1593-1648 French Louis Le Nain Gallery French family of painters. Antoine Le Nain (b Laon, c. 1600; bur Paris, 26 May 1648) and his brothers Louis Le Nain (b Laon, c. 1600; bur Paris, 24 May 1648) and Mathieu Le Nain (b Laon, c. 1607; bur Paris, 26 April 1677) lived together and shared a studio in Paris. Since the studio was headed by Antoine, he is assumed to have been older than Louis. The brothers reputation rests on a number of paintings signed Le Nain, on the basis of which other paintings (but no drawings) have also been attributed to them. None of the signed paintings bears a Christian name, and there is no secure way of attributing works to the individual brothers, although many attempts have been made. Eighteenth-century sale catalogues, fearful of anonymity, effectively chose from the three names at random. Since the writings of Witt (1910) and Jamot (1922) in particular, it has been habitual to ascribe small paintings on copper to Antoine, and austere, larger peasant scenes to Louis. This division of hands will be found in almost all the subsequent literature on the artists, although it must be stressed that there is no evidence at all to support it. Great efforts have also been made to identify works by Mathieu, since he survived his brothers by nearly 30 years and presumably continued to paint after their deaths in 1648. However, no such activity after 1648 is securely documented, and none of the surviving works bears a date later than 1647; and the arguments for a separate Mathieu oeuvre, though cogent, should not be regarded as conclusive. The outstanding feature of the work of the Le Nain brothers, and the basis of their celebrity since the mid-19th century, is the artists treatment of the poor.  Related Paintings of Louis Le Nain :. | The Cart or the Return from Haymaking (mk05) | Landscape with Peasants | Peasant family | Die Schmiede | Zwei Madchen |
Related Artists:
Antonio Maria Fabres y Costa
Spanish, 1854 - 1936 Antonio Fabres was a famous Spanish artist during the turn of the century. He was born in Barcelona Spain in 1854. It is said that he was the artist gene since his father was a draughtsman and his uncle a silversmith. He started studying at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in his native city at the age of 13. When he turned 21, he received a grant to study in Rome. There are records of his sculptures from early in his career but later on he became a painter almost exclusively. He joined Mariano Fortuny with a group that became known for their intense realism. Their popularity grew with the taste of the bourgeoisie seeking exotic images with oriental of medieval themes. He went back to Barcelona in 1886 and in 1894 he moved to Paris. The popularity he had earned during his decade in Italy helped him open a large studio where he could create complex scenes for the upper classes. In 1902 the Academia de San Carlos decided to renovate their classical techniques with the ones of realism that were so popular in Europe at the time. Antonio Fabres was called to take the place of Santiago Rebull as head of this important institution. Although some of his students went on to become what was later known as the Post-Revolutionary Movement in Mexican art, the faculty had a hard time adapting to his distinct style and personality. In 1907, he returned to Rome. One of his last commissions in Mexico was the decorations of a hall at the Porfirio Diaz mansion where he mainly focused on art nouveau style . Fabres was recognized most everywhere he traveled. He was acclaimed in Barcelona, London, Paris, Vienna and Lyon. At the end of his life he was dealt a very unfortunate blow when in 1926 he decided to donate a large amount of works to the Museo de Bellas Artes de Barcelona. In exchange for this generous donation he asked the Museum that a hall be built with his name, but the museum never built that hall and although he protested several times, they could never settle the argument. Antonio Fabres died in Rome in 1938.
Lucas de Heere
1534-1584,Painter, tapestry designer, draughtsman and poet. He was probably trained by his parents. The suggestion that he became a member of the Ghent Guild of St Luke before 1540 was derived from an incorrect interpretation of the Guild records for 1574-5. Van Mander recorded that, as a boy, de Heere accompanied his father on his trips to the stone-quarries of the Meuse region, where he made topographical drawings. Lucas was sent to Frans Floris's studio c. 1555 or shortly before to complete his training, and he may have collaborated with his master on tapestry cartoons and stained-glass designs, although no cartoons or preparatory drawings survive. During this period de Heere also became noted as a poet in the local rhetoricians' chambers. His father's influence helped him to gain commissions in Ghent from 1555, and, according to Marcus van Vaernewijck (1568), he worked on new stained-glass windows for the St Janskerk in Ghent in the same year.
William Robinson Leigh
(September 23, 1866 - March 11, 1955) is a noted American artist, who specialized in Western scenes. He was born at Maidstone Manor Farm, Berkeley County, West Virginia. He entered the Maryland Institute at age 14, then attended the Royal Academy in Munich. He returned to the United States and worked painting cycloramas and as a magazine illustrator. He married and fathered William Colston Leigh, Sr. (1901-1992). In 1906, Leigh traveled to the American West and maintained a studio in New York City. In 1933, he wrote and illustrated The Western Pony. He also traveled to Africa and published a book Frontiers of Enchantment (1938). Hs adventures were chronicled in a number of popular magazines including Life, the Saturday Evening Post, and Colliers.He is known for painting the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Forest, but his primary interest were the Hopi and Navajo Indians