On 15 Apr, 2014 With
Article from Coco Depink
Rutilio Manetti was one of those busy and reliable provincial painters whose manner was derived from the innovations of more important artists in major artistic centers and who, in certain works, brought an injection of metropolitan excitement to the art of his hometown. He fulfilled a purely local demand for altarpieces, decorations, and history paintings in styles reflecting several of the fashions of the day, some reminiscent of Caravaggio, others of the Gentileschi, and so on. Manetti has benefited from the stimulating resurgence in Italy in the last twenty years of local interest in native talent, even thought he was not one of the innovators in the history of Italian painting not even one of those artists with a quirky and appealing poetry who sometimes emerges despite a provincial heritage.
If Siena, where Manetti was born in 1571 and where he spent most of his life, was a less significant city under the late Medici rule in the seventeenth century that it had been as an independent city-state in medieval times, it still was quite an important religious center and there was a lively demand for a good painter or two to serve the church, city and private patrons. Little is known of his early career. After completing the altar piece of the Death of the Blessed Anthony Patrizi ( Sant’ Agostino Monticiano) in 1616 a painting that betrays some knowledge of the advanced art of Artemisia Gentileschi who was active in Florence at that time, Manetti likely went to Rome…
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On 10 Apr, 2014 With
Article from Chris Crombé
We all know, almost without thinking, famous male painters like, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dijck, Cézanne, Van Gogh etc. But if we have to cite a female one our memory fails. And still they were there. In one of my articles I will try to explain the raison of this phenomena. But I start as a trigger with one of an not very well known, but exceptional talented animal painter. Cats have been a favorite subject of artists for many decades, and many big names in the art world have produced impressive works. One of them is Henriette Ronner-Knip. HENRIËTTE RONNER-KNIP (1821 – 1909) Henriette Ronner, born KNIP, was born on the 21st of may 1821 in Amsterdam. Her father, grand-father , uncle and one of her aunts, where fine artists too. All four of them had…
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On 8 Apr, 2014 With
Article by Luca Molnar
We as human beings often would like to have everything right away. We want to be successful, happy, we want to draw and paint like Michelangelo, be thinner or prettier and we want all of these things by tomorrow. If it doesn’t happen quickly enough (and it doesn’t), we loose faith and move on to our next goal. However things take time in this universe of ours…
Greatness is not given easily or quickly. Salvador Dali or Hieronymus Bosch didn’t become the artist we know them to be today overnight, nor did they paint their masterpieces in 2 hours. They studied and practiced, failed and tried again more times than anyone could count. What they did differently from most of us is that they kept trying and believed in themselves even when no one else did. Just remember how Dali barely had something to eat for years and no one seemed to like his paintings. Or look at the earliest works of some of the most talented artists, those paintings simply aren’t good, in some cases we can even say that they are terrible. However these artists were patient with themselves and kept studying until they became the very best of their time…
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On 6 Apr, 2014 With
Article by Luca Molnar
If you are an art lover, just like me then you have probably realized that having a great technique has somehow became an old-fashioned thing. At the same time everything that is ‘shocking’ or ‘strange’ has been labeled as ‘creative’. One may find oneself confused and lost about which way to go as an artist and it is surely a reasonable question. In order to find answer to our question, let’s take a closer look at ‘creativity’ and ‘technique’ and what these words really mean.
Through centuries and probably ever since humans started painting and expressing themselves through arts, artists have been thriving for a greater knowledge regarding technique. This was the main reason why painters were also scientist for hundreds of years. The old masters were restlessly searching for more vibrant colours and were perfecting…
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On 3 Apr, 2014 With
Article by Luca Molnar
Have you ever heard of William-Adolphe Bouguereau? Or the old technique of glazing? I don’t blame you if you haven’t yet.
Bouguereau was a famous Franch painter in the 19th century, who died more than a hundred years ago in 1905. He studied the academic style (the technique of the great renaissance masters) for years as a young artist, and perfected his knowledge in the almost forgotten, mysterious technique of the renaissance masters. He became one of the best and most celebrated painters of his generation; and a true master of his profession at a very young age. In 1850, at the tender age of 26 Bouguereau completed his famous painting, Zenobia Found by Shepherds on the Banks of the Araxes, which clearly shows his amazing talent and unmatchable skills and knowledge. An art critic stated at the time “Bouguereau has a natural instinct and knowledge of contour. The eurythmie of the human body preoccupies him, and in recalling the happy results which, in this genre, the ancients and the artists of the sixteenth century arrived at, one can only congratulate Bouguereau in attempting to follow in their footsteps … Raphael was inspired by the ancients … and no one accused him of not being original.” But what was this technique? What was the secret behind his larger than life paintings?…
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