English 1861-1922 Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble. The vast majority of Godward's extant images feature women in Classical dress, posed against these landscape features, though there are some semi-nude and fully nude figures included in his oeuvre (a notable example being In The Tepidarium (1913), a title shared with a controversial Alma-Tadema painting of the same subject that resides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery). The titles reflect Godward's source of inspiration: Classical civilisation, most notably that of Ancient Rome (again a subject binding Godward closely to Alma-Tadema artistically), though Ancient Greece sometimes features, thus providing artistic ties, albeit of a more limited extent, with Leighton. Given that Classical scholarship was more widespread among the potential audience for his paintings during his lifetime than in the present day, meticulous research of detail was important in order to attain a standing as an artist in this genre. Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artefacts that were later used in his paintings: Godward, too, studied such details as architecture and dress, in order to ensure that his works bore the stamp of authenticity. In addition, Godward painstakingly and meticulously rendered those other important features in his paintings, animal skins (the paintings Noon Day Rest (1910) and A Cool Retreat (1910) contain superb examples of such rendition) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906), illustrated above, and Summer Flowers (1903) are again excellent examples of this). The appearance of beautiful women in studied poses in so many of Godward's canvases causes many newcomers to his works to categorise him mistakenly as being Pre-Raphaelite, particularly as his palette is often a vibrantly colourful one. However, the choice of subject matter (ancient civilisation versus, for example, Arthurian legend) is more properly that of the Victorian Neoclassicist: however, it is appropriate to comment that in common with numerous painters contemporary with him, Godward was a 'High Victorian Dreamer', producing beautiful images of a world which, it must be said, was idealised and romanticised, and which in the case of both Godward and Alma-Tadema came to be criticised as a world-view of 'Victorians in togas'.  Related Paintings of John William Godward :. | Study of Campaspe | The Old, Old Story | A Souvenir | By the Wayside | Idle Thoughts |
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BONFIGLI, Benedetto
Italian painter, Umbrian school (b. ca. 1420, Perugia, d. 1496, Perugia) Benedetto Bonfigli (c. 1420?CJuly 8, 1496) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento born in Perugia, and active around Umbria. He is also known as Buonfiglio. He was the teacher of the painter Pietro Perugino. His earliest work was an ' Annunciation,' originally in the Orfanelli at Perugia. His masterpiece is a series of frescoes in the Palazzo del Consiglio in the same city, which represent the Lives of St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Herculanus; they were begun in 1454 and not finished in 1496, in which year Bonfigli's will is dated. An Adoration of the Magi (c. 1460) was painted for San Domenico. A Banner (gonfalone) was painted in 1465 for the brotherhood of San Bernardino, and representing the deeds of their patron saint; another Gonfalone painted for the brotherhood of San Fiorenzo in 1476, in honor of the Virgin, who had been prayed to intercede for the cessation of the plague. He painted a Virgin of Mercy' (1478) for the church of the Commenda di Santa Croce; and several others in and around Perugia. He was much influenced by Domenico Veneziano and Pietro della Francesca. He also painted frescoes of Sant Ercolano and San Ludovico (1454) for the Palazzo del Consiglio. He died in Perugia.