by him, and a small panel of David with Goliath's Head in the Munich Gallery is attributed to him. The miniature painting of the Death of the Virgin in the National Gallery, London is probably the work of some pupil. In 1488 Schongauer died at Colmar, according to the register of Saint Martin Church. Other authorities state that his death occurred in 1491.
The main work of Schongauer's life was the production of a large number of beautiful engravings, which were largely sold, not only in Germany, but also in Italy and even in England and Spain. Vasari says that Michelangelo copied one of his engravings, the Trial of Saint Anthony. His style shows no trace of Italian influence, but a very clear and organised Gothic.
His subjects are mainly religious, but include comic scenes of ordinary life such as the Peasant family going to market or the Two apprentices fighting. one hundred and sixteen engravings are generally recognised as by his hand, and since several are only known from a single impression, there were probably others that are now lost. Many of his pupils' plates as well as his own are signed, M†S, as are many copies probably by artists with no connection to him.
Crucifixion by Schongauer.Among the most renowned of Schongauer's engravings are the series of the Passion and the Death and Coronation of the Virgin, and the series of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. All are remarkable for their miniature-like treatment, their brilliant touch, and their chromatic force. Some, such as the Death of the Virgin and the Adoration of the Magi are richly-filled compositions of many figures, treated with much largeness of style in spite of their minute scale.
He established the system of depicting volume by means of cross-hatching (lines in two directions) which was further developed by D??rer, and was the first engraver to curve parallel lines, probably by rotating the plate against a steady burin. He also developed a burin technique producing deeper lines on the plate, which meant that more impressions could be taken before the plate became worn.
The British Museum and other major print rooms possess fine collections of Schongauer's prints.