French Post-Impressionist Painter, 1839-1906 During the second half of the 19th century French impressionism created a dramatic break with the art of the past. In conception and appearance the style was radically new and, although it initially inspired public ridicule, it soon affected nearly every ambitious artist in western Europe. The new vision emerged during the 1870s, chiefly in the art of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro. For each of these artists impressionism was an illusionistic style which differed from the tradition of Renaissance illusionism in its greater emphasis upon vibrant, natural color and on an immediate confrontation with the phenomena of the visible world. As the style developed during the 1880s, however, it increasingly became characterized by paintings which were flat rather than illusionistic. In other words, the impressionists insistence upon a direct application of pigment to canvas resulted in surfaces which declared themselves first of all as surfaces - and, consequently, in paintings which declared themselves first of all as paintings rather than as windows which looked out upon the natural world. The tendency toward flatness persisted into the last years of the 19th century, its pervasiveness giving the impression that illusionistic space - fought for, won, and defended since the very beginning of the Renaissance - had finally been sacrificed by the medium of painting. Paul C??zanne worked within and finally emerged from this trend. As a painter, he matured slowly, his greatest works coming during the last 25 years of his life. During this period he scored a remarkable and heroic achievement: he restored to painting the space and volume that had seemingly been lost to it. But he did it in a totally unprecedented way: not by return to the illusionism of the past but by the creation of a spatial illusionism that did not violate flatness. C??zanne was born on Jan. 19, 1839, in Aix-en-Provence. His father, Philippe Auguste, was the cofounder of a banking firm which prospered throughout the artist life, affording him financial security that was unavailable to most of his contemporaries and eventually resulting in a large inheritance. In 1852 C??zanne entered the Coll??ge Bourbon, where he met and became friends with Émile Zola. This friendship was decisive for both men: with youthful romanticism they envisioned successful careers in the Paris art world, C??zanne as a painter and Zola as a writer. Consequently, C??zanne began to study painting and drawing at the École des Beaux-Arts in Aix in 1856. His father opposed the pursuit of an artistic career, and in 1858 he persuaded C??zanne to enter law school at the University of Aix. Although C??zanne continued his law studies for several years, he was simultaneously enrolled in the School of Design in Aix, where he remained until 1861. In 1861 C??zanne finally convinced his father to allow him to go to Paris. He planned to join Zola there and to enroll in the École des Beaux-Arts. But his application was rejected and, although he had gained inspiration from visits to the Louvre, particularly from the study of Diego Vel??zquez and Caravaggio, C??zanne experienced self-doubt and returned to Aix within the year. He entered his father banking house but continued to study at the School of Design. The remainder of the decade was a period of flux and uncertainty for C??zanne. His attempt to work in his father business was abortive, and he returned to Paris in 1862 and stayed for a year and a half. During this period he met Monet and Pissarro and became acquainted with the revolutionary work of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet. C??zanne also admired the fiery romanticism of Eug??ne Delacroix paintings. But he was never entirely comfortable with Parisian life and periodically returned to Aix, where he could work in relative isolation. He retreated there, for instance, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).  Related Paintings of Paul Cezanne :. | Au Bord de l-Eau | skull pyramid | Railway Bridge | Road corner | Man with a Pipe |
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Carnicero, Antonio
Spanish, approx. 1748-1814 Painter and draughtsman, son of Alejandro Carnicero. He arrived at the Court in Madrid with his father in 1749 and took part in the competitions held by the Real Academia de S Fernando, winning second prize in 1769 with the Coronation of Alfonso XI and Queen Mary in the Monastery of Huelgas de Burgos (Madrid, Real Acad. S Fernando, Mus.). In 1760 he won a scholarship to Rome, subsequently winning prizes from the Accademia di S Luca. On his return to Madrid in 1766 he worked as a portrait painter, producing works such as the portrait of Do?a Tomasa de Aliaga, Widow of Salcedo (Madrid, Prado). In 1788 he was elected an honorary member of S Fernando. Under the protection of the Spanish prime minister, Manuel Godoy, Prencipe de la Paz, whom he painted on several occasions , and after painting the portraits of Charles IV and Maria Luisa (both Madrid, Monasterio de la Encarnacien), he was appointed Pintor de Cemara in 1796. In 1798 he applied unsuccessfully for the post of drawing-master to the Prince of Asturias, the future Ferdinand VII, although by 1806 he was teacher of the Infante Princes. He was a refined draughtsman and prepared illustrations for the editions of Cervantes's El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha published by the Real Academia Espa?ola (Madrid, 1780; 1782). He also made the drawings for the handsome engravings (Madrid, Calcografra N.) of the Real Picadero (Royal Riding School). In addition to his portraiture, which displays a talent for realism and wit, although at times combined with slightly garish colours, Carnicero executed attractive and descriptive costumbrista paintings, depicting everyday life, popular gatherings and hunting scenes, for instance Duck Shooting on the Albufera, Valencia
George Richmond
English Painter, 1809-1896 Painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was a precocious draughtsman. In 1824 he entered the Royal Academy, London, the same year as Edward Calvert, who was a part-time student of Joseph Severn. Richmond first exhibited at the Academy in 1825 and that year met William Blake in the Highgate house of John Linnell (ii). Like his lifelong friend Samuel Palmer, Richmond fell under Blake's spell, comparing him to the Prophet Isaiah and forming close friendships with Blake's other disciples, including Calvert. He visited Palmer at Shoreham, chiefly in the summer of 1827, and both he and Calvert became prominent members of Palmer's band of ANCIENTS, who frequented the Kent village in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The tempera panel Abel the Shepherd (1826; London, Tate) is typical of Richmond's early paintings, which reflect the pronounced influence of both Blake and Palmer. They are painted in an archaic style and include Christian and literary themes and high-minded if obscure genre subjects such as the Eve of Separation (1830; Oxford, Ashmolean). The human figure was central to these pictures as it was not for Palmer, who expressed sentiment through landscape motifs. Richmond was also active as a draughtsman and miniaturist during this period; his Christ-like head of Palmer, in watercolour and gouache on vellum (London, N.P.G.), dates from 1829.
Bartolome Bermejo
Spanish Early Renaissance Painter, ca.1405-1498