(Naples, 1716-Madrid, 1780) was a Spanish painter. Although he received little acclaim during his lifetime and died in poverty, Melendez is recognized today as the greatest Spanish still-life painter of the 18th century. His mastery of composition and light, and his remarkable ability to convey the volume and texture of individual objects enabled him to transform the most mundane of kitchen fare into powerful images. Luis Egidio Melendez de Rivera Durazo y Santo Padre was born in Naples in 1716. His father, Francisco Melendez de Rivera Diaz (1682- after 1758), was a miniaturist painter from Oviedo who had moved to Madrid with his older brother, the portrait painter Miguel Jacinto Melendez (1679-1734) in pursuit of artistic instruction. Whereas Miguel remained in Madrid to study and became a painter in the court of Philip V, Francisco left for Italy in 1699 to seek greater artistic exposure. Francisco took a special interest in visiting the Italian academies and settled in Naples where he married Maria Josefa Durazo y Santo Padre Barrille.Luis was a year old when his father, who had been a soldier in a Spanish garrison and lived abroad for almost two decades, returned to Madrid with the family. Luis Egidio, his brother Jose Agusten, and Ana, one of his sisters, began their careers under the tutelage of their father, who was appointed the King's Painter of Miniatures in 1725.After several years, in his words: painting royal portraits in jewels and bracelets to serve as gifts for envoys and ambassadors, he entered the workshop of Louis Michel van Loo (1707-1771), a Frenchman who had been made royal painter of Philip V of Spain. Between 1737 to 1742, Melendez worked as a part of a team of artist dedicated to copying van Loo's prototypes of royal portraits for the domestic and overseas market, but at least he had a foothold in the palace. He had his artistic sights on a distinguished career as a court painter.  Related Paintings of Luis Egidio Melendez :. | Still Life With Figs | Still Life with Oranges | Still Life with Fruit and Cheese | Detail of Self-portrait Holding an Academic Study | The spy |
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Giuseppe Antonio Petrini
(October 23, 1677- c. 1755-9) was a painter of the late-Baroque, active mainly in Lugano, present-day Switzerland. St. Andrew City Museum of Rimini, ItalyWhile born in Carona in Canton Ticino and died in Lugano, both in Switzerland, Petrini belongs to the Northern Italian or Lombard heritage of baroque painting. He possibly apprenticed with Bartolomeo Guidobono after 1700. While some works can be found in Como and Bergamo, most are located in Lugano and the surrounding area. He is also listed between 1711 and 1753 as fabbriciere of the church of Madonna deOnegro in Carona. He often painted "portraits" of historical figures including saints, philosophers, and scientists for patrons. One of his more prominent examples is his depiction of an auster St. Peter emerging from the shadows to pinpoint some lines in the gospel. He painted another St. Peter for the parish church of Dubino. Pietro Ligari classified him among the speculative painters, since these portraits, by nature, were imagined.
Girodet-Trioson, Anne-Louis
French Neoclassical Painter, 1767-1824 French painter. Originally named Girodet de Roussy or Roucy, he was a student of J.-L. David, and his classical training was sometimes at variance with his often eccentrically romantic expression. He won the Prix de Rome and while in Italy painted the Sleep of Endymion (1791; Louvre), a sensual and erotically ambiguous work that brought him widespread recognition. His Deluge (Louvre) demonstrates Girodet's interest in unusual color and lighting problems. Much of his work, including a series for Malmaison (Napoleon's residence), glorifies Napoleon.
John Tenniel
English Golden Age Cartoonist and Illustrator. (1820-1914) English illustrator and painter. Impatient with the hierarchic structure of the curriculum at the Royal Academy schools in London, he left to follow a less formal education at the Clipstone Street Art Society's life and anatomy classes and in the British Museum's sculpture galleries and Print Room. His research into the history of costume and armour provided material for his early oils of chivalric scenes, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy (1837-42, 1851). Tenniel was among the artists commissioned to decorate the New Palace of Westminster, and he went in 1845 on a state-sponsored trip to Munich to study fresco technique. His contact with the school of Peter Cornelius while there confirmed his emphatic preference for a precisely drawn line.