1580-1666 Frans Hals Galleries In the field of group portraiture his work is equalled only by that of Rembrandt. Hals's portraits, both individual and group, have an immediacy and brilliance that bring his sitters to life in a way previously unknown in the Netherlands. This effect, achieved by strong Baroque designs and the innovative use of loose brushstrokes to depict light on form, was not to the taste of critics in the 18th century and the early 19th, when his work was characterized as lazy and unfinished. However, with the rise of Realism and, later, Impressionism, Hals was hailed as a modern painter before his time. Since then his works have always been popular.  Related Paintings of Frans Hals :. | The Lady-Governors of the Old Men's Almshouse at Haarlem (mk45) | Portrait of a young man holding a glove | The Gypsy Girl | Banquet of the Office of the St George Civic Guard in Haarlem | A Family Group in a Landscape |
Related Artists:
CERQUOZZI, Michelangelo
Italian Baroque Era Painter, ca.1602-1660 Italian painter. He was a painter of bambocciate (low-life subjects), battles, small religious and mythological works and still-lifes. He was born of Roman parents, baptized in the parish of S Lorenzo in Lucina and spent his entire life in his native city. A member of the Accademia di S Luca since 1634, Cerquozzi attended meetings of the society as late as 1652. His friends included Domenico Viola, Pietro da Cortona and Giacinto Brandi. More significant were his associations with foreign residents in Rome. According to Baldinucci, Cerquozzi had special affection for the Spanish, owing to the patronage he received from the major-domo of the Spanish Embassy as a youth, and would often don Spanish attire as a sign of his sentiment. His Spanish connections may partly account for the many commissions he later received from patrons identified with Rome's pro-Spanish political faction (Haskell). Cerquozzi enjoyed equally good rapport with northern European residents of Rome. He is documented as having quartered with artists from beyond the Alps, including Paulus Bor and Cornelis Bloemaert, for the bulk of his career.
Arshile Gorky
Armenian 1904-1948 Arshile Gorky Gallery Gorky was born in the village of Khorkom near Van, Turkey. It is not known exactly when he was born: it was sometime between 1902 and 1905. (In later years Gorky was vague about even the date of his birth, changing it from year to year.) In 1910 his father emigrated to America to avoid the draft, leaving his family behind in the town of Van. Gorky fled Van in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide and escaped with his mother and his three sisters into Russian-controlled territory. In the aftermath of the genocide, Gorky's mother died of starvation in Yerevan in 1919. Gorky was reunited with his father when he arrived in America in 1920, aged 16, but they never grew close. At age 31, Gorky married. He changed his name to Arshile Gorky, in the process reinventing his identity (he even told people he was a relative of the Russian writer Maxim Gorky). In 1922, Gorky enrolled in the New School of Design in Boston, eventually becoming a part-time instructor. During the early 1920s he was influenced by impressionism, although later in the decade he produced works that were more postimpressionist. During this time he was living in New York and was influenced by Paul Cezanne. In 1927, Gorky met Ethel Kremer Schwabacher and developed a life lasting friendship. Schwabacher was his first biographer.
Juan de Juanes
1523-1579 Spanish Juan de Juanes Gallery Born in Bocairent and was considered the premier painter of the Valencian school of painters, and often called "the Spanish Raphael", was born at La Font de la Figuera in the province of Valencia. He is said to have studied his art for some time in Rome, with which school his affinities are closest, but he greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of Valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now to be found. All relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, ruth and beauty of color, and minuteness of finish. He died at Bocairent (near X??tiva) while engaged upon an altarpiece in the church there. Since his name Macip made him sound like a laborer (macero), he adopted the name of Juanes or de Juan, and the heraldy of that family of nobility. He painted a Raphaelesqe Holy Family for the sacristy in the Cathedral of Valencia. He never painted a profane subject, and emulated Luis de Cargas and Fra Angelico de Fiesole, in never painting unless he had underwent holy communion. Painting for him was a solemn exercise, an oratory process, full of prayers and fasts. He never lacked church patronage; the archbishop of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova, ordered a set of cartoon panels about the Life of the Virgin to model for some tapestries. He also painted for the churches of the Jesuits, Domicans, Minims, Augustinians, Franciscans, and for the churches of San Nicol??s , Santa Cruz , Carmen Calzado, St Esteban, Corona, Temple, San Andr??s, San Bartolom?? and San Miguel de los Reyes. Among his best works is the Immaculate Conception painted for the Jesuit church, supposedly inspired by a revelation undergone by the painter's confessor, Father Martin Alberto, confesor del pintor. Macip also painted portraits. His son, Juan Vicente Joanes, imitated his style. His two daughters, Dorotea and Margarita were also painters. Him most prominent pupil was Nicolas Borras.