1769-1830 British Sir Thomas Lawrence Galleries was a notable English painter, mostly of portraits. He was born in Bristol. His father was an innkeeper, first at Bristol and afterwards at Devizes, and at the age of six Lawrence was already being shown off to the guests of the Bear as an infant prodigy who could sketch their likenesses and declaim speeches from Milton. In 1779 the elder Lawrence had to leave Devizes, having failed in business and Thomas's precocious talent began to be the main source of the family's income; he had gained a reputation along the Bath road. His debut as a crayon portrait painter was made at Oxford, where he was well patronized, and in 1782 the family settled in Bath, where the young artist soon found himself fully employed in taking crayon likenesses of fashionable people at a guinea or a guinea and a half a head. In 1784 he gained the prize and silver-gilt palette of the Society of Arts for a crayon drawing after Raphael's "Transfiguration," and presently beginning to paint in oil.   Related Paintings of Sir Thomas Lawrence :. | Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Conyngham | Portrait of Lady Wall Court in making music | Caroline | Lord Seaforth by Thomas Lawrence | Mrs Siddons |
Related Artists:
Thomas Guest
British artist 1754-1818
Maratta, Carlo
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1625-1713 was an Italian painter of the High Baroque period, active mostly in Rome. Born in Camerano, then part of the Papal States. He came as a boy of 12 to apprentice in the studio of Andrea Sacchi. Like Sacchi, his paintings have a classicizing tone, inspired by the works of the great painters from Parma and Bologna: Carracci, Guercino, and Lanfranco. He developed a close relationship with Sacchi till the death of his master in 1661. He worked alongside Francesco Cozza, and Domenico Maria Canuti in the decoration of the Palazzo Altieri. His first prominent work is an Adoration of the Shepherds for San Giuseppe die Falegnami in 1650. He came to establish one of the most prominent art studios in Rome of his time. Other major works are the The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed to St. Augustine (c. 1655) painted for the church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, The Appearance of the Virgin to St. Philip Neri (c. 1675) now in the Pitti Palace of Florence, The Virgin with Saints Carlo Borromeo and Ignatius of Loyola and Angels (c. 1685) for the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, and The Assumption of the Virgin with Doctors of the Church (1689) for Santa Maria del Popolo, . His numerous depictions of the Virgin earned him the nickname Carluccio delle Madonne (Little Carlo of the Madonnas). The style of Maratta is a classicized Baroque, more restrained and composed than the styles of Cortona and Carracci, thus more allied to the traditions of Sacchi, Albani, and Reni. He was one of the artists favored by Giovanni Bellori. Maratta was known for his insightful portraiture. In 1650, Maratta was introduced to pope Alexander VII, who commissioned many paintings including one of his greatest works, a painting of Constantine destroying the idols for the Baptistry of the Lateran. This work brought Maratta increased fame in the Vatican, and in 1704 Maratta was knighted by pope Clement XI. Other works include an altarpiece in the San Francesco Saverio Chapel of the Church of the Gesu, in the right transept. In 1679 or 1680, a daughter, Faustina Maratti Zappi was born to Maratta by a mistress,
Joseph Karl Stieler
(1 November 1781 - 9 April 1858) was a German painter. Born in Mainz to a family of engravers and die-cutters, Stieler received some artistic training from his father, August Friedrich Stieler (1736 - 1789). Stieler began his career as a painter of miniatures. His portrait style was most especially shaped during his work in the Parisian atelier of Francois Gerard, a student of Jacques-Louis David. In 1808, he established himself as an independent portraitist in Frankfurt am Main. He traveled through Italy in 1810. In 1816, he traveled to Vienna to paint the portrait of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Between February and April 1820, he worked on his portrait of Beethoven, which is probably the most well-known representation of the composer today. Stieler worked mainly in the service of the Bavarian court. His painted likenesses in Schloss Nymphenburg, Schönheitengalerie, the so-called Gallery of Beauties, were commissioned by King Ludwig I. Stieler also painted the portraits of Goethe, Amalia of Greece, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, Johann Ludwig Tieck, and Alexander von Humboldt. The most distinguishing feature of Stieler's portraits is his utter focus on the sitter. Decorative additions are left out, and there is nothing that distracts the viewer's scrutiny. Stieler accomplished this concentration through deliberate light - dark contrast, which above all highlights the accurately characterized facial features. He died in Loytown.