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ART “4” “2”-DAY  18 MAY
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DEATHS: 1551 BECCAFUMI 1837 GÉRARD 1867 STANFIELD
^ Died on 18 May 1551: Domenico di Pace “Beccafumi” il Mecherino (or Mecarino), Sienese Mannerist painter and sculptor born in 1486. He studied under il Sodoma. — [Smokes in a corner?]
— Originally named Domenico di Pace, and also called Il Mecherino, he took the name Beccafumi from his patron, a wealthy Sienese who sent him to study in Siena and Rome. Beccafumi designed 35 splendid mosaics from 1517 to 1546 for the pavement in Siena Cathedral, each mosaic depicting a different Old Testament scene. Beccafumi's best-known paintings are the ceiling frescoes of the Palazzo Publico in Siena and an altarpiece in the same building. True to the style of Mannerism, Beccafumi used light for dramatic effects and created ethereal, wraithlike figures in fantastic settings. His last years were devoted principally to sculpture, particularly to the bronze figures of angels that he cast for the Siena Cathedral in about 1548. Beccafumi was also a talented engraver and worked in both copper and wood
— Domenico di Pace, also called Il Mecherino, he took the name Beccafumi from his patron, a wealthy Sienese who sent him to study in Siena and Rome. he was, with Parmigianino, the most interesting of the non-Florentine Mannerist painters, and the last of the great Sienese. A member of the High Renaissance generation, his years in Rome (1510-1512) saw the painting of Raphael's Stanze and Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling, both of which influenced him. In such works as the St Catherine Receiving the Stigmata (1515) he appears also to have been affected by Fra Bartolomeo, whose work was known in Siena. Soon after Beccafumi's return to Siena in 1513 his highly personal style displays characteristics usually associated with the Mannerism of the following decade; his use of strong effects of perspective and contapposto, his intensity of emotion, and his use of subtle, shot color, as well as of lurid effects of light, are all stylistic features of central Italian painting of the 1530s and 1540s, which he probably knew as a result of the dispersal of Roman artists after the Sack of 1527. Beccafumi designed 35 splendid mosaics from 1517 to 1546 for the pavement in Siena Cathedral, each mosaic depicting a different Old Testament scene. Beccafumi's best-known paintings are the ceiling frescoes of the Palazzo Publico in Siena and an altarpiece in the same building.
— Domenico Beccafumi took the name of a rich Sienese citizen who apprenticed him to a local painter, but his father was really a peasant who worked for the beneficent Beccafumi. The artist spent several years in Rome, where he saw Raphael's and Michelangelo's works, and a trip to Florence exposed him to Leonardo da Vinci's chiaroscuro. By 1514 Beccafumi was developing characteristics usually associated with the Mannerism of the next decade, creating both emotional and compositional tension and instability instead of the balance and harmony more typical of Renaissance art. In the later 1520s he became official painter to the Sienese republic and decorated many of Siena's churches with paintings and frescoe. Beccafumi also designed mosaics and worked as a sculptor, wood engraver, and etcher. From the beginning, Beccafumi's highly personal style was concerned with light: he made light vibrate to convey emotion or spiritual illumination. He achieved his effects through strong perspective and contrapposto, soft colors, and elongated, elaborately intertwined figures.
LINKS
Trinity (1513, 152x228cm, 1155x720pix, 174kb) _ In a theme that was majestically treated by Masaccio a century earlier, Beccafumi does not retain an orderly sense of scale for his figures, so that God the Father and the crucified Christ are much smaller in relation to the side saints (Sts Cosmas and John the Baptist at left, Sts John the Evangelist and Damian at right). All of his figures seem to deny pure volumetric presence, this despite the fact that Beccafumi was accomplished both as a bronze sculptor and painter. _ detail (835x1020pix, 155kb) _ Oddly enough, Beccafumi's interpretation of this noble theme, masterfully rendered by Masaccio and Andrea del Castagno a century before, is here spatially compressed. Even where his figural modelling implies volume, the impression is quickly suppressed. An indication of this Sienese master's individualism which often borders on eccentricity may be read in the interaction of the hands. Jesus' hands are flattened on the Cross, while God's appear almost directly behind them, as if they were once and will again be the same hands.
St Paul (1515, 190x150cm, 765x1100pix, 176kb) _ Often regarded as a 'Tuscan Mannerist,' Beccafumi introduces brittle colors including strident greens and sour yellows into his highly original figural vocabulary. In a painting celebrating St Paul, identified by his sword, Beccafumi unveils his highly linear approach. He seems to have rejected most of the lessons of Michelangelo, and Raphael for that matter, in favour of a completely personal and frequently eccentric interpretation.
Birth of the Virgin (1543, 233x145cm, 556x850pix, 104kb) _ Beccafumi was the most interesting of the non-Florentine Mannerist painters. His death brought to an end the long, and always emotionally directed, succession of great Sienese painters. His years in Rome from 1510 to 1512 coincided with the period of the Stanze and the Sistine ceiling; yet soon after his return to Siena in 1513 his work displayed characteristics normally associated with the Mannerism of the next decade.
Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena (1515, 208x156cm, 810x1100pix, 138kb) _ This is, arguably Beccafumi's masterpiece. Like Saint Francis of Assisi [1182 – 03 Oct 1226] and, after him, 60 other saints and blessed (not counting those who have not been officially recognized as such), Saint Catherine of Siena [25 Mar 1347 – 29 Apr 1380] miraculously receives in her hands, feet, and heart, wounds duplicating those of the Crucified Christ. Catherine appears on bent knee with palms extended, her youthful face fixed upon the crucifix hanging on the wall. In this picture, light acts as a concrete protagonist.
— a different Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata (1513, 28x41cm) _ “I saw our Lord fastened upon the cross coming down towards me and surrounding me with a marvelous light...Then there came down from the holes of his blessed wounds five bloody beams, which were directed towards the same parts of my body: to my hands, feet, and heart”. This was how Saint Catherine of Siena described receiving the Stigmata at Pisa, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 01 April 1375. In this panel, Catherine is shown kneeling in a small chapel while other Dominicans wonder what is overtaking her, since only she can see the miraculous vision. Another woman sits on the stairs, lost in meditation. An altarpiece showing the Nativity is in the background. Beccafumi effectively tells the story with a minimum of detail. He uses a striking pose to demonstrate the ecstasy of the saint: she bends forward as if to meet the tilting crucifix, her arms outstretched to receive the stigmata. This panel and its companion, The Miraculous Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena , were probably made for the predella of an altarpiece dedicated to Saint Catherine.
The Miraculous Communion of Saint Catherine of Siena (1515, 28x41cm) _ Upon arriving at church late one day because of her difficulty walking, Saint Catherine was dissuaded by her companions from taking communion because they knew her ensuing ecstasy would last for several hours. She concurred but prayed for God's help in receiving the Eucharist. Miraculously, an angel took a piece of the consecrated host and gave it to the saint. Celebrating Mass at a side altar, her confessor looks around with concern for the missing piece of the host. Neither he nor the others could see the miracle, so their expressions reflect bewilderment.
Tanaquil (1519, 92x53cm, 494x888pix, 94kb) _ Tanaquil was influential in making her husband and, after his assassination, her son-in-law, kings of Rome. _ The painting is inscribed: SVM TANAQUIL BINOS FECI QVE PROVIDA REGES / PRIMA VIRVM SERVVM FOEMINA DEINDE MEVM.
      When the rule of the Bacchiadae in Corinth was overthrown (657 BC) by the tyrant Cypselus, Demaratus, a Corinthian noble, migrated to Tarquinii, Etruria, where he married into one of the leading Etruscan families and had two sons, Aruns and Lucumo. Lucumo married Tanaquil, a daughter of the Etruscan aristocracy and a prophetess of high repute. At her urging he went to Rome, became a citizen, and took the name Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. He rose to high position, and on the death of Ancus Martius (616 BC) he either seized the Roman throne or was elected to it by a coalition of Etruscan families. Priscus fought successfully against the Sabines and subjugated all Latium to Rome. He is credited with the building of the first Circus Maximus and the Forum. During his reign Etruscan influences appeared in Roman politics, religion, and art. After a reign of 38 years he was assassinated by the sons of Ancus Martius, who were involved in a patrician plot attempting to limit the kingship to a religious role only. Through the influence of Tanaquil, the plot was halted and the kingship passed to Servius Tullius, her son-in-law. After a reign of 44 years, Tullius was murdered by the son of Priscus and Tanaquil, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), who thereupon seized the throne.
Marcia (1520) (92x53cm) _ ME CATO COGNOVIT VIR MOX HORTENSIVS ALTER. / DEINDE CATONIS EGO MARTIA NVPTA FVI. Marcia was the wife of Cato, who ceded her to his friend Hortensius. After Hortensius' death, she returned to Cato.
      Both this painting and Tanaquil are part of a series of works representing famous women of antiquity. Like Mantegna's Tuccia and A Woman Drinking, they were no doubt incorporated into the furniture of a room.
      According to the Cato the Younger chapter in Bioi Paralleloi of Plutarch [0046-0120+]:
      Cato's own wife Atilia was not free from [incontinency]; and after she had borne him two children, he was forced to put her away for her misconduct. After that, he married Marcia, the daughter of Philippus, a woman of good reputation, who yet has occasioned much discourse; and the life of Cato, like a dramatic piece, has this one scene or passage full of perplexity and doubtful meaning. Among many that loved and admired Cato, some were more remarkable and conspicuous than others. Of these was Quintus Hortensius, a man of high repute and approved virtue, who desired not only to live in friendship and familiarity with Cato, but also to unite his whole house and family with him by some sort or other of alliance in marriage. Therefore he set himself to persuade Cato that his daughter Porcia, who was already married to, Bibulus, and had borne him two children, might nevertheless be given to him, as a fair plot of land, to bear fruit also for him. "For," said he, "though this in the opinion of men may seem strange, yet in nature it is honest, and profitable for the public that a woman in the prime of her youth should not lie useless, and lose the fruit of her womb, nor, on the other side, should burden and impoverish one man, by bringing him too many children. Also by this communication of families among worthy men, virtue would increase, and be diffused through their posterity; and the commonwealth would be united and cemented by their alliances." Yet if Bibulus would not part with his wife altogether, he would restore her as soon as she had brought him a child, whereby he might be united to both their families. Cato answered, that he loved Hortensius very well, and much approved of uniting their houses, but he thought it strange to speak of marrying his daughter, when she was already given to another. Then Hortensius, turning the discourse, did not hesitate to speak openly and ask for Cato's own wife, for she was young and fruitful, and he had already children enough. Neither can it be thought that Hortensius did this, as imagining Cato did not care for Marcia; for, it is said, she was then with child. Cato, perceiving his earnest desire, did not deny his request, but said that Philippus, the father of Marcia, ought also to be consulted. Philippus, therefore, being sent for, came; and finding they were well agreed, gave his daughter Marcia to Hortensius in the presence of Cato, who himself also assisted at the marriage. This was done at a later time.
The Holy Family with Young Saint John (1530, round 84 cm diam., 545x550pix, 60kb) _ Beccafumi is very important Sienese painter who, through the influence of Michelangelo, and of Leonardo and Raphael through the medium of Sodoma, and not without a knowledge of the northerners, achieves a highly original stylistic conception, which is among the most fanciful of the whole Mannerism. It is based upon a liquid coloring which melts under the impact of light and upon an undulating and serpentine linearism. [huh?]
Moses and the Golden Calf (1537, 197x139cm, 774x1110pix, 150kb) _ Late in his career, Beccafumi executed an important series of paintings for the venerable Cathedral of Pisa. Moses and the Golden Calf is disturbing in its originality because the figures have become increasingly thin, diaphanous, and dependent upon silhouette and outline to achieve convincing form. Scale is unconventional and has little significance by normal usage. Moses, holding the tablets, stands in a contorted pose and looks disapprovingly at the miniaturized golden calf nearby. The sharply foreshortened nude youth in the left foreground is difficult to interpret.
The Annunciation (1545, 914x950pix, 112kb) _ In the closing years of his career, Beccafumi tended to rein in his more extravagant ideas and also went back to painting calmer compositions that create a sense of silent intimacy. However, he never gave up his unmistakable and extraordinarily rich use of color nor his love of grading the tone in his pictures from parts that were brilliantly bathed in warm light through to very dark areas.
Fall of the Rebellious Angels (1545, 347x227cm, 723x1100pix, 133kb) _ This spectacular and grandiloquent painting was produced during the period Beccafumi was closest to Michelangelo whose Last Judgment was only recently finished when Beccafumi painted this panel. While the elongated muscular nudes recall the nudes of Michelangelo, in terms of appearance there is little formal connection between the two artists. The confusion of the scene suggests that the picture is probably unfinished, and a satisfying solution may have eluded the artist.
Madonna with the Infant Christ and St John the Baptist (1540, 90x65cm, 802x1164pix, 135kb) _ Art historians have dated this unfinished work to between the late 1530's and the early 1540's on the basis of close stylistic correspondences between it and the Nativity of the Virgin (now in the Pinacoteca in Siena), one of Beccafumi's most famous paintings. The connections between this painting and the influence of Leonardo da Vinci have been pointed out. In the seventeenth-century Barberini art inventories it was listed as a Madonna Lactans alternately attributed to Leonardo or to one of his followers, an error that indicates the importance of Leonardo as an influence on Beccafumi. The correct attribution appears only in an 1817 inventory.
Saint Lucy (1521, 720x1040pix, 77kb)
^ Died on 18 May 1837: Marguerite Gérard, French Romantic portrait and genre-scene painter born on 28 January 1761.
— After the death of her mother in 1775 she left Grasse to join her elder sister Marie-Anne and her sister’s husband Jean-Honoré Fragonard in their quarters in the Louvre in Paris. Marguerite became Fragonard’s protégé and lived for the next 30 years in the Louvre, where she was exposed to the greatest art and artists of the past and present. By 1785 she had already established a reputation as a gifted genre painter, the first French woman to do so, and by the late 1780s came to be considered one of the leading women artists in France, the equal of Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Anne Vallayer-Coster and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
_ Marguerite Gérard was the sister-in-law of Jean-Honoré Fragonard as well as his student and protégée. Gérard, one of the few women artists of her time, developed a sentimental style of domestic genre scenes that greatly appealed to her contemporaries.
— Daughter of a Grassois perfumer, Claude Gérard, Marguerite, barely sixteen, goes to Paris where she lives with her sister Marie-Anne, Jean-Honoré Fragonard's wife. Though she can barely read or write; the young girl nonetheless shows great artistic disposition and learns to draw, paint, and even engrave. Initially her brother-in-law's student she will quickly become his collaborator and more, according to several unfounded rumors. This collaboration ends with the close of the 18th century. Marguerite Gerard continues painting calm, intimate, and happy family scenes which she regularly exhibits in the Salons, up until 1824. Tired of the criticism of her repetitive style she then retires from artistic life and ends her days comfortably in Paris.
— Although she also produced oil portraits, portrait miniatures, and etchings, Marguerite Gérard is best known for her intimate domestic genre scenes. In the hierarchy of subject types in 18th-century France, such paintings ranked higher than portraits or still lifes but considerably lower than history paintings. Yet Gérard, who was something of a rebel (she never married and apparently never demonstrated any interest in joining the Academy), was tremendously successful in her career, which lasted more than 40 years. Gérard won three medals for her work, which she exhibited regularly once the Salons were opened to women in the 1790s; her pictures were acquired by such luminaries as Napoleon and King Louis XVII; she also acquired considerable wealth and real estate.
Mauvaises Nouvelles      Gérard was born in the Provençal town of Grasse. Her interest in art was shaped by her brother-in-law, the popular rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard, beginning in 1775, when she moved to Paris to live with her sister's family. As part of the Fragonard household, Gérard had considerable financial freedom, along with the opportunity to further her artistic training as her brother-in-law's unofficial apprentice. By her mid-twenties Gérard had developed her signature style, which featured painstakingly accurate details rendered with subtly blended brush strokes, both traits borrowed from 17th-century Dutch genre specialists, notably Gabriel Metsu. Gérard's work is not only technically impressive but also practical: these relatively small-scale, portable canvases were designed to appeal to wealthy collectors who preferred to display in their homes meticulously painted still lifes and genre scenes rather than large history paintings. The numerous engraved versions of Gérard's paintings made them accessible to less affluent art lovers and helped increase her reputation.

LINKS
Bad News (1804, 63cmx50cm) [>>>] _ The subject, rather than the technique, is a perfect illustration of the artist's pre-Romanticism. Women fainting was a recurrent theme in literature of the period: "this morning's conversation had deeply upset me... my head and my heart ached... I felt myself growing faint... would Heaven take pity on me? ... I could no longer stand up..." (Letter XII from Julie d'Étange in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse).
L’Enfant Chéri (1790) _ This painting presents an idealized vision of the world and an idyllic interpretation of elegantly dressed women fulfilling their roles as mothers and protectors that is typical of Gérard’s manner. From a technical standpoint, the painting displays Gérard’s virtuoso skills in reproducing subtle tonalities and various textures of fabrics.
First Steps (1788) _ A subject which Gérard had painted before (1785), and would paint again for the 1804 Salon.
Artist Painting a Portrait of a Musician (before 1803)
^ Died on 18 (08?) May 1867: [William?] Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, English painter born on 03 December 1793.
— Born in Sunderland. He was first a child actor before going to sea 1808-1815, visiting China. In 1816 he settled in London where he became a successful scenic artist and a regular exhibitor of marines and landscape views at the British Institution, London 1820-1853, Society of British Artists 1823-1830 and Royal Academy, London 1820-1867. He was elected Associate Royal Academician, London 1832 and Royal Academician 1835. From 1823 he travelled regularly in Europe, including visits to Italy in 1824, 1830 and 1838-1839. He was patronised by William IV and Queen Victoria, and was a friend of Dickens, Marryat and, in particular, David Roberts. He became a Catholic convert in 1846 when he was rebaptised Thomas Clarkson Stanfield. He died in London.
— He is often wrongly referred to as William Clarkson Stanfield. The son of Mary Hoad and James Field Stanfield, an Irish actor and author, he was apprenticed to a heraldic coach painter at the age of 12, but in 1808 he abandoned this and went to sea in a collier. In 1812 he was press-ganged and spent two years on HMS Namur, the guard-ship at Sheerness. After being discharged as the result of an injury in 1814, he joined the merchant navy, sailing to China in the Indiaman Warley in 1815. Soon after his return in 1816 he missed his ship and became a scene painter, first at the Royalty Theatre, Stepney, and then at the Royal Coburg, Lambeth. There he was later joined by David Roberts, who became a lifelong friend, and in 1822 both men were employed as scene painters at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. During the next 12 years Stanfield established himself as the most talented scene painter of his day, causing a sensation with some of his huge moving dioramas such as the scenes of Venice in the pantomine Harlequin and Little Thumb (1831). Meanwhile he was building an equally impressive reputation as an easel painter. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820 and continued to exhibit there regularly until his death. He was elected ARA in 1832 and RA in 1835. He was a founder-member of the Society of British Artists and became its president in 1829.
LINKS
An Italian Lake Town (20x30cm) — The Castle of Ischia (61x104cm) — Eu, looking towards Tréport (1834, 37x44cm)
Sketch for The Battle of Trafalgar, and the Victory of Lord Nelson over the Combined French and Spanish Fleets, October 21, 1805 (1833, 39x80cm)
Lake Como (1825, 47x77cm) _ In the early nineteenth century many artists like Stanfield and Callcott turned to the lakes of northern Italy for the subject-matter of topographical pictures that were often engraved in volumes of 'Picturesque Tours' for consumption by a largely middle-class market. Their new, bourgeois realism is wedded to the older, idealising vision of Italy to produce works that are both serene and immediate — a tourist's view of landscape seen through layers of pictorial and cultural tradition.
^
Died on a 18 May:


1914 Charles Sprague Pearce, US artist born in 1851. Studied under Léon Bonnat [1833-1922] — [Did Pearce pierce through enough to be prominent?] — LINKSLamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt (1877 — The Shawl (1900)

1827 Antoine-Pierre Mongin, French artist born in 1761 or 1762. — [Est-ce que pour Mongin “mon gin” était ce qu'il appelait sa boisson favorite? En consommait-il trop? Cela explique-t-il que je ne trouve rien de lui sur l'internet?]

1822 (11 May?) Gérard van Spaendonck, French painter and printmaker, born on 23 (22?) March 1746. In 1764 he was apprenticed to the decorative painter Guillaume-Jacques Herreyns, in Antwerp. In 1769, Gerard left for Paris and, having been appointed miniature painter to the newly crowned Louis XVI in 1774, he became a candidate for membership of the Académie Royale the following year, making his Salon début in 1777. In 1780, he succeeded Madeleine Basseporte [1701–1780] as professor of flower painting at the Jardin des Plantes. In 1781 he was elected a member of the Académie and began contributing to the Vélins du Roi, a series of botanical studies painted on vellum. Gerard eventually contributed over 50 such studies (e.g. Hibiscus Flower, 1785) and in doing so changed from the traditional medium of gouache to watercolor. The task and the medium were assumed by his famous pupil, Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Van Spaendonck exhibited two of these flower studies on vellum together with five oils at the Salon of 1783 and was highly praised by the critics. At this period he was also active designing for the Sèvres porcelain factory.
     Gérard van Spaendonck was the brother of Cornelis van Spaendonck [07 Dec 1756 – Jan 1840]. They were the sons of Maria Theresa (née Couwenberg) van Spaendonck and Jan Anthony van Spaendonck, who was the steward of the seignory of Tilburg, belonging to the Prince of Hesse-Kassel, a position he retained after the property was sold. Of their five children, only Gérard and Cornelis, both of whom became important flower painters, left Tilburg, but they remained in close touch throughout their careers. The Prince is known to have had one of the finest gardens in the area, designed in the latest French style, and this must have influenced the young Gérard and, through him, Cornelis. The year 1769, when Gerard went to Paris, is an important date in the history of flower painting: for the first time, flower painting left its traditional center in the Low Countries.

1752 Robert Levrac-Tournières, French artist born in 1667 or 1668.

1740 André Bouys, French artist born in 1656.

^
Born on a 18 May:


1852 Julius Adam II (or Katzen-Adam), German artist who died in 1913. — [Did he specialize in portraits of cats?]

1810 Johann Peter Hasenclever, German artist born on 16 September 1853. [clever hare? how clever?]

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