Willem Wissing, 1656 - 1687
LADY ALICE BROWNLOW NÉE SHERARD (1659-1721), c. 1680
Oil on canvas
103 cm x 127 cm
Private collection
Alice Sherard was born in 1656 She was the daughter of Richard Sherard and Margaret Dewe.1,3 She married Sir John Brownlow in 1676, and they quickly inherited the Brownlow fortune and Belton estates. A full-length portrait of the sitter by John Riley and John Closterman is in the National Trust Collection at Belton House. More Alice Sherard
Willem Wissing, known in England as William Wissing (1656[1] – 10 September 1687), was a Dutch portrait artist who worked in England.
He was born in either Amsterdam, or The Hague, and studied at The Hague. In 1676, he moved to England. Wissing’s royal sitters include Charles II of England, Catherine of Braganza, George of Denmark and James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.
In 1685, James II of England sent Wissing to the Netherlands to paint portraits of his Dutch son-in-law and daughter, the future William III of England and the future Mary II of England. Wissing died in 1687 at the peak of his fame as a portrait painter, at Burghley House, the home of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter near Stamford in Lincolnshire. Some suspected he was poisoned out of jealousy of his success. According to Arnold Houbraken his epitaph was Immodicis brevis est aetas, meaning Brief is the life of the outstanding. He was buried in St Martin's Church, Stamford, Lincolnshire. More Willem Wissing
Notice the similarity with the portrait below
Willem Wissing (1656–1687)
Anne, later Queen of England, c. 1687
Oil on canvas
125 × 101 cm (49.2 × 39.8 in)
Bridgeman Art Library
At the time of the sitting she was styled Her Royal Highness Princess of Denmark and Norway by virtue of her marriage. She became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1702, styled Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1707. More this painting
Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a single sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death.
Anne was born in the reign of her uncle Charles II, who had no legitimate children. Her father, James, was first in line to the throne. His suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England, and on Charles's instructions Anne was raised as an Anglican. Three years after he succeeded Charles, James was deposed in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Anne's Dutch Protestant brother-in-law and cousin William III became joint monarch with his wife, Anne's elder sister Mary II. Although the sisters had been close, disagreements over Anne's finances, status and choice of acquaintances arose shortly after Mary's accession and they became estranged. William and Mary had no children. After Mary's death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until he was succeeded by Anne upon his death in 1702.
As queen, Anne favoured moderate Tory politicians, who were more likely to share her Anglican religious views than their opponents, the Whigs. The Whigs grew more powerful during the course of the War of the Spanish Succession, until in 1710 Anne dismissed many of them from office. Her close friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, turned sour as the result of political differences.
Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life. From her thirties onwards, she grew increasingly lame and obese. Despite seventeen pregnancies by her husband, Prince George of Denmark, she died without any surviving children and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, she was succeeded by her second cousin George I of the House of Hanover, who was a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, a daughter of James VI and I. More Anne
Willem Wissing (1656–1687), see above
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
Flora, c. 1634
Oil on canvas
Height: 125 cm (49.2 in). Width: 101 cm (39.8 in).
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Flora or Saskia as Flora is a 1634 painting by Rembrandt, showing his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh as the goddess Flora. It is now in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
She stands, in profile to the left. She turns her face, which has Saskia's features, with a slight inclination towards the spectator. In her right hand she holds a staff entwined with flowers diagonally before her ; she lifts up her long mantle in front with her left hand. Her hair, adorned with a large garland of flowers, falls in long curls down her back. In her ear is a pearl. She wears a dress of gay pattern with loose sleeves, a scarf crossed on her bosom, and a light blue mantle falling from her shoulders. The light, which is evenly distributed, falls from the left. Thick bushes form a dark background. Life size, three-quarter length. Wrongly called until now "The Jewish Bride." . Acquired by Catherine II., Empress of Russia, for the Hermitage in 1901. More on Saskia as Flora
In Roman mythology, Flora was a Sabine-derived goddess of flowers and of the season of spring – a symbol for nature and flowers (especially the may-flower). While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime, as did her role as goddess of youth. Her Greek counterpart was Chloris. More Flora
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
Flora, circa 1654
Oil on canvas
Height: 100 cm (39.4 in). Width: 91.8 cm (36.1 in).
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Although pictures of Flora by Titian and other Italian artists ultimately inspired this work, Rembrandt rejects their idealizing approach by treating the goddess of Spring as an ordinary woman in fancy dress, with an expression betraying real experience. She seems to understand that flowers—emblematic of youth, beauty, and love—will fade away. The figure's face and pose are based partly on a portrait of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, who died in 1642. While the paint surface is abraded, its quality is clear in the billowing folds of the blouse and the flower-filled apron. More Rembrandt Flora, circa 1654
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age, when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways antithetical to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative, and gave rise to important new genres in painting.
Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified most notably in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.
In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization. More on Rembrandt
Guillaume-Charles Brun, (French, 1825-1908)
The young rag seller, c. 1870
Oil on canvas
47-1/2 x 31-3/4 inches (120.7 x 80.6 cm)
Private Collection
During the 19th century, rags were viewed as a valuable commodity, widely collected for recycling into paper. It is estimated that there were 15,000 rag pickers in Paris alone, and at least 100,000 in France in the middle of the 19th century. Most were children and teens. A Victorian-era artist like Brun would have been aware that writers of his day often used the metaphor of recycling rags into clean paper as a way of discussing how society might transform the lives of its street children into those of social usefulness, education enabling them to take the imprint of new, more hopeful life stories. This analogy can be traced back to John Locke's concept of the tabula rasa, whereby children at birth resemble 'white paper.' More on the rag seller
Guillaume-Charles Brun (* 5. May 1825 in Montpellier , Hérault , † 20th February 1908 in Paris) was a French painter. At 22 Brun went to Paris. In 1847 he joined the École des Beaux-Arts accepted (EBA) as a student.
At the large annual exhibition of the EBA in autumn 1847, a work of Bruns was already awarded a medal. In 1851 he was invited at the annual exhibition of the Salon de Paris. His two works were well received by the audience as well as by critics.
1883 Brun became President of the Société des artistes français. More Guillaume-Charles Brun
Iosif Iser, Romanian, 1881-1958
Young Romanian Woman Spinning
Oil on board
24 x 19 5/8 inches (61 x 50 cm)
Private Collection
Iosif Iser (21 May 1881 — 25 April 1958; born and died in Bucharest) was a Romanian painter and graphic artist. Iosf was initially inspired by Expressionism, creating drawings with thick, unmodulated, lines and steep angles. After studies in Munich and Paris (with, among others, André Derain), Iser worked for the socialist press, publishing a large number of caricatures. He also started his first series of paintings with Dobrujan themes, usually featuring local Tatar portraits.
In 1955, he was elected a full member of the Romanian Academy. More Iosif Iser
Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A., EDINBURGH 1803 - 1878 MELTON MOWBRAY
MOTHER AND CHILD FLEEING BY NIGHT
Oil on canvas
231.5 x 139.8 cm.; 91 1/8 x 55 in.
Private Collection
Sir Francis Grant PRA (18 January 1803 – 5 October 1878). Scottish painter, active mainly in England. Grant was one of the most successful fashionable portraitists of his day and he also (particularly early in his career) produced sporting pictures (he came from an aristocratic family and was devoted to fox-hunting). He was perhaps at his best in portraits of young women, in which he continued the glamorous tradition of Lawrence but tempered the elegant dash with a touch of Victorian sobriety: an enchanting example is his portrait of his daughter ‘Daisy’ Grant (1857, NG, Edinburgh). More Sir Francis Grant
Albert Lynch (1851–1912) was a Peruvian painter. He was born in 1851 in Trujillo, Peru. He settled in Paris, where he studied at l'École des Beaux-Arts. Lynch worked under the guidance of painters Jules Achille Noël, Gabriel Ferrier and Henri Lehmann. He showed his artwork in the Salon in 1890 and 1892 and in the Exposition Universelle of 1900 during which he received a gold medal.
The women of his time were his favorite subject to paint and he preferred pastel, gouache and watercolor although he occasionally worked in the oil technique. His work maintained the spirit of the Belle Époque. He illustrated such books as Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac and La Parisienne by Henry Becque.
There is a great deal of disagreement about the dates and places of his birth and death. It is possible, for example, to find sources that say he was born in Germany and that he lived well into the 1930s (or even longer). More Albert Lynch
Albert Lynch, (Peruvian, 1851-1912)
A fashionable beauty
Oil on canvas
16-1/4 x 12 inches (41.3 x 30.5 cm)
Private Collection
The women of his time were his favorite subject to paint and he preferred pastel, gouache and watercolor although he occasionally worked in the oil technique. His work maintained the spirit of the Belle Époque. He illustrated such books as Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac and La Parisienne by Henry Becque.
There is a great deal of disagreement about the dates and places of his birth and death. It is possible, for example, to find sources that say he was born in Germany and that he lived well into the 1930s (or even longer). More Albert Lynch
Carl Theodor von Piloty and Franz Adam
(Munich 1826–1886 Ambach on Lake Starnberg) and (Milan 1815–1886 Munich)
Empress Elisabeth of Austria as bride on horseback in Possenhofen 1853
[painted from nature by Carl Piloty, horse by Franz Adam 1853]
Oil on canvas
128 x 108 cm
Private Collection
The present painting shows the 15-year-old Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria and future Empress of Austria, in front of Possenhofen Castle with Lake Starnberg in the background. Here, she could spend untroubled childhood summers, far from the Munich court. The painting, dated 1853, was executed in the year of her engagement with the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I. Empress Elisabeth gave the portrait to Francis Joseph of Austria for Christmas after the two were engaged to be married. More on this Painting
Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria (24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898) was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and thus Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, and many others.
Born into the royal Bavarian house of Wittelsbach, Elisabeth enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of sixteen. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was ill-prepared and which she found uncongenial. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy. The birth of a male heir, Rudolf, improved her standing at court considerably, but her health suffered under the strain, and she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.
The death of her only son Rudolf, and his mistress Mary Vetsera, in a murder–suicide tragedy at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, which was already legendary during her life. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, she was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress of Austria, at 44 years. More Empress Elisabeth of Austria
Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, born in Munich. In 1840, Karl was admitted as a student of the Munich Academy. A year later acclaimed history paintings were shown in Munich, their realistic depiction of historic subject matter made a lasting impression on him. After a journey to Belgium, France and England, he commenced work as a painter of genre pictures.
But he soon forsook this branch of painting in favour of historical subjects, and produced in 1854 for King Maximilian II The Accession of Maximilian I to the Catholic League in 1609. It was succeeded by Seni at the Dead Body of Wallenstein (1855), which gained for the young painter the membership of the Munich Academy, where he succeeded Schorn (his brother-in-law) as professor in 1856. He was appointed keeper of the Munich Academy, and was a successful teacher. More Karl Theodor von Piloty
Franz Adam (May 4, 1815 – September 30, 1886) was a German painter, chiefly of military subjects. Adam was born in Milan, Italy, to painter Albrecht Adam, a German who had spent the prior several years in Italy. Franz Adam's first notable work was a collection of lithographs on the Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states, done jointly with noted lithographer Denis Auguste Marie Raffet. He painted his first masterpiece during the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, a scene from the Battle of Solferino. His best-known works, meanwhile, depict the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. More Franz Adam
After Sir Anthony van Dyck
PORTRAIT OF ANNA WAKE (1605–BEFORE 1669)
Oil on canvas
64.4 x 53.2 cm.; 25 3/8 x 21 in.
Private Collection
Anna Wake (1605-before 1669) was the wife of Peeter Stevens (c. 1590-1668), an Antwerp cloth merchant, and art collector
Sir Anthony van Dyck, ( 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching. The Van Dyke beard is named after him. More Sir Anthony van Dyck
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