Italian 1494-1557 Jacopo Pontormo Galleries Italian painter and draughtsman. He was the leading painter in mid-16th-century Florence and one of the most original and extraordinary of Mannerist artists. His eccentric personality, solitary and slow working habits and capricious attitude towards his patrons are described by Vasari; his own diary, which covers the years 1554-6, further reveals a character with neurotic and secretive aspects. Pontormo enjoyed the protection of the Medici family throughout his career but, unlike Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari, did not become court painter. His subjective portrait style did not lend itself to the state portrait. He produced few mythological works and after 1540 devoted himself almost exclusively to religious subjects. His drawings, mainly figure studies in red and black chalk, are among the highest expressions of the great Florentine tradition of draughtsmanship; close to 400 survive, forming arguably the most important body of drawings by a Mannerist painter. His highly personal style was much influenced by Michelangelo, though he also drew on northern art, primarily the prints of Albrecht Derer.  Related Paintings of Jacopo Pontormo :. | Three Graces | The Deposition | Joseph in Egypt | Deposition 02 | Altargemalde der Capponi-Kapelle in Santa Felicita in Florenz |
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James Ward
English Romantic Painter, 1769-1859 English painter and engraver. He was the most important animal painter of his generation. Many of his dynamic compositions depict horses, dogs or wild animals in agitated emotional states, the sense of movement being reinforced by vigorous brushwork and strong colours. With their sweeping landscapes and dramatic skies, his canvases epitomize Romanticism. Not content to excel merely as an animal painter, Ward also produced portraits, landscapes and genre and history paintings of varying quality.
MEMLING, Hans
Netherlandish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1435-1494 South Netherlandish painter of German origin. Together with Dieric Bouts I and Hugo van der Goes, he was one of the most important exponents of the new artistic developments that flourished in the southern Netherlands in the 15th century in the wake of Jan van Eyck, the Master of Fl?malle and Rogier van der Weyden. Their principal innovation was to apply optic realism to devotional or mystical subjects. Although Memling lived in the turbulent period of transition from the Burgundian ruling house to that of the Habsburgs, little of this is evident in his work. His commissions were almost exclusively from rich burghers in Bruges (bankers, merchants and politicians) or churchmen and the occasional aristocrat. Often they were foreigners, especially Italians, who had political or financial connections with the town, whose central economic position was to last only a few decades longer. They had Memling paint their portraits, bust or full length, in devotional paintings or on altarpieces for their chapel in Bruges or back home. He seems not to have received official commissions (from the town council or court). An exceptional proportion of this oeuvre has survived. Besides about 20 altarpieces, often in several panels and of considerable size,
Henry Merwin Shrady
American Sculptor, 1871-1922,was the sculptor of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C. Shrady was born in New York City. His father, George Shrady, was one of the physicians who attended former president Ulysses S. Grant during the struggle with throat cancer that led to his death on July 23, 1885. Shrady graduated from Columbia University in 1894 and spent one year thereafter at Columbia's law school. He left law school to join with his brother-in-law, Jay Gould (son of millionaire Edwin Gould, the financier), at the Continental Match Company. The company failed and Shrady contracted typhoid fever which diverted him forever from the business world. His recuperation left spare time to pursue a growing interest in art. Shrady's wife, Harrie Moore, submitted some of his paintings to an exhibition of the National Academy of Design without his knowledge and they sold quickly. He then began to teach himself sculpture using zoo animals and his pets as models. Shrady and architect William Casey Pearce won the competition to build the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in 1902. In the twelve years Shrady spent executing the memorial, he studied biology at the American Museum of Natural History and dissected horses to gain a better understanding of animal anatomy.