Dutch Baroque Era Painter, ca.1628-1682 Ruysdael's favorite subjects are simple woodland scenes, similar to those of Everdingen and Hobbema. He is especially noted as a painter of trees, and his rendering of foliage, particularly of oak leaf age, is characterized by the greatest spirit and precision. His views of distant cities, such as that of Haarlem in the possession of the marquess of Bute, and that of Katwijk in the Glasgow Corporation Galleries, clearly indicate the influence of Rembrandt. He frequently painted coast-scenes and sea-pieces, but it is in his rendering of lonely forest glades that we find him at his best. The subjects of certain of his mountain scenes seem to be taken from Norway, and have led to the supposition that he had traveled in that country. We have, however, no record of such a journey, and the works in question are probably merely adaptations from the landscapes of Van Everdingen, whose manner he copied at one period. Only a single architectural subject from his brush is known--an admirable interior of the New Church, Amsterdam. The prevailing hue of his landscapes is a full rich green, which, however, has darkened with time, while a clear grey tone is characteristic of his seapieces. The art of Ruysdael, while it shows little of the scientific knowledge of later landscapists, is sensitive and poetic in sentiment, and direct and skillful in technique. Figures are sparingly introduced into his compositions, and such as occur are believed to be from the pencils of Adriaen van de Velde, Philip Wouwerman, and Jan Lingelbach. Unlike the other great Dutch landscape painters, Ruysdael did not aim at a pictorial record of particular scenes, but he carefully thought out and arranged his compositions, introducing into them an infinite variety of subtle contrasts in the formation of the clouds, the plants and tree forms, and the play of light. He particularly excelled in the painting of cloudscapes which are spanned dome-like over the landscape, and determine the light and shade of the objects. Goethe lauded him as a poet among painters, and his work shows some of the sensibilities the Romantics would later celebrate.  Related Paintings of Jacob van Ruisdael :. | A Windmill near Fields | The Dam with the weigh house at Amsterdam | Two Water Mills an Open Sluice | Bentheim Castle | Landscape with Shepherds and Peasants |
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PEREDA, Antonio de
Spanish Baroque Era Painter, ca.1611-1678 Spanish painter. He was the son of a minor painter of the same name (d 1622) and, after his father died, about 1627 he moved to Madrid with his mother. There he entered the studio of Pedro de las Cuevas, and his fellow pupils included such artists as Juan Carreeo de Miranda, Francisco Camilo, Jusepe Leonardo and Antonio Arias Fernendez. He must also have known and studied the work of many masters esteemed at court, particularly Vicente Carducho, echoes of whose work can be found in the former's early paintings. Pereda received protection early on from a member of the Royal Council, Francisco de Tejada, and later from Giovanni Battista Crescenzi, a painter and patron who was in Spain from 1617. Pereda probably completed his training through contact with Crescenzi's collection and eventually he lived in Crescenzi's house. In 1634 Pereda executed Aid to Genoa (Madrid, Prado) for the decoration of the Salen de Reinos in the Casen Buen Retiro, Madrid, a project involving all the leading artists of Madrid, including Carducho, Velezquez, Zurbaren and Jose Leonardo. The death of Crescenzi in 1635 deprived Pereda of further court commissions and seems to have stopped him painting any further secular works other than still-lifes. Also in 1635 he began a well-documented career as a religious painter, producing large altar paintings and many other medium-sized works, probably for private worship. Outstanding among these is the Immaculate Conception (1637) in the Convento de los Felipenses, Alcale de Henares (Madrid). The important allegorical painting Vanitas
Vieira Portuense
(Porto, 13 May 1765 - Funchal, 2 May 1805), who choose the artistic name of Vieira Portuense, was a Portuguese painter, one of the introducers of Neoclassicism in Portuguese painting. He was, in the neoclassical style, one of the two great Portuguese painters of his generation, with Domingos Sequeira. He first studied in Lisbon, later moving to Rome. He traveled through Italy, Germany, Austria and England, before returning to Portugal, in 1800. He met Swiss painter Angelika Kauffmann, from whom he seems to have received influences. He seems to anticipate some motives of the romantic painting in several of his historical paintings, like "Dona Filipa de Vilhena knighting her sons" (1801). He contracted tuberculosis, and moved to Madeira, were he died, aged only 39. He is represented at the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon, and at the National Museum Soares dos Reis, in Porto. Not to be confused with another Portuguese painter, Francisco Vieira de Matos, better known as Vieira Lusitano.
Narjot, Ernest
American, 1826-98