1853-1918 Swiss Ferdinand Hodler Galleries Hodler was born in Berne and grew up in poverty. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (n??e Neukomm), was from a peasant family. By the time Hodler was eight years old, he had lost his father and two younger brothers to tuberculosis. His mother remarried to a decorative painter, but in 1867 she too died of tuberculosis. Before he was ten, Hodler received training in decorative painting from his stepfather, and was subsequently sent to Thun to apprentice with a local painter, Ferdinand Sommer. Hodler's earliest works were conventional landscapes, which he sold in shops and to tourists. In 1871, at the age of 18, he traveled on foot to Geneva to start a career as a painter. The works of Hodler's early maturity consisted of landscapes, figure compositions and portraits, treated with a vigorous realism. He made a trip to Basel in 1875, where he studied the paintings of Hans Holbein??especially Dead Christ in the Tomb, which influenced Hodler's many treatments of the theme of death. In the last decade of the 19th century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including symbolism and art nouveau. He developed a style which he called Parallelism, characterized by groupings of figures symmetrically arranged in poses suggesting ritual or dance. In 1884 Hodler met Augustine Dupin (1852?C1909), who became his companion and model for the next several years. Their son, Hector Hodler, was born in 1887. In 1889 Hodler married Bertha Stucki; they were divorced in 1891. Hodler's work in his final phase took on an expressionist aspect with strongly coloured and geometrical figures. Landscapes were pared down to essentials, sometimes consisting of a jagged wedge of land between water and sky. However, the most famous of Hodler's paintings portray scenes in which characters are engaged in everyday activities, such as the famous woodcutter (Der Holzfaller, Mus??e d'Orsay, Paris). This picture went on to appear on the back of the 50 Swiss Franc bank note issued by the Swiss National Bank. In 1898, Hodler married Berthe Jacques. In 1914 he condemned the German atrocities conducted using artillery at Rheims. In retaliation for this, German art museums excluded Hodler's work. In 1908 he met Valentine Gode-Darel, who became his mistress. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1913, and the many hours Hodler spent by her bedside resulted in a remarkable series of paintings documenting her disintegration. Her death in January 1915 affected Hodler greatly. He occupied himself with work; a series of about 20 introspective self-portraits date from 1916. By late 1917 his declining health led him to thoughts of suicide. He died on May 19, 1918 in Geneva leaving behind a number of unfinished works portraying the city.  Related Paintings of Ferdinand Hodler :. | Piazza d-Italia,Malinconia | Thunersee mit Stockhornkette | Autumn Evening | Self-Portrait | Sonnenuntergang am Genfersee |
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Gerhard von Kugelgen
Franz Gerhard von Kegelgen (February 26, 1772 - March 27, 1820) was a German painter, noted for his portraits and history paintings. He was a professor at the Academy of Arts in Dresden and a member of both the Prussian and Russian Academies of Arts. His twin brother, Karl von Kegelgen, was also a painter of note. Gerhard von Kegelgen was born at Bacharach am Rhein. After leaving school in 1789, he studied painting in Koblenz. Beginning in 1791, he worked in Bonn, where he painted portraits of Elector Archduke Maximilian Franz of Austria, minister Ferdinand August von Spiegel zum Desenberg, and the Earl of Waldstein. Afterwards, Gerhard von Kegelgen and his brother undertook an educational journey to Rome, Munich and Riga, which was financed by Maximilian Franz of Habsburg. In 1800, Kegelgen married Helene Marie Zoege von Manteuffel. They had three children together. His first son, Wilhelm was born in Saint Petersburg in 1802, and also grew up to become a painter. The other children were Gerhard (born 1806), and Adelheid (born 1808).
Eilif Peterssen
1852-1928 was a Norwegian painter. He attended the of Fredrik Eckersberg in Kristiania (now Oslo) in 1866 and 1870. After that, he studied painting briefly with Knud Bergslien at the Johan Fredrick Eckersberg School of Painting and left to go abroad in 1871. He studied at the School of Art of Copenhagen; in Karlsruhe (1871?C1873), where he was a student of Hans Gude; and, together with Hans Heyerdahl, in Munich under Wilhelm von Diez. He then studied in London, Paris, and Italy. After these travels, he returned to Norway and settled in Bærum. He made his debut at the Høstutstillingen (Autumn Exposition) in Kristiania in 1882. He was a profound connoisseur of European art and was later associated groups such as Lysaker, the painters of Fleskum and those of Skagenpainters, as well as with individual artists like August Eiebakke, Kitty Kielland and Harald Oskar Sohlberg. In Norway, he is also known as the designer of the coat of arms of Norway, adopted when the country separated from Sweden in 1905 to become an independent country. This version was used for official government purposes until 1937, when it was replaced by a new version. Nonetheless, Peterssen's design is still used for the royal coat of arms and for the royal flag. In addition to his canvasses, he collaborated on the decoration of the Tourist Hotel in Holmenkollen in 1889. In the same year, he painted the murals "The Wanderers of Emmaus" in the Church of Tanum in Bærum and "Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane" in the Church of the Cross, Bergen.
William George Richardson
artist (b at Nottingham, Eng 12 June 1833; d at Sussex, NB 18 Nov 1889)