(born Niko Pirosmanashvili; May 5, 1862-1918) was a Georgian primitivist painter. Pirosmani was born in the Georgian village of Mirzaani to a pleasant family in the Kakheti province. His family owned a small vineyard. He was later orphaned and put in the care of his two elder sisters. He moved with them to Tbilisi in 1870. In 1872 he worked as a servant for wealthy families and learned to read and write Russian and Georgian. In 1876 he returned to Mirzaani and worked as a herdsman. Pirosmani gradually taught himself to paint. One of his specialties was painting directly into black oilcloth. In 1882 he opened a workshop in Tbilisi which was unsuccessful. In 1890 he worked as a railroad conductor, and in 1895 worked creating signboards. In 1893 he co-founded a dairy farm in Tbilisi which he left in 1901. Throughout his life Pirosmani, who was always poor, was willing to take up ordinary jobs including housepainting and whitewashing buildings. Although his paintings had some local popularity (about 200 survive) his relationship with professional artists remained uneasy; making a living was always more important to him than abstract aesthetics.  Related Paintings of Niko Pirosmanashvili :. | The Russo-Japanese War | A Woman Carrying Easter Eggs | A Doe against Landscape | A Doe Walking | Feast in the Grape Pergola or Feast of Three Noblemen |
Related Artists:
Job Adriaenszoon Berckheyde
(27 January 1630 - 10 June 1698) was a Dutch artist of the 17th century, active in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and The Hague. Job Berckheyde was born in Haarlem and was the older brother of the painter Gerrit who he later taught to paint. He was apprenticed on 2 November 1644 to Jacob Willemszoon de Wet, and his master's influence is apparent in his first dated canvas, "Christ Preaching to the Children" (1661), one of his few biblical scenes. On 10 June 1653 he repaid a loan from the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke. From 1656-1660 the two brothers made an extended trip along the Rhine to Germany, stopping off at Cologne, Bonn, Mannheim and finally Heidelberg, following the example of their fellow guild member Vincent van der Vinne. The brothers worked in Heidelberg for Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine (with Job producing portraits and hunting scenes, and receiving a gold chain from the Elector in reward) but were ultimately unable to adapt to court life and so returned to Haarlem, where they shared a house and perhaps a studio. He became a member of the Haarlem rederijkersgilde 'De Wijngaardranken' in 1666-1682. He is registered in Amsterdam 1682-1688, where he became a member of the Guild of St Luke there in 1685-1688.Berckheyde was buried in Haarlem.
BAUGIN, Lubin
French painter. He became a master in the painters' guild of Saint-Germain-des-Pr?s in 1629. From c. 1636 he was in Italy, but he is known to have been in Paris again in 1641; in 1645 he became a member of the Acad?mie de St Luc, and in 1651 he was also a member of the Acad?mie Royale after the temporary amalgamation of the two institutions. Like many of his generation he was deeply influenced by the art of the Fontainebleau school. The Mannerist tendency of his style
BICCI, Nero di
Italian Early Renaissance Painter, 1419-1491