Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1596-1656 Jan van Goyen was born in Leiden on Jan. 13, 1596. Apprenticed from the age of 10, he had several masters. About 1617 he went to Haarlem to study with Esaias van de Velde, an important innovator in the Haarlem movement of realistic landscape painting. Van Goyen's works between 1621 and 1625 are sometimes hard to distinguish from those of his teacher. They are colorful, detailed views of villages and roads, usually busy with people, as in Winter (1621). It was Van Goyen's usual practice to sign or monogram and date his paintings. He traveled extensively through the Netherlands and beyond, recording his impressions in sketchbooks, occasionally with dates and often depicting recognizable scenes. Thus the chronology of his development is clear. His paintings of the late 1620s show a steady advance from the strong colors and scattered organization of his early works toward tonality and greater simplicity and unity of composition. By 1630 he was painting monochromes in golden brown or pale green; he played a leading part in the tonal phase of Dutch landscape painting. In 1631 Van Goyen settled in The Hague, where he became a citizen in 1634. The simplicity, airiness, and unification of his compositions continued to increase in his abundant production of dune landscapes, river views, seascapes, town views, and winter landscapes. The River View (1636) displays a river so open and extensive as to suggest the sea, with reflections that prolong the vast and luminous sky. In its monumentalization of humble structures and its composition built on a firm scaffolding of horizontal and vertical forces, it forecast at this early date developments that dominated landscape painting in the 1650s and later. In the Village and Dunes (1647) the traditional double-diagonal composition still exists, but it is dominated by horizontal and vertical accents. Stronger contrasts of light and dark replace the earlier tonality. In the last year of his life Van Goyen produced an eloquent new style, in which powerful forms stand out against the radiant sky and water in an exquisitely balanced composition (Evening Calm; 1656). The commission in 1651 to paint a panoramic view of The Hague for the Burgomaster's Room shows the high regard in which Van Goyen was held. He was enormously productive; well over 1,000 of his paintings still exist, and almost as many drawings.   Related Paintings of Jan van Goyen :. | Mouth of the Meuse | Marine Landscape with Fishermen | Winter Landscape With Figures On Ice | River Landscape | Landscape with Dunes |
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Bartholomeus Breenbergh
(before 13 November 1598 - after 3 October 1657) was a Dutch painter born in Deventer. Breenbergh established himself in Amsterdam and then in 1619 went to Rome. There he lived and worked with the Flemish painter Frans van de Kasteele and was heavily influenced by another Fleming, the landscape painter Paul Bril. From 1623, however, he came completely under the spell of Italian landscapes by the somewhat older Cornelis van Poelenburgheindeed, the works of Breenbergh and van Poelenburgh are sometimes very difficult of tell apart. Breenbergh in his turn influenced the French painter Claude Lorrain. Breenbergh was one of the founders of the Bentvueghels, where he was nicknamed "het fret". In 1633 Breenbergh returned to Amsterdam, where he remained until his death, and where he made paintings and etchings of Italian buildings. There he was influenced by the pre-Rembrandtists such as Pieter Lastman and Nicolaes Moeyaert, but he placed their Biblical and mythological scenes in Italian landscapes.
Adam Albrecht
1786-1862, was a German painter of battles and horses. Born in Nordlingen, he began an apprenticeship as a confectioner and went in 1803 to Nuremberg to begin his training. However, influenced by the director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Nuremberg and later by Johann Rugendas, he turned towards painting - mainly battlefields and horses. After participating in the Austrian campaign of 1809, he stayed for a time in Vienna, where he drew the attention of Napoleon's stepson Eug??ne de Beauharnais and was appointed his court painter. Most of Adam's subsequent works deal with Napoleon's Russian campaign, in which he participated under de Beauharnais. Among other works, he painted a diary of the campaign in 83 scenes. In 1815, Adam moved to Munich, where he was occupied by the emperors and kings of Bavaria and Austria. His studio in Munich was frequently visited by Theodor Horschelt, who later became well known for his paintings of Russian Caucasian War. He worked until a great age, recording battles and portraying horses, even though in his late works he was supported by the help of his sons, Benno, Eugen and Franz. He died in Munich.
Anastagio Fontebuoni
Firenze 1571 -1626