Flemish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1465-1530 Quentin Massys, also spelled Matsys or Metsys, was born in Louvain, the son of a blacksmith. He is traditionally thought to have been trained in that craft by his father. Art in Louvain while Massys was growing up was dominated by Dirk Bouts. Massys became a member of the painters' guild in Antwerp in 1491 and died there in 1530. He represented a current of painting that flourished in Antwerp at this time of its sudden new prosperity. Erwin Panofsky (1953) described this trend, "archaism of around 1500," as "a prelude to, in fact a fact of, the Renaissance in Netherlandish painting," which prevailed in the southern Netherlands. The monumental Enthroned Madonna (Brussels), an early work by Massys, has features recalling both Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck. The central panel of Massys' imposing St. Anne Altarpiece, or the Holy Kinship (Brussels), which was commissioned for the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in 1507 and signed and dated 1509, has a prototype in the Holy Kinship of Geertgen tot Sint Jans. Even the physical types and costumes in Massys' version refer to Geertgen's. But Massys placed his rhythmically balanced figure groups in a domed, arcaded loggia that in architectural style appears to be reaching for a Renaissance vocabulary it cannot quite attain; certainly the architecture evokes a later period than that represented by the Gothic throne of the Enthroned Madonna. The calm and restraint of the St. Anne Altarpiece are replaced by heightened emotional expression in the next important painting by Massys that can be firmly dated, the Deposition triptych (Antwerp). This was commissioned in 1508 by the guild of joiners in Antwerp for their chapel in the Cathedral; Massys completed the composition in 1511. It was inspired by Rogier van der Weyden's great Deposition, which was in the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in Massys' time, and also quotes from Rogier's Entombment. Massys painted genre subjects, possibly with emblematic meaning, such as A Money Changer and His Wife, which belonged to a Netherlandish tradition that maintained its popularity right through the 17th century. In portraiture he made significant contributions. His pair of portraits of Erasmus and Petrus Aegidius, painted in 1517 for Sir Thomas More, set the pattern for representations of the scholar in his study.   Related Paintings of MASSYS, Quentin :. | The Moneylender and his Wife (detail) sdg | Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam sg | The Adoration of the Magi | Christ on the Cross with Donors (detail) sg | St Mary Magdalene |
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Ary Scheffer
Dordrecht 1795-Argenteuil 1858 Dutch painter, sculptor and lithographer, active in France. He became a French citizen in 1850. He received his earliest training in the studio of his parents, Johann-Bernhard Scheffer (1764-1809) and Cornelia Scheffer (1769-1839), who were both artists, as was his brother Henri Scheffer (1798-1862). He then attended the Amsterdam Teeken-Academie (1806-9). At the first Exhibition of Living Masters in Amsterdam in 1808 he showed Hannibal Swearing to Avenge the Death of his Brother Hasdrubal
DUSART, Cornelis
Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1660-1704 Dutch painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He was the son of the organist at St Bavo in Haarlem and one of the last pupils of Adriaen van Ostade. He became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St Luke on 10 January 1679 and served as its dean in 1692. Dated pictures by Dusart have survived from almost every year between 1679 and 1702. Two of his earliest pictures of peasants relied heavily on compositions by van Ostade: Mother and Child (1679; Dresden, Gemeldegal. Alte Meister) and Woman Selling Milk (1679; sold Amsterdam, Muller, 16 Oct 1928, lot 9; the original drawing by van Ostade is in Paris
Joel Pettersson
(June 8, 1892 - January 5, 1937) was a painter and writer on the Åland Islands, Finland. He remained an obscure figure during his lifetime; most of his works were unpublished for decades after his death. Pettersson was born into poverty in Lemland, Åland. His parents were elderly peasants, Joel's father being well over 50 at the time of Joel's birth. Joel had a younger brother Karl, who died at sea in 1916. Pettersson began writing and painting in his early school years, though much of his works from this period were not preserved. In 1913, he had the opportunity to study at a drawing school in Turku. He stayed in Turku until 1915, when he decided to abort his studies and return to Åland. He painted for a few years, but he eventually tired of it and did not paint for many years. Upon his return, Pettersson became active in the local youth organisation, for which he wrote plays and monologues. He also wrote prose which he read out loud during organisation meetings. Pettersson was most active as a writer following his return from Turku until 1921. During the 1920s, Pettersson worked mostly on his parents' farm, only sporadically participating in the youth organisation's activities. His parents both died in 1928, leaving Pettersson to care for the farm. He sold all the animals and most of the property. He tried earning a living on his artistry, but was unsuccessful. He then tried raising hens, but this also proved to be an unsuccessful venture. He resumed painting in 1935, and some of his paintings were displayed during an exhibition the following year. His constant economic difficulties and work load took their toll. In 1936, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to Grelsby Asylum, where he remained until his death in early 1937.