Paul Cezanne
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 :. | Une moderne Olympia | Une moderne Olympia | Summer | stilleben med lokar | Bath De | Related Artists: NEER, Aert van derDutch Baroque Era Painter, ca.1603-1677
Dutch landscape painter. Working mostly in Amsterdam, he excelled in painting unusual light effects, such as moonlight, sunsets, conflagrations, and glimmering light on snow and ice. His winter landscapes are among the best in Dutch art. He is well represented in many European galleries. The Metropolitan Museum has his Sunset, The Farrier, and Landscape. His son and pupil, Eglon Hendrik van der Neer, 1634C1703, was a genre, landscape, and portrait painter. He was court painter to the elector palatine in Desseldorf. He excelled in painting luxurious interiors, hunting scenes, and mythological or biblical subjects in Dutch settings.
Philips Koninck1619-1688
Dutch
Philips Koninck Gallery
Little is known of his history except that he was said to be a pupil of Rembrandt, whose influence is to be seen in much of his work. He painted chiefly broad, sunny landscapes, full of space, light and atmosphere; they are seen from a high perspective, allowing a prominent view of the sky. Portraits by him, somewhat in the manner of Rembrandt, also exist (e.g. see Joost van den Vondel); there are examples of these in the galleries at Copenhagen and Oslo. Of his landscapes, the principal are View at the mouth of a river at the Hague, with a slightly larger replica in the National Gallery, London; Woodland border and countryside (with figures by Adriaen van de Velde) at Amsterdam; and landscapes in Brussels, Florence (the Uffizi), Berlin and Cologne. Koninck, a prosperous businessman, appears to have painted few pictures during the last decade of his life.
Several of his works have been falsely attributed to Rembrandt and many more to his namesake and fellow townsman Salomon de Koninck (1609-1656), also a disciple of Rembrandt, whose paintings and etchings consist mainly of portraits and biblical scenes.
Both of these painters are to be distinguished from David Koninck (1636?-1687), also known as Rammelaar. David Koninck was born in Antwerp and studied there under Jan Fyt. He later settled in Rome, where he is stated to have died in 1687; this, however, is doubtful. His pictures are chiefly landscapes with animals and still life.
Franz HornyGerman, 1798-1824,German painter. He received his first instruction in art from his father, Conrad Horny (1764-1807), a painter and copperplate engraver, who taught at the Zeichenschule in Weimar. He attended this school from 1806 to 1816, training primarily as a painter of landscapes. In 1816, his patron Baron Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, a friend of his father, enabled him to travel to Italy. In Rome Horny became a student of Joseph Anton Koch, who introduced him to landscape composition in the classically heroic style. Through eager study, both from nature and from live models, Horny's skills developed swiftly, especially in his work in pen and watercolour (e.g. View of Olevano with Shepherds and a Hermit, 1817; Dresden, Kupferstichkab.). Horny was soon, however, drawn into the circle of the Lukasbr?der: Peter Joseph Cornelius persuaded him to participate in the major fresco project for the Casino Massimo in Rome. Horny completed a large number of pen and watercolour drawings (e.g. Weimar, Schlossmus.) depicting flowers, fruit and birds, and intended as wreaths and festoons to frame Cornelius's historical scenes from Dante's Paradiso. When Cornelius was recalled to Munich in 1818, however, this fresco was not carried out and Horny's designs were therefore not used. In the same year, Horny developed tuberculosis and moved to Olevano for his health. The rugged beauty of the Sabine Hills and their picturesque towns drew him back to the depiction of landscape. His drawings, combining Koch's classically heroic outlook with the poetic sensibility of the Lukasbr?der, often convey the impression of an earthly paradise, as in Italian Country Life (c. 1820; L?beck, St Annen-Mus.).
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