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DEATHS: 1616 VON AACHEN — 1561 GHIRLANDAIO — 1504 BERRUGUETE — 1974 SIQUEIROS — 1541 VAN ORLEY
BIRTHS: 1832 DORÉ — 1889 RITMAN
^ Died on 06 January 1616 (or 04 March 1615?): Hans von Aachen (or Ach), German Mannerist painter and draftsman, active also in Italy and Bohemia, born in 1552.
— He was born in Cologne (in spite of his name, which derives from his father's birthplace) and active in the Netherlands, Italy (1574-1587), and most notably Prague, where he settled in 1596 as court painter to the emperor Rudolf II. On Rudolf's death (1612) he worked for the emperor Matthias. His paintings, featuring elegant, elongated figures, are — like those of his colleague Bartholomeus Spranger — leading examples of the sophisticated Mannerist art then in vogue at the courts of Northern Europe, and he was particularly good with playfully erotic nudes (The Triumph of Truth, 1598). Engravings after his work gave his style wide infiuence and he ranks as one of the most important German artists of his time. He synthesized Italian and Netherlandish influences in his portraits and erudite allegories. He died in Prague.
— Hans von Aachen's renowned cosmopolitan Mannerist style originated humbly: he first trained with a minor painter in his native Cologne, and he took his name from his father's hometown. He probably joined the Cologne painters' guild before leaving for Italy around 1574.
      After a stay in Venice, von Aachen was soon in Rome, learning from a circle of Northern European artists. He also painted portraits in Florence. Back in Germany by 1587, he began to gain fame for history pictures and psychologically sensitive portraits.
      In 1592 Emperor Rudolf II of Prague named Von Aachen imperial painter in absentia. Four years later he moved to Prague, serving as painter, art dealer, and diplomat while also completing commissions for clients in Munich and Augsburg. He frequently journeyed abroad on diplomatic missions and to purchase pictures for his insatiable patron. After Rudolf's death in 1612, von Aachen worked for his successor, Emperor Matthias.
      Von Aachen's Prague paintings reflect Rudolf's desire for sensuality, with smoothly modeled, elongated figures arranged in elegant poses, often including a nude woman seen from behind. His style combined an idealization indebted to Roman and Florentine Mannerism with brilliant Venetian color and Dutch realism. The many engravings published after his designs spread von Aachen's influence.
— Pieter Isaacszoon was a student of von Aachen.
LINKS
Selbstbildnis (1574; 600x423pix, 73kb _ ZOOM to 1400x987pix, 171kb)
Kreuztragung (600x896pix, 236kb _ ZOOM to 1400x2090pix, 604kb)
Altarflügel (600x619pix, 137kb _ ZOOM to 1400x1443pix, 323kb)
Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid (163x113cm)
Joking Couple (25x20cm) _ At the end of the 16th century the court of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague was one of the most important art and cultural centers of Europe. The Emperor gathered together important artists: painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, who developed a characteristic style as important as that of the Fontainebleau school flowered at the same period in France. One component of the Rudolphean style was the painting of the Flemish Spranger, another that of von Aachen and the third that of the Swiss Joseph Heintz. Aachen studied in Italy, he spent there 14 years and was known as a portraitist. He went to Munich and worked for the Bavarian Prince. He moved to Prague in 1592 and became court painter at the court of Rudolph II. In addition to mythological subjects he painted realistic genre pictures with two-three figures.
Kaiser Rudolf II (1597 print, oval 14x10cm; 700x420pix, 302kb)
^ Died on 06 January 1561: Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, Florentine painter, mosaicist, and possibly goldsmith, born in 1483. He was the nephew of Benedetto Ghirlandaio [1458 – 17 Jul 1497] and of Davide Ghirlandaio [14 Mar 1452 – 11 Apr 1525], and the nephew-in-law of Sebastiano Mainardi.
— Ridolfo Ghirlandaio was the son and student of Domenico Ghirlandaio. His style, though, wasn't modeled after his father's, but after that of Raphael, a friend of Ridolfo, and of Leonardo da Vinci. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio was mostly known as a portraitist. Portrait of a Lady (1509) was inspired by Raphael's Florentine portraits, such as La Gravida.
— Ridolfo Ghirlandaio probably learnt his craft from his father and remained with his uncle Davide Ghirlandaio when the latter took over the workshop in 1494. Ridolfo’s first documented work is the Virgin of the Sacred Girdle (1509), which was commissioned in 1507 from Davide and Ridolfo but probably mostly painted by the latter. The upper part still shows Domenico’s influence, whereas the lower section reflects, somewhat clumsily, the more modern style of Fra Bartolommeo, with whom Ridolfo studied, according to Vasari. An interest in Piero di Cosimo is also apparent in the use of light and the sometimes disquieting landscapes of the earlier works that may be attributed to Ridolfo with certainty. This is particularly evident in Saints Peter and Paul, commissioned from Davide in 1503 but attributable to Ridolfo on the basis of style, the Virgin and Child between Saints Francis and Mary Magdalene (1503) and the Coronation of the Virgin (1504), which was inspired by Domenico’s altarpiece of the same subject (1486). Another very interesting work that may be dated to the first decade of the 16th century is the Procession to Calvary, which shows signs of Ridolfo’s study of Leonardo’s lost cartoon of the Battle of Anghiari.
— Ridolfo Ghirlandaio's students included Perino del Vaga, Domenico Puligo, Michele Tosini, Alessandro Fei, Carlo Portelli, Antonio Toto del Nunziata.

LINKS
ok— Silvestro Aldobrandini (77x63cm; 960x786pix, 347kb _ ZOOM to 2235x1829pix, 1878kb)
?— Adoration by the Shepherds (1510, 148x132cm) _ The composition has the characteristics of a Quattrocento painting.
?— Portrait of a Woman, called "The Nun" (1506-10, 65x48cm) _ Ferdinando III of Lorrain, Grand Duke of Tuscany, bought the picture in 1819 as a masterwork by Leonardo da Vinci, but the attribution has been soon after changed and it is still not certain: among the artists suggested there are Mariotto Albertinelli and Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, besides Giuliano Bugiardini who is actually the author accepted. However, at present the painting is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery under the name of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.
?— Portrait of an Old Man (61x51cm) _ Until 1912 the painting was attributed to Raphael. Ridolfo, the son of Domenico Ghirlandaio and friend of Raphael, worked with Raphael and as a portraitist followed his style.
ok— The Coronation of the Virgin _ detail (142kb)
ok— Two scenes with the episodes from Saint Zenobius' life take place in the streets of Florence:
in Saint Zenobius Raising a Boy from the Dead, the piazza of San Pier Maggiore is depicted,
in Conveyance of the Body of Saint Zenobius it's the Duomo and Baptistry. These two paintings became the side panels for The Annunciation by Albertinelli for the altar of the Company of San Zanobi in the Duomo. _ See also four images of the life and miracles of Saint Zenobius by Alessandro Botticelli.
^ Born on 06 January 1832: Louis Christophe Paul Gustave Doré, French Romantic painter, printmaker, etcher, lithographer, and book illustrator, who died in Paris on 23 January 1883.
— Doré was born in Strasbourg. He first made his mark by his illustrations to Rabelais (1854) and to The Wandering Jew and Balzac's Contes Drolatiques (1865) [English translation: Droll Stories]. These are followed by illustrated editions of Dante's Inferno (1861), the Contes of Perrault and Don Quixote (1863), the Purgatorio and Paradiso of Dante (1868), the Bible (1865-66), Paradise Lost (1866), Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1867-68), La Fontaine's Fables (1867). He also executed much in color.
— Doré was the most popular and successful French book illustrator of the mid 19th century. Doré became very widely known for his illustrations to such books as Dante's Inferno (1861), Don Quixote (1862), and the Bible (1866), and he helped to give European currency to the illustrated book of large . He was so prolific that at one time he employed more than forty blockcutters. His work is characterized by a rather naïve but highly spirited love of the grotesque and represents a commercialization of the Romantic taste for the bizarre. Drawings of London done in 1869-71 were more sober studies of the poorer quarters of the city and captured the attention of van Gogh. In the 1870s he also took up painting (doing some large and ambitions religious works) and sculpture (the monument to the dramatist and novelist Alexandre Dumas in the Place Malesherbes in Paris, erected in 1883, is his work).
LINKS
33 Prints at FAMSFAndromedaDon Quixote and the WindmillDon Quixote in his LibraryElaineThe EnigmaThe Raven (1884 book with wood engravings 47x37x2cm) — The Raven _ painting based on The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. — Viviane and Merlin in a Forest (170x122cm) —Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1855) — Alpine Scene (1865) — Ithuriel and Zephon Hunt Satan from Milton's Paradise LostCanto 3 of Paradise from Dante's Divine ComedyPortrait of François Rabelais, opposite title page in the book Oeuvres de Rabelais (1873 wood engraving 24x19cm)
^ Died on 06 January 1504: Pedro Berruguete, Paredes de Nava (near Palencia) Spanish painter born in 1450, father and painting teacher of sculptor Alonso Berruguete [1488 – 25 Sep 1561] and of four other sons.
— He was painter to the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, and Isabella, Queen of Castile, and to Philip the Fair (later Philip I, King of Castile, reg 1506) before his wife, Joanna ‘the Mad’, became Queen of Castile in 1504.
      Between 1470 and 1475 Berruguete painted the altarpiece of Saint Helen, which demonstrates his mastery of oil-painting techniques. Thought to have been in Urbino from 1475 to 1478, he may have assisted the Flemish painter Justus of Ghent in the painting of a number of works for Federigo da Montefeltro, including those for the decoration of his library and studio in the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino. Berruguete’s participation in this work may have been due to the influence of one of his relatives, a Dominican friar in Florence. He may, alternatively, have gone to Italy specifically to join Justus of Ghent’s team. Paintings sometimes attributed to Berruguete in Urbino include some of the 28 works forming the series of Portraits of Famous Men for the studio, Federigo da Montefeltro, his Son Guidobaldo and Others Listening to a Discourse and Federigo da Montefeltro and the Order of the Garter. In addition, the series of works depicting The Liberal Arts are sometimes attributed to him. Also while in Italy he is thought to have painted The Dead Christ with Angels and Saint Sebastian and to have worked on Piero della Francesca’s Brera Altarpiece (Virgin and Child; 1475), painting the hands of Federigo and perhaps his helmet.
— Pedro Berruguete was born in Paredes de Nava (Palencia) circa 1450. No evidence exists about his preparation as a painter, where it took place and who was his master. Most probably he was trained within the Spanish-Flemish style prevailing in Castile, where he spent his young years. Nowadays it is widely admitted that he was the same Pietro Spagnuolo who, according to the notarial files of the Court of Urbino, was working there for the Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, since 1477. During Berruguete's sojourn in Italy his pictorial grounding was most likely improved with the quattrocento contributions. Berruguete's activity in Spain is documented from 1483 on: in Toledo first and in the provinces of Palencia, Burgos and Segovia later.
LINKS
Self-portrait (876x573pix, 106 Kb)
Adoration by the Magi (350x206cm; 880x509pix, 130kb) _ This painting was made after the Italian journey of the Berruguete. The style is Renaissance in spite of the painted Gothic 'fake' framing.
Annunciation (662x900pix slightly cropped, 160kb _ ZOOM to 1400x1955pix complete, 762kb) _ a late work.
Saint Dominic and the Albigenses (1480, 122x83cm, 980x635pix, 192kb) _ The painting depicts the event occurred in 1207, in Albi, France, when the Saint proves to the heretics that their books containing heretic ideas do not pass the trial by fire while the Catholic books fly up from the bonfire undamaged. The realistic representation of the Saint shows the influence of Flemish style.
Auto-da-fé (1490, 154x92cm; 1000x574pix, 178kb) _ Saint Dominic [1170 – 06 Aug 1221] , represented here sitting beneath the canopy, was born in Castile. At the age of fourteen he was admitted to the University of Valencia and from there he went to the South of France to preach against the Albigensian heresy. The Order of Preachers which he founded was militant in combating the enemies of the Church and, as may be seen in Berruguete's pictures among others, played a leading role in the conflict with the Albigenses. Berruguete lived during the last years of the reconquista when those sentenced to be burned at the stake were mostly Moors who had been converted to Christianity but who were suspected of practicing Mohammedanism in secret. Berruguete witnessed the death of these heretics and this painting faithfully illustrates the manner in which the sentences imposed by the Inquisition were enforced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: he records the half reprieve granted to penitents, the throttling that preceded burning and even the pointed hats worn by those condemned to do penance. Berruguete's way of representing the platform, and the delicacy, elegance and harmony of his colors are all indications that the innovations of Italian art of the fifteenth century had already found their way to Spain. In fact Berruguete worked in Italy, in the court of Federico da Montefeltro, Prince of Urbino, in the early 1480s together with Piero della Francesca, Melozzo da Forli and Luca Signorelli. He was a Renaissance painter with strong Spanish-Flemish traditions.
Holy Family (1500; 827x620pix, 92kb)
Prince Federico da Montefeltro and his Son (1481, 134x77cm; 1173x606pix, 144kb) _ The first historical references to Berruguete relate to his stay at Urbino. The great condottiere, Federigo di Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, had summoned Joos van Gent to decorate the library and study of his magnificent palace with allegories of the liberal arts and portraits of Biblical and pagan thinkers. Berruguete may have collaborated with him, but there is no doubt that the allegories and many of the more vigorous portraits of the series are by his hand alone (National Gallery, London, and the Louvre). He also painted the solemn portrait of Federigo and his son (Ducal Palace, Urbino), which gives some idea of his mastery of tactile values and of the airy qualities of physical space, perfectly suggested in depth. These paintings were all executed between 1480 and 1481. During his stay at Urbino, Berruguete completed a certain amount of work which has since remained in Italy. Moreover, he also painted the hands of the portrait of Montefeltro in the famous picture by Piero della Francesca in the Brera Gallery, Milan.
The Tomb of Saint Peter Martyr (131x85cm; 931x610pix, 145kb) _ The painting belongs to a series of nine panels commissioned by High Inquisitor Torquemada for the Saint Thomas Church in Avila. The painting shows Italian, mainly Florentine influence. Saint Peter Martyr [1206 – 06 Apr 1252] was a Dominican monk and inquisitor in 13th century Verona who battled mercilessly the heretics. His tomb was the scene of a number of miracles and he was canonized in 1552. His cult in Spain became strong in the beginnning of the 16th century. — In Berruguete's last years he was working in three large altar-pieces for the convent of Saint Thomas in Avila, which he left unfinished when he died in 1504. The Dominican convent of Saint Thomas had been completed in 1493. Shortly after, Berruguete was entrusted with the task of painting the retable for the high altar devoted to the saint of Aquinos under whose patronage the convent had been established (which is still in situ), and two other secondary altarpieces depicting scenes from Saint Dominic de Guzmán's and Saint Peter the Martyr of Verona's lifes. Peter the Martyr of Verona was a Dominican friar who was appointed Inquisitor General of Milan by the Pope and his preaching was so perturbing for heretics that he ended his days on a road at the hands of a hired assassin, who sank a knife into his cranium and thrusted a sword into his chest. Before dying, the saint managed to write on the ground, with his own blood, Credo in Deum. In another picture (509x239pix, 80kb) Berruguete has depicted the saint before a brocade baldachin and wearing the attributes common to him. He is standing, dressed with the dominican habit and showing a wide tonsure, the knife in the cranium and the sword in the chest. In the left hand he holds a book where the Credo can be read and in the right one the palm surrounded by the three crowns that symbolize martyrdom, preaching and chastity.
Virgin Enthroned and Child (600x316pix, 70kb _ ZOOM to 1400x740pix, 188kb)
Virgin Enthroned Nursing the Child (585x378pix, 80kb _ ZOOM to 1364x882pix, 427kb) _ They are in an ornate niche around which there is an elaborate painted frame, marked Salve Regina Mater Misericordiae.
Virgin and Child (58x43cm; 838x601pix, 132kb)
El Duque Federigo da Montefeltro y su Hijo Guidobaldo (1481, 134x77cm; 1173x606pix, 144kb _ ZOOM to 1400x801pix, 260kb) _ The first historical references to Berruguette relate to his stay at Urbino. The great condottiere, Federigo di Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, had summoned Joos van Gent to decorate the library and study of his magnificent palace with allegories of the liberal arts and portraits of Biblical and pagan thinkers. Berruguete may have collaborated with him, but there is no doubt that the allegories and many of the more vigorous portraits of the series are by his hand alone. He also painted this solemn portrait of Federigo and his son, which gives some idea of his mastery of tactile values and of the airy qualities of physical space, perfectly suggested in depth. These paintings were all done between 1480 and 1481. During his stay at Urbino, Berruguete also painted the hands click for the whole Montefeltro of the portrait of Montefeltro in the Madonna and Child with Saints Altarpiece (1474, 248x170cm; 1116x760pix, 212kb) by Piero della Francesca, who also painted a head-and-shoulder profile Portrait of Federico da Montefeltro (1466, 47x33cm; 990x701pix, 149kb) — Guidobaldo, which seems to be about 4 years old in this picture, was portrayed by Raphael: Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (1506; 600x446pix, 42kb) where he still has his dreamy look.
^ Born on 06 January 1889: Louis Ritman, US Impressionist painter who died in 1963. — {Say what you want, but he was always the Ritman for the job.} — He studied under William Merritt Chase, Frederick Carl Frieseke, and Jean-Paul Laurens.
— Born in Kamenets-Podolsky, Russia in 1889, Louis Ritman became a leading US impressionist painter in the early 20th century. He and his family emigrated to the US about the turn of the century, settling in Chicago. After studying in Chicago and briefly in Philadelphia, Ritman set sail for Paris in 1909 in order to enroll at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. In 1911, Ritman visited Giverny for the first time, where he first met Frederick Frieseke and Richard E. Miller, to whose work Ritman's paintings are often compared. He spent much of the next two decades in the artist colony making the pictures for which he is now revered — mainly women in and outdoors rendered in thick, divisionist daubs of bright paint. Eventually Ritman was persuaded to accept a teaching position at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930. He resided in the city for the remaining thirty years of his career. He died in Winona, Minnesota.
— The critical success that Louis Ritman enjoyed throughout his career can be attributed in large part to the sunny, Impressionistic canvases that he executed in Giverny during the 1910s. Like many other US artists of his time, Ritman traveled from his home in Chicago to Paris as soon as he could afford to pay for the trip. After studying at the Académie Julian, he was accepted into the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. However, it was at one of the legendary cafes in Paris that he became acquainted with Frederick Frieseke, who introduced Ritman to the artistic scene in Giverny. In 1911, the small French town of Giverny was full of US artists who flocked there to paint the quaint area that was adorned with willow trees along the Epte, thatched cottages, and country gardens. It is no wonder that Ritman, like so many others before him became enchanted with Giverny, which, more than any other place, seemed to possess a potent magic power to captivate US artists.
      Ritman's painting up to this point had been largely in an academic style. However, the atmosphere in Giverny was more informal than that of Paris, a scenario that led artists to feel more comfortable to experiment with various styles of painting, including Impressionism. Ritman's Giverny pictures combine an Impressionist style and palette with the US notion of intimism, with tremendous success. While many of his counterparts were assiduously emulating the work of Claude Monet, the artistic patriarch of Giverny, Ritman chose a more subtle approach when painting the gardens of Giverny. His works were closely associated with US intimism which was by contrast quiet, reserved, and above all, discreet, never outside the parameters of the genteel tradition.
LINKS
Lady by the Window (1918, 137kb) — The Open Window (88x88cm)
Lily Garden (81x81cm; 400x399pix, 54kb)
Paris View (1915; 501x400pix, 71kb)
Garden Path, Giverny (1913, 80x81cm; 570x576pix, 391kb)
Maiden by the Side of the River (81x81cm; 576x576pix, 245kb)
Sunny Afternoon, Giverny (1915, 89x90cm; 295x300pix, 64kb)
^ Died on 06 January 1974: David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican Social Realist muralist, painter, born on 29 December 1896, whose art reflects his Marxist political ideology. From the start of his career he alternated between political and artistic activity. His radical approach to art and his creation of new mural techniques made him one of the most influential figures on younger generations of international mural artists.
— Along with Diego Rivera [1886–1957] and José Clemente Orozco [1883–1949], Siqueiros was one of Mexico's three great muralists. Together, these painters laid the foundation for modern Mexican art during the 1920s. Believing that art should be made for the betterment of society and not for the private pleasure of the elite, they created large-scale, easily understood murals for public buildings. These images effectively communicated the plight of peasants and laborers during this turbulent time in Mexican history.
      For Siqueiros, a zealous political activist and member of the Communist Party of Mexico, painting was inseparable from politics. He worked on his first murals at Mexico's National Preparatory School from 1922 to 1924, but his dedication to politics was so great that at one time he set aside his artistic ambitions to work as a labor union organizer. He was a veteran of two civil wars and on several occasions was imprisoned, as well as exiled, for his activities and beliefs.
      While serving time in jail, Siqueiros immersed himself in painting small-scale works, experiencing some of the most prolific periods of his career. During the 1930s, Siqueiros found a haven in New York and opened the Siqueiros Experimental Workshop, which was attended by the young US painter Jackson Pollock [1912–1956]. In his teaching, Siqueiros emphasized the use of photography as an aid in developing compositions. He also advocated the employment of industrial materials and tools such as the spray-gun. He was a firm believer that modern technology should be used to create a new art for the times. During the early 1950s, Siqueiros expanded his themes of a utopian socialist society to include the progress of science and technology in the modern world. Throughout his career, the bold colors of industrial enamels, the dynamic lines of his compositions, and the portrayal of strong emotion infused all his works, regardless of scale or purpose, with movement and power.
— The assistants of Siqueiros included Arnold Belkin, Juan Carlos Castagnino, Satish Gujral, Jackson Pollock, Federico Silva.
— The students of Siqueiros included Gay García, Morris Louis, Karl Parboosingh.
Siqueiros portrait (1982, 47x49cm; 2/5 size which is much more than enough to appreciate this poster-like picture with 2 flat colors and no details) by Rupert Garcia [1941~]

LINKS
Self-Portrait — a different Self-PortraitSiqueiros por Siqueiros (1930, 99x79cm)
Campesinos (1913 100x189cm) _ Campesinos embodies the innovating techniques proposed in the teaching methods of the National Academy of Fine Arts at the beginning of the 20th century. As part of painters' artistic training, Alfredo Ramos Martínez established the first Open-Air School of Painting which allowed students, albeit somewhat belatedly, to more freely explore Impressionist and post-Impressionist innovations in form, theme and technique. The works painted there moved visibly away from the teachings of the master, José María Velasco. Free, rapid brush strokes and a luminous palette characterized the students' work. Campesinos is one of David Alfaro Siqueiros' earliest known works as a student at the Academy.
Muerte y funerales de Caín (1947, 76x93cm) _ In Muerte y funerales de Caín David Alfaro Siqueiros reveals his interest in landscape and moves away from political themes. Siquieros' experiments during that year in landscape painting led him to use an abstract vocabulary and, as in this case, include unexpected elements in the scene. The dead chicken that we see is lying between the ordered ranks of workers and soldiers and a small group on the other side of the divided land. The symbolism is purely personal in nature and may allude to the Cold War.
Explosión en la ciudad (1945, 76x61cm) _ The original of this painting is dated 1935, and is one of the most pre-dated works of the 20th century. The aerial bombing and the testimony of photo-journalism on the Spanish Civil War which ended in 1936 was for many artists a visual education from those who like David Alfaro Siqueiros had seen and lived it. A photograph by the Mayo brothers preserved in the General Archives of the Nation bears witness to the date of 1945 for the painting when it was reproduced in the journal MAS in 1947. In pre-dating Explosión en la ciudad, the artist attempted to alter history and impose a particular reading on the work.
Bahía de Acapulco (1957, 76x94cm) _ David Alfaro Siqueiros is not known for his landscapes. However, a cursory examination of his easelwork allows us to conclude that almost 25% of it is landscape painting. The aerial space and the projects of modernization and development in the 1950's such as that of the Port of Acapulco impressed the painter. Proof of this is found in the considerable number of aerial views he painted not only of the Bay of Acapulco, but more specifically of Puerto Marqués, the place where the modernizers of the time, members of President Alemán's administration, built their holiday villas.
Barrancas (1947, 77x100cm) _ David Alfaro Siqueiros moves away from the picturesque landscape style and his new mode of vision reveals an approach based on aerial photography and a photographic camera approach to the surface. He plays with the optics of planes, dimensions and the textures obtained through the use of new painting materials, including resins, lacquer and acrylics. In this way he produces an earthy effect, a vortex effect which by the end of the decade will lead him to abandon the earth as a point of reference for perspective, and create a new one from space. Siqueiros manages to paint masses in such a way as to give them a sculptural appearance, imbuing them with great force and loading them with excessive weight.
Echo of a Scream (1937, 122x91cm) _ David Alfaro Siqueiros’s political activities often overshadowed his artistic endeavors, although the two went hand in hand: he organized his first protest in 1911 at the Academia de San Carlos, a traditional art academy where he was a student. An ardent Communist, Siqueiros organized artist and labor unions and helped draft a manifesto that called for the creation of monumental public art rooted in indigenous Mexican artistic traditions and at the service of the Mexican Revolution, which became the basis for the Mexican mural movement. He consistently espoused the cause of revolutionary technique and content that would radicalize the viewer. Several times in the mid-1930s, Siqueiros traveled to the United States to lecture and work on private commissions. During a trip to New York in 1936, he established the Siqueiros Experimental Workshop, which he hoped would initiate a new period of mural painting that relied on modern technology. Here, he demonstrated his ideas for the use of photomontage and other unorthodox techniques and encouraged the use of new synthetic and industrial materials, such as Duco, a transparent automobile paint. He first used Duco in his murals because it dries rapidly and is extremely durable. He soon began to use it in works on canvas as well because of the range of visual effects he could achieve. Siqueiros supported the activities of his short-lived workshop through the sale of easel paintings he made there. In these works he felt that he had for the first time successfully coordinated new formal means and political content. Echo of a Scream is one of these works. Based on a news photo of a wailing child abandoned in the ruins of a bombed Manchurian railroad station, the painting presents a desolate landscape rendered in somber grays and browns. The face of the child, contorted in a scream of sorrow and rage, is repeated in the center of the picture on a much larger scale. The disembodied head looms over the scene, amplifying the child’s heartrending agony. Siqueiros’s use of a photograph as his source and the repetition of imagery reflects the influence of his friendship with Soviet film director Sergey Eisenstein, who had introduced Siqueiros to the concept of using multiple perspectives in order to dramatize ideological meanings in his work. Siqueiros insisted that his easel paintings were subordinate to his murals. He felt easel painting was bourgeois and intellectual, while he aspired to make art that appealed to the ordinary worker. In fact, his paintings contributed significantly to his international reputation. Siqueiros’s work differed markedly from the heavy-handed Social Realism prescribed by specific political agendas; his emphasis on innovative process and materials reveals his independent approach to Marxist art.
Ethnography (1939) _ David Alfaro Siqueiros, "El Coronelazo", polemic painter, activist, indefatigable social fighter, dogmatic up to insanity -we just have to remember his celebrated phrase "there´s no other route than ours"-; was one of the three masterfuls of Mexican Muralism along with José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. His Ethnographic work, is a good sample of the powerful talent that ran through the veins of Siqueiros; painted after his return to Mexico, after fighting beside the republicans in the Spanish Civil War, this piece of art presents the mysterious and powerful image of an indigenous with the face of an olmec mask. With a color treatment almost monochromatic, he uses his accustomed dynamism on the trace of the clothing of the hieratic character; and with a background almost abstract, the prehispanic mask stands out when framed by the character´s hat and shirt. That mask, it is said, was known by David Alfaro Siqueiros inside the collection of William Spratling, who was an american expatriate residing in Taxco and dedicated to impel the silver industry, apart from being an excellent collectionist and prehispanic art merchant. Siqueiros had the first meeting with Spratling when he was fulfilling a sentence inside the Taxco Prison, in the State of Guerrero; during his imprisonment, the American became his financial support and a material provider to carry out his work inside jail. The olmec mask, found inside a cave in the State of Guerrero on the beginnings of the thirties, was the motive of this extraordinary work by Siquieros that, without a doubt, was the most polemic and controverted of the three masterfuls of that time.
Emiliano Zapata (1931) — Mujer con rebozo (1949, 97x120cm)
Cabeza de mujer (1939) — La Colina de los Muertos (1944, 95x69cm)
Humanity vs. CosmosThe Devil in the Church
^ Died on 06 January 1541: Bernaert (or Bernard, Barend) van Orley (or Brussel, or Orlich), Brussels Flemish painter and tapestry designer born in 1488, son and student of Valentin van Orley [1456-1532].
— He was a painter of religious subjects and portraits and designer of tapestries and stained glass. He was the leading artist of his day in Brussels, becoming court painter to Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, in 1518 and to her successor Mary of Hungary in 1532. His work is characterized by the use of ill-digested Italianate motifs. There is no evidence that he visited Italy, and his knowledge presumably came from engravings and from Raphael's tapestry cartons, which were in Brussels about from 1516 to 1519; he has (very flatteringly) been called 'the Raphael of the Netherlands'. In 1520, when Dürer visited the Netherlands, Orley gave a banquet for him, and Dürer drew his portrait. His best-known work is the turbulent Job altarpiece (1521). As a portraitist his style was quieter and more thoughtful (Georg Zelle, 1519). None of van Orley's paintings bears a date later than 1530; after that time he was chiefly occupied with designing tapestries and stained-glass windows.
— He was one of the greatest proponents of Romanism, a northern style based on the ideals of the Italian Renaissance. It must have been in Brussels, however, that he saw the Italian works of art that influenced him so profoundly, for it seems unlikely that he ever visited Italy. Brussels was then world-renowned as the center for tapestry manufacture but was suffering from the ecliptic rise of Antwerp as the pre-eminent painting center. The artist made the best of both situations, establishing himself as a leading designer for the Brussels tapestry industry and as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke by 1517. The following year he became official court painter to the Regent of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria, a position he retained (1532–1535) under her successor, Mary of Hungary. Despite his skill in both areas, the arts of painting and tapestry design coexisted without competition only briefly in van Orley’s career. About 1525, as he became more involved in designs for tapestry and stained glass, there is increasing evidence of workshop participation in the paintings.
— Bernaert van Orley's contemporaries called him the "Raphael of the Netherlands" for his interpretation of Italian Renaissance ideas and forms. His first encounter with such compositions occurred when Raphael's Vatican tapestry cartoons were woven in Brussels beginning in 1516. Van Orley was probably taught by his father. By 1517 he was a leading designer for Brussels's thriving tapestry industry, master in the painter's guild, and head of a large workshop. In 1518 he became court painter to Margaret of Austria, for whom he provided mainly portraits, a position he retained under her successor. Van Orley created a theater-like feeling in his paintings by assimilating Italianate architectural and figural motifs, inspired in part by Andrea Mantegna and Raphael's works. About 1525 he shifted his attention to towards tapestry and stained-glass design, including windows for the Brussels Cathedral. His presentation drawings for tapestries, by far the most numerous surviving examples of his draftsmanship, depict the lineage of the House of Nassau, the Netherlands’ royal family.
— The students of van Orley included Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Michiel van Coxcie, and Marcus Gheeraerts I.

LINKS
Altarpiece of Sts Thomas and Matthias (1512, 140x180cm; 828x804pix, 193kb) _ A winged altarpiece was commissioned from the young Orley by the Guild of Stonemasons and Carpenters for the Église du Sablon in Brussels. The Guild had two patron saints, Thomas and Matthias and the altarpiece was dedicated to them. The altarpiece was later dismembered, the central panel being now in Vienna while the two wing panels in Brussels.
Altarpiece of Calvary (1534; 850x1161pix, 173kb) _ The triptych was commissioned by Margaret of Austria for the church of Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse). _ The closed altarpiece (960x820pix, 179kb) represents the coat-of-arms of the Habsburgs of Austria (left), Portugal (right), Philip II (center), the Dukes of Burgundy (lower left) and the Bourbons (lower right).
Portrait of Charles V (1520, 72x52cm; 900x640pix, 125kb) _ The subject of this painting was the most famous ruler of the sixteenth century. The son of the Castilian King Philip of Burgundy and Mad Joanna, he ascended the Spanish throne in 1516. In 1519 he became Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and for nearly forty years was the leading figure in European politics. The Habsburg lip is already visible in this youthful and somewhat idealized portrait. In his later years the Emperor was also painted several times by Titian, for whom he sat in Augsburg. Bernaert van Orley, the master of this portrait, was court painter to the two women regents, Margaret of Austria and her successor, Mary of Hungary. Orley made a portrait of him in 1515, too, but this painting is known only from copies.
Haneton Triptych (center panel) (87x108cm; 840x1056pix, 160kb) _ The center of the triptych offers Christ's entombment to our contemplation. The Virgin, St John, Mary Magdalene and the two Maries surround the corpse a few moments before its burial. Tears stream down their faces like translucent pearls and the brownish shadows underline their painful expressions. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus appear in the rear, awkwardly linked to the group by the presence of the crown of thorns reminding us that it is they who took Christ down from the cross.
      Van Orley has removed the scene from its historical context, taking out any narrative element, other than a corner of the stone tomb visible to the bottom right, and focusing attention on the persons pressed one against another against the gilded background. This converts the entombment into an act of devotion, continuing the tradition of the Flemish Primitives. On the other hand, the fluid shapes, the monumental nature of the figures and certain attitudes point to the influence of Dürer and of Italian artists. Van Orley, who was also a well-known decorator and designer of tapestries and stained glass windows, repeats the same composition, with the addition of a landscape background and the tomb, in a tapestry conserved at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
      Ancient literary sources tell us that the work was commissioned from Van Orley by Philippe Haneton around 1520, to be placed above the family tomb in the church of St Gudule in Brussels. The donor held high political office, having been appointed first secretary of the Grand Council by Charles V in 1518, and tasked with judging petitions for audiences with the emperor. He was also the treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is shown on the left wing, surrounded by his seven sons. The donor's wife, Marguerite Numan, accompanied by her five daughters, is shown on the right wing, under the protection of Margaret of Antioch. When closed the triptych shows the Annunciation painted in grisaille.
_ Haneton Triptych (wings) (87x48cm; 850x984pix, 125kb) _ Ancient literary sources tell us that the work was commissioned from Van Orley by Philippe Haneton around 1520, to be placed above the family tomb in the church of St Gudule in Brussels. The donor held high political office, having been appointed first secretary of the Grand Council by Charles V in 1518, and tasked with judging petitions for audiences with the emperor. He was also the treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He is shown on the left wing, surrounded by his seven sons. Behind him is the silhouette of his patron saint, the apostle Philip, recognisable by the attribute of his martyrdom, the cross on which he is supposed to have been crucified head-down. The donor's wife, Marguerite Numan, accompanied by her five daughters, is shown on the right wing, under the protection of Margaret of Antioch. This saint's attributes remind the viewer that she rebuffed the temptation of Satan, who had appeared in the form of a dragon, by brandishing the cross.
Holy Family (1522, 90x74cm; 840x705pix, 124kb) _ The infant running to his mother initiates a diagonal train of movement which leads through Mary to the kindly, ageing Joseph behind. The grouping of the main figures thus introduces both asymmetry and depth to the pictorial plane. With great artistic intelligence, Orley balances this on the left by means of the two angels parallel to the plane, one approaching with a wicker basket of flowers and one hovering overhead and bearing a golden crown. Christ serves to link together the various elements of the painting. His left hand reaches up to his mother's shoulder, his eyes are raised towards the crown with which he will one day make Mary Queen of Heaven, while his right arm gestures towards the apple in Joseph's hand — a symbol of the sin which Jesus has come to conquer.
      Orley can here be seen as a painter mediating between two stylistic eras. While lovingly executed details of material and texture remain the prominent focus of his interest, he also acknowledges the masters of the High Renaissance in his skilful balancing of depth and plane and in his delicate gradation of color in the receding landscape. Orley is known both as a painter of large altarpieces and as a portraitist.
The Last Judgment (248x218cm center, 248x94cm side panels; 750x1325pix, 191kb) _ The majestic arched composition, borrowed from Raphael, the scientific representation of the numerous, animated nude figures, and the dull, brownish but smooth coloring already point to the strongly Italianate tendency in the painting of Van Orley.
Portrait of Margareta van Oostenrijk (812x605pix, 100kb) _ In his own day, van Orley was called the Raphael of the North, which speaks rather more for Raphael's fame than it does for northern judgment. His principal patrons were successive Regents of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary. Van Orley is at his best in portraits.
Virgin and Child (1515, 98x71cm; 900x676pix; 164kb) _ The style of this painting is close to that of Quentin Massys.
— a different Virgin and Child (1515, 59x39cm; 885x583pix; 113kb)
Triptych of Virtue of Patience (open) (1521, 176x184cm center, 174x80cm each wing; 660x1283pix, 158kb) _ The triptych, which was very likely commissioned by Margaret of Austria, the governor of the Low Countries, depicts two biblical episodes illustrating the virtues of patience: the Book of Job and the parable of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. Since the Middle Ages it had been common practice to draw a parallel between the resignation of Job and of Lazarus in the face of misfortune and the constancy of their faith in God.
      On the inside of the triptych, the story of Job begins on the left wing. Whilst in heaven Satan proposes to God to test the faith of this wealthy man, the faithful servant of Good, the first calamities rain down. Job's entire flocks are led off by the Sabeans. On the central panel, the unleashed forces of evil bring down the palace, killing Job's sons and daughters. The painter accentuates the dramatic character of the scene by numerous foreshortenings and obliques, which have the effect of pushing the picture towards the spectator. In the background countryside scene, we see Job himself sacrificing to God; to the right, naked and covered with sores, he is being cursed by his wife. On the right inner wing, Job has recovered his earlier wealth and descends the steps of his palace towards his former friends who implore his intercession.
      Van Orley creates his masterpiece by marrying the Flemish tradition with the new directions of Italian art and his own inventiveness. The result is a veritable profession of faith in the Renaissance, underlined by the artist's motto, "Elx syne tyt" (each in his time) inscribed on the pillar to the left of the central panel.
_ Triptych of Virtue of Patience (closed) (1521, 174x80cm each wing; 900x939pix, 148kb) _ The triptych, which was very likely commissioned by Margaret of Austria, the governor of the Low Countries, depicts two biblical episodes illustrating the virtues of patience: the Book of Job and the parable of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. Since the Middle Ages it had been common practice to draw a parallel between the resignation of Job and of Lazarus in the face of misfortune and the constancy of their faith in God.
      When closed, the triptych depicts the parable of Lazarus. At the bottom of the wings, divided into three symmetrical registers, Lazarus is dying at the rich man's gate, whilst the latter suffers eternal torment. The Italianate pose, and the monumentality and beauty of the nude are inspired by Raphael. In the centre, the rich man's feast, followed by his agony, take place in a sumptuous mansion. His wife, bringing him communion, and the physician, examining his urine, are looking after him whilst, in hell, two demons are torturing him, presenting him with a chalice writhing with serpents and a bowl filled with an infernal liquid. At the top, Lazarus' soul rises up to heaven in the form of a child, first held up by two angels in a transparent bubble, then in the bosom of Abraham.
      Van Orley creates his masterpiece by marrying the Flemish tradition with the new directions of Italian art and his own inventiveness. The result is a veritable profession of faith in the Renaissance, underlined by the artist's motto, "Elx syne tyt" (each in his time) inscribed on the pillar to the left of the central panel.
Joris van Zelle (1519, 39x32cm; 1049x830pix, 170kb) _ Thanks to the attractive Latin inscription around the edge of the tapestry ornamenting the back of the painting, we know the name and profession of the person portrayed. It is Joris van Zelle, born in 1491 at Leuven where he studied medicine. As early as 1522 he was appointed physician of the city of Brussels, practising at St John's Hospital until 1561. He was a neighbour and probably a friend of Bernard van Orley. Both lived at the Place Saint-Géry, the first at the corner of the Rue de la Digue, the second opposite the church entrance, and both belonged to the De Corenbloem rhetoric chamber. Van Zelle died in 1567 and was buried in the Church of St Gudule, next to his wife, Barbara Spapen. The archives describe him as a 'medicus celeberrimus".
      The portrait renders homage as much to the humanist as to the bibliophile, surrounded by books that are remarkable for their precious bindings. The 32 works from his library, which are conserved to this day in Augsburg, most of them medical treatises, are elegantly and expensively bound. Wearing a felt hat and a fur-lined coat, the young 28-year old practitioner is taking notes, with his ink-well and quill-case hanging behind him. The significance of the joined hands and the ANVTEFQS monogram decorating the tapestry remain unclarified until this day. Do they allude to the understanding between the artist and his model? This has been suggested, but the mystery remains. Psychological depth is not the primary quality of this portrait.
      We remain surprised by the physician's slightly lifeless face. The artist carefully and realistically renders the strong-boned nose and firmly-drawn mouth, but fails to capture the feelings, intelligence or erudition of his subject. On the other hand, Van Orley renders almost palpable the warm, limited space surrounding the physician and reflects so well the humanist atmosphere that one feels that one has been admitted into Dr Van Zelle's wainscoted cabinet, as his painter friend probably was. The lively interaction of warm and delicately-shaded reds, greens and browns, the careful painting of the materials, with the viewer immediately able to sense the differences in texture, and the tight framing, all strengthen the sense of intimacy between the sitter and the viewer.
Count Henry I of Nassau with his Bride (1530, 34x55cm, 650x894pix, 179kb)
Virgin Nursing the Child (600x404pix _ ZOOM to 1400x943pix)
Christ on the Cross (1515; 600x428pix _ ZOOM to 1400x999pix)
Pope Hadrian VI (1523 print)
^
Died on a 06 January:


1961 Alfrewd Aaron Wolmark, Polish British artist born on 28 December 1877.

1952 Charles Isaac Ginner, French British artist born on 04 March 1878 in Cannes, France. He left school at 16 and sailed in a steamer belonging to his uncle round the Mediterranean and the South Atlantic. On his return to Cannes he was briefly employed in an engineer’s office before leaving for Paris where he worked for an architect. His family had opposed his growing interest in art and not until 1904 did he begin to study painting at the Académie Vitti under Paul Gervais [1859–1934], who disliked Ginner’s bright palette so much that the student was obliged to leave. He went to the École des Beaux-Arts, where Hermen Anglada-Camarasa was one of his teachers, and then returned to Vitti’s where he was again ridiculed for his enthusiasm for van Gogh, who remained the single most important influence on his work.

1885 Emily (Coppin) Stannard, British artist born in 1803.

1866 Paul Emil Jacobs, Danish artist born on 18 August 1802.

1840 Charles Town (or Towne), British artist born in 1763. — {Could there be any Charles Town Charleston paintings?}— Relative? of Francis Towne [1739 – 07 Jul 1816]?

1821 Charles François Nivard, French artist born on 22 April 1739. — {Je ne trouve Nivard ni Vard dans l'internet.}

1750 Georg Liszewski, Polish artist born in 1674.


Born on a 06 January:

1857 Robert Thegerström, Swedish artist who died on 09 August 1919. — {I can find neither Thegerström nor the Gerström on the internet.}

1681 Balthasar van den Bossche, Flemish artist who died on 08 September 1715. — Relative? of Aert van den Bossche?

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