La Bella Portrait by Titian

November 11th, 2011

Titian or Tiziano Vecelli was born on August 27, 1576, an Italian painter who was renowned as one of the best painters in the Venetian School during the 16th century. He spent his early years in Pieve di Cadore in the Republic of Venice, in which his nickname “da Cadore” was derived.

Titian’s subject matter focused on landscapes, portraits, and mythological or religious themes. As an Italian painter, he relied heavily on the usage of color that gave a profound effect in the Italian Renaissance Art. This also contributed to a classical color technique employed by future painters of Western Art. During the course of Titian’s painting passion, his outlook on using painting techniques have changed but his excellence in manipulating colors remained intact. When he started doing more mature themes, his use of vivid and luminous colors was gone and transformed into darker and mixed hues.

One of Titian’s masterpieces was “La Bella: The Woman in a Blue Dress”. The La Bella portrait painting can be dated to have been made in the mid 1530’s. The portrait displays a woman dressed in blue gown, embellished with tantalizing gold embroidery with well defined garment design and perfected with dazzling jewelries of gold chain, rubies, and pearls. The painting shows off a graceful woman in a very magnificent dress fully clad with jewelries to accentuate her elegance and status symbol. Francesco Maria I della Rovere, a Duke in Urbino who was a mercenary leader in Florence and Venice, was the first owner of this portrait painting.

Titian used the usual color technique in vivid and luminous tints. The association of colors brilliantly emphasized the beautiful woman’s societal status and grace; a symbolical understanding on what a member of the Venetian family is. The painting exudes various speculations of the identity of the beautiful woman in the portrait. It was believed that she was the suspected lover of Titian but it remained to be a fabricated story. The portrait painting “Eleonora Gonzaga” was introduced after “La Bella” which resembled exactly the latter’s profile, though La Bella connoted a more demure personality and a sense of discreet sensuality.

Titian’s concept in “La Bella” painting delivered subtlety, charm, sensuality, and classic elegance. Titian remained to be a brilliant painter, unsurpassed through the years. His mastery in conveying message in his portraits was profoundly substantial to the extent that it greatly influenced the emotions of his audience. Titian is considered to be an icon in the Renaissance Art because of his brilliance in painting; the subjects of his works were perfectly cohesive to deliver a poetic image that emanated paragons of beauty.

His great technique in using colors and brushes were very brilliant and it never failed to convey an idealistic Italian Renaissance Art, a period which greatly influenced today’s Western Art. Titian’s meticulous painting idealism brought realism in his subjects and themes.

Author:  Shyxter

Giovanni Bellini

October 22nd, 2011

Giovanni Bellini established a Venetian school of painting and as a painter himself; he has substantial knowledge about Renaissance art. His style in painting was derived from realism; he pursued subjects that gave rich amounts of meaning and message defined with emphasis in color and form. Giovanni Bellini started his humble beginnings in Venice, Italy, where he inherited his painting skills from his father who was once a painter of the 15th century Gothic revival artists. He was also inspired by a family member, his impressive brother in law Andrea Mantegna, who influenced him a lot when he started the first phase of his painting career and gradually learned to develop his own painting styles. His technique focused on softer shapes and an oozing poetic aura. From then on, Bellini started to master his skills by making pieces of art with religious and humanity themes.

Bellini is considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Venetian Renaissance because of his unique way of creating his masterpieces. His compositions in his paintings are superb in a way that they exuded serene self-sufficiency of values in his paintings. His techniques are composed in sculpturesque form, giving well defined contour lines with deep eloquence and great impact on compositional philosophy.

His Pieta Painting is made in oil canvas. The picture itself connotes a religious theme; it is evident in this picture that Jesus is supported by his mother The Virgin Mary and St. John. The composition is perfectly toned in colors, giving emphasis on the main theme and the atmospheric shades of tones supplied serenity and charm. This is yet another of his revolutionary paintings that is composed in rich tints with perfectly detailed intricacies of shades. The coloring is eloquent and fluent which gave a great effect on the whole portrait. The Pieta Painting shows grieving mourners of Jesus who is in agony. In its biblical theme, it somehow made the piece as timeless, classical, and poignant. The characters of the painting conveyed strong emotions that definitely reach out to its the viewers; Virgin Mary looks into the eyes of his dying son Jesus Christ, exerting painful effort to support his son. There is a sorrowful pain in her eyes as she closely looks and witnesses his son’s agony. The scene alone with Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ is deeply moving; there is a feeling of hope that his son could still be alive and escape death. The wounds can be seen on each hand of Jesus Christ because of the crucifixion, with his fingers curled in pain. On the right, St. John the Evangelist is bursting in sorrow and devastation; looking away from Mary because of the unbearable scene between a mother and a child both suffering from anguish and pain.

The three characters are consoled closely. In the foreground the scene is drawn in infinite perspective; the sky is painted in grey blue which conveyed an emotion of indifference and highlights torment and devastation of the characters. Certainly, the composition of colors and intricate details made the painting moving and agonizing. This is truly a kind of painting that will forever be considered as a timeless, biblical piece.

Author:   Shyxter

de La Tour’s The Fortune Teller painting

October 15th, 2011

Georges de La Tour was born March 14, 1593 in Vic-sur-Seille in Lorraine, France. There were no historical records that transcribe the earlier life of de La Tour not until he was twenty-four, which meant that a decade of his significant life was missed. George de La Tour married Diane le Nerf in 1617 and raised 10 children. He moved to Luneville where he spent the rest of his life. Some of the people who knew him describe him as “a basically unpleasant person – haughty, sharp-tongued, self-assured, unbearably self-sufficient, stingy, and violent beyond measure” but despite the negative notions against him, he was able to stand as a master painter with extreme ideas during the duration of his painting career. German art historian Hermann Voss rediscovered de La Tour’s painting thus his reign as one of the great painters of all time.

His painting The Fortune Teller is an oil-on-canvas painting made circa 1630. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased it with a calligraphic signature on the top right shown as “G. de La Tour Fecit Luneuilla Lothar”, which means “Georges de La Tour made this”. Lorraine Luneville, an English historian, questioned the authenticity of the painting but later on was proven as de La Tour’s art paint. De La Tour is known for his chiaroscuro techniques with a hint of religious compositions in which the subjects are lighted up from a single source of light but the intricacies of costume were not brilliantly emphasized. The Fortune Teller painting portrays a wealthy young man who had his fortune foretold by an old fortune teller woman. The portrait also shows the old woman picking up the coin from the hand of the young man, as payment and at the same time a gesture which signifies a ritual. The other women present in the painting are gypsies who were considered as thieves during that era. It clearly shows the women in the background stealing some coins and personal possession from the wealthy young man.  The painting as a whole is considered to be a theatrical scene of deceit and theft.

The painting technique of Georges de la Tour is unique in the sense that it captures the depiction of a common theme the same with design and composition. De la Tour was known to be a follower of Caravaggio, thus influenced with the Caravaggesue style particularly using chiaroscuro and tenebristic techniques. De la Tour as a realist avoided naturalism; he rather simplified his subjects with marked contrast of light and shade and at the same time maximizing volume and severe lines with selective details. He specialized in the use of lighting and nocturnal scenes in a way that it defined the message of his painting without degrading the entirety of the theme.

George de la Tour’s style of making his paintings based on his moods gave a meditative or pensive quality that no other painter produced. He focused on how the painting would affect his viewer’s emotions rather than the literal elements of the whole piece. He illustrated his works through his varying moods. De La Tour’s history was not as substantial compared to the other great painters but despite the missing stories and milestones of his life, he was still a big influence to succeeding painters in history.

Author:  Shyxter

Albrecht Dürer

October 7th, 2011

Albrecht Dürerwas a German painter, printmaker, talented artist, and theoretical writer.  He was born on the 21st of May 1471 in Nuremberg to a goldsmith father.  He was conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance during his 20’s because of his outstanding prints which gained reputation across Europe.  In 1486 at the age of 15, he became an apprentice of Michael Wolgemut, a leading artist in Nuremberg at that time.  In 1494 he was married to Agnes Frey at a very young age of 23.  He travelled to Italy within three months to further study about the artistic world.  When he came back to Nuremberg in 1495, he opened his own workshop there.  On July 1521, upon returning from his journey to the Netherlands to secure his pension, he contracted an undetermined disease which affected him greatly for the rest of his life and reduced his rate of work.  He produced little as an artist during the last years of his life in contrast to his early years.  He died on the 6th of April 1528 at the prime age of 56.

Although Dürer is most famous in his woodcut illustrations, he also made several paintings.  He also created three self-portraits during his lifetime.  He was a realist painter at the time, and travelled to different places in order to learn different techniques about painting.  Most of his works centered on Roman Catholic life, since he was a Roman Catholic himself with very strong beliefs.  His use of watercolor in his paintings made him as one of the European landscape artist and his woodcuts transformed the potential of the medium. He also introduced the classical motif into Northern art, thus acquiring his status as one of the most important figures of the northern renaissance.  Later, he learned how the chiaroscuro modeling effect and used it in his successive paintings.  He also created such portraits in tempera on linen.

One of his major works was his self-portrait, which was painted in 1500 right before his 29th birthday.  It was a self-portrait which then was known as Self-Portrait in a Wig or Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight Years Old Wearing a Coat with Fur Collar. It was considered as symbolic, personal, and also the most complicated of his self-portrait paintings.  This self-portrait became popular because it is arrogantly suggesting of divinity because of its high resemblance to many representations of Christ in early years.  The dark fields on both sides of the painting depict the highly symbolic meaning of the portrait.  The use of the brown tones that was set against the plain black background gives a somber mood. In this self-portrait, it is seen that Dürer’s style of painting had developed into classicism, as was said by an art historian named Marcel Brion.

Dürer is most influential and remembered through his talent in printmaking because this was the main avenue where his colleagues witnessed his art. He had made many paintings but most of them were held as private compilations in selected cities. In the world of painting, Dürer left a minor impact in Italy but his best piece was the altarpiece in Venice. His deep and melodramatic self-portraits did make a powerful impact even up to this time as more artists created dramatic self-portraits of their own.

Author:   Shyxter

Francisco de Goya

October 1st, 2011

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, well-known as Francisco Goya, was born on the 30th of March, 1746 in Fuendetodos, Aragon, Spain. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice of a painter named Jose Luzan. He then later moved to Madrid to study painting. He was married to Josefa Bayeu in 1773, a sister of Francisco Bayeu who was a Saragossa artist. He later became a well-known portrait painter to the Spanish aristocracy and was considered a romantic painter and print-maker; he was then recognized as a painter to the king in 1786. In 1789, he was designated as a court painter. In 1792, he was left permanently deaf by an illness that struck him. He continued to paint more portrait paintings until he died in April 16, 1828 in Bordeaux at the age of 82. He was buried in Bordeaux but his remains were transferred to the Royal Chapel of St. Anthony of La Florida in Madrid in the year 1919.

Francisco de Goya was considered as one of the most famed painter of all time because he was a Romantic painter at first before he began to paint religious paintings. He was considered by many people as the Father of Modern Art because his unique perspective was not only fresh but also original. His paintings, not only portrait paintings, became famous also because of the delicate tonalities that can be found in them. The majority of Goya’s paintings are famous for having realistically bold techniques and haunting satire. The subversive and imaginative elements that can be found in his paintings provided as a model for later generation artists.

De Goya had a unique capability to find a universal and timeless meaning in a certain instances of human behavior and became an inspiration to the succeeding generations of artists. He also influenced some of the great artists in the 20th century, the most famous is Pablo Picasso. The succeeding lineage of influences that was made by Goya has encouraged a lot of people to give a label as the “first modernist” of his time.

The best example of Francisco de Goya’s renowned paintings is Christ Crucified, which is considered as one of the best in the world. The Christ Crucified is a portrait painting of Christ who is nailed on the cross. The style that he used in this painting is neoclassical. De Goya obeyed the rules of the Spanish Baroque Iconography in portraying the Crucifixion of Christ, as created by Francisco Pacheco. He removed here the emphasis of devotional features such as drama, presence of blood, and the like, by obeying the rules. This was in order to have the attention of people on the soft modeling of the painting. This painting is one of his most special portrait paintings since this area of painting is one of the most difficult to convey.

Many of Francisco de Goya’s famous paintings are being displayed in the El Prado art museum in Madrid.

Author:  Shyxter


September 23rd, 2011

Titian or properly known as Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio was an Italian painter known for his versatilestyle in painting portraits, landscapes, and religious themes. Titian was considered to be the most vital student of the 16th century Venetian school as he was also raised in Pieve di Cadore, close to Belluno in Veneto in the Republic of Venice. Titian was called after his birthplace da Cadore and later on was designated to Il Divino.

Titian, though born in Venice, was indirectly inclined to the Venetian lagoons and Adriatics. He was able to broaden his sense in a different way through observation and perception. During the time Venice was caught up in war, Titian was able to record in a painting the victory of Venice during the battle of Cadore. Since then, the exemplary portrait paintings of Titian lived on.

Titian was recognized as “The Sun Amidst Small Stars” which was taken from the line of Dante’s Paradiso, his painting technique was focused in the application of colors and its use that would at the same time emanate a profound influence not just during the Renaissance era but also to the future eras of Western Art. In the long run of Titian’s life, his manner of painting has changed but he never failed to emphasize his subject through the use of colors. In his more matured works, his paintings were not anymore that vivid and luminous but his loose brushwork accentuated the intricate elements of his polychromatic methods that was never topped down in the history of Western Art. During this period, Titian was gaining mastery and maturity in his pieces. He moved forward from his already renowned Giorgionesque style for a more monumental and complex themes.

His particular portrait painting, the Penitent of Mary Magdalene, was just one of his religious subjects. In this masterpiece, Mary Magdalene is showing a deep melancholic emotion with teary eyes looking at the heavens, clearly manifesting spiritual devotion. During the times when Catholic religion was bombarded with challenges by the followers of the Protestant reformation, this painting actually had seven versions. Each version went through X-ray examinations and the researchers found out that Titian has made several changes in the composition but the idea or the theme of the subject is still intact. The best version of this painting can be found in Hermitage and it is considered unique for it is the only version that displays Magdalene’s Bible that lies on a cloth rather than a skull – which has a symbolic meaning of death. Titian’s idea of Mary Magdalene connotes a profound emotion that would instantly affect those who would look at the painting; the image of Mary Magdalene is poignant that induces pity over desire.

The painting’s focal theme is on religious subject but a strong and erotic display of emotion is also depicted in this piece. Sunk down in a gesture of sacred penitence, her breasts are partly covered in a provocative manner. The portrait is more than extraordinary; the way he manipulated the colors brought out the deep sense of the whole painting. The way the light is reflected just made it look more brilliant, bringing silhouette on Magdalene’s breast covered with cloth.

Since then, Penitent of Mary Magdalene painting was considered to be one of the most influential as it conveys a religious message that somehow affects the viewer’s opinion on spiritual devotion. Its intricate details that are perfectly associated with colors will everlastingly serve as a piece of resemblance on how Catholicism has affected the religious view of an individual. The magnificent effect of this portrait painting will certainly give vital lessons to future painters who have the same desire as with Titian.

Author:  Shyxter

The Sacrifice of Isaac Painting

September 16th, 2011

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian painter who skilfully broadened his influence in Italy and around the globe. Caravaggio is known for his painting technique called chiaroscuro in which it manipulates light and dark color to display a 3-D effect. Caravaggio doesn’t take stereotyping when working for his paintings but he goes beyond the ordinary, emphasizing the momentum of his theme.

Caravaggio earned his initial trainings in Milan where he focused in still-lives and later at 1952 he went to Rome and switched his painting subject to young boys and the street life. In 1595, Caravaggio’s painting persona caught the attention of Cardinal Francesco Del Monte who in the long run became his first patron. Since then Caravaggio’s portrait paintings involved subjects from the New Testament after his success of three paintings manifesting the life of St. Matthew that somehow emphasized calling, inspiration, and martyrdom.

Caravaggio was an Italian master who made the classical masterpiece Sacrifice of Isaac, which had two versions kept in Princeton, New Jersey and Uffizi, Florence. The Sacrifice of Isaac Painting may have two versions but the two still conveys one common message, Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac as his way of showing obedience to God’s command.  The painting version in Princeton exhibits the use of chiaroscuro or tenebrism in which Caravaggio transformed Western art touching the intricacies of emotions. In the Princeton version, Abraham and Isaac’s faces were partly covered in silhouettes but their emotions are visible, the display of the hands are strongly fluent, the angel displays his hand the way Abraham’s hand is placed on Isaac’s head, and the other hand of the Angel holding the knife preventing Abraham but it also shows Abraham’s willingness to listen to the Angel. The three subjects and the ram are very well emphasized without being overshadowed with the objects in the background which is perfectly free from any element that may distort the entire message of the painting.

The Uffizi version dwells in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and is believed to have been made in honor of Cardinal Maffeo Barberini whom Caravaggio painted a portrait named Portrait of Maffeo Barberini. The cardinal was already a fan of Caravaggio beforehand, thus, the making of this second portrait painting. Isaac in this painting was identified as Cecco Boneri who portrayed as the model and at the same time acted as the angel. In this painting, Isaac shows fear of death as his father Abraham was about to slit his throat and an angel appeared trying  to stop Abraham from sacrificing Isaac and suggesting to sacrifice the sheep instead. The viewers of this version would describe it as emotionally strong as it stirs their apathetic state; the gestures of the painting give psychological effect as it displays an intense dramatic visual theme. The whole picture itself is serious and demanding in a way that is controversial as this depicts a story in the Old Testament. This portrait painting of Caravaggio manifests emotional strength that has drawn much attention from the viewers.

The Uffizi version of the portrait Sacrifice of Isaac greatly conveyed a biblical message from the Old Testament, the technique formula of Caravaggio was brilliant in a way that he did not cover his main object with the unnecessary, the great portraitist did not overshadow the entire composition with outcome but instead he dwelled on the intent and action of what the picture is trying to deliver.

Author:  Shyxter

Théodore Géricault

September 9th, 2011

Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) was born in Rouen, France but spent most of his school days at Paris. Théodore Géricault’s life and career personifies Romanticism. A classmate of renowned painter Delacroix and at the same time studied with Vernet and Guerin. Géricault’s unhappy love affair led him to fly to Italy to study Michelangelo’s style of artwork which influenced him in making sculptural drawings as his earliest works. In 1812, Géricault displayed his baroque painting “Officer of the Imperial Guard, composed of synthetic Venetian colors which made the painting look striking and influential.

After a couple of years, Géricault created the “Wounded Cuirassier” painting during his involvement with the Bourbon Musketeers, which at the same time he served as a cavalry officer to the French royal house. Most of Géricault’s works manifest political mishaps in France which clearly earned disapproval from the French government. Géricault then went to England and experienced triumph in his works and enjoyed elegant lifestyle.

Unlike any other portrait painters, Géricault had a different approach of his subject in his portrait paintings. He conveyed expressive emotional realisms in each of his subject with a touch of bravura style which made the paintings look remarkable. Géricault came from a family with psychological issues in the past, an unforgettable experience which gave him the idea on taking individuals with psychological problems as his subject; the insane and the mentally ill. He painted in extremes with compelling sense of exceptional and classical portrayal of the figures and formation of the masterpieces in comparison to the hurly-burly of the subject, and bridging the gap between the styles of neo-classicism and romanticism.

His famous portrait painting “Woman Suffering from Obsessive Envy”, also known as the Hyena of the Salpêtrière (displayed in Musee des Beaux Arts, Lyon), was evident of Géricault’s interest of an individual’s psychological imbalance as he had been to mental institutions before which inspired his creations in an odd way.  Made in oil canvas, this painting was just one of the series of five portraits of mad people. It showed a woman’s bulging eyes conveying fear and distress.

Géricault’s paintings seemed odd and strange but the main point of his artwork went beyond stereotyped portraitures. He instead gave importance to the deeper sense of his portrait paintings, like the Insane Woman’s portrait in which he caught the intricate elements of the woman’s entire loo, including her clothing and cap and her eccentric expression; eyes brimmed with sorrowful sufferings which perfectly conveyed her actual emotions and a strong state of hypnotic power.

Géricault focused on the diversity of emotions in his subjects, engaging in realism and catching the truth. He was interested with the different mental states of a human’s face which revealed character and varying emotions.  Géricault made several studies of the individuals locked in asylums and mental institutions; he even considered studying the heads of the guillotine victims. This was how obsessed this eccentric painter was on his subjects.

He was a painter who looked into the extremes of his subject without getting overrated and conventional. His realism and sense of truth was unlike any other painter known in history.

Author:  Shyxter

Massacre of the Innocents Painting

September 2nd, 2011

Sir Peter Paul Rubens is an exceptional Flemish Baroque painter who is famous for his extravagance of style. He was born in Siegen, German province of Westphalia however his parents are natives of Antwerp, Belgium. Although born in a different country, he was raised in his parents’ hometown and finished his education in a Jesuit school upon his mother’s insistence. He became a member of Antwerp Painters’ guild and began with his travels to Italy, Spain, Genoa and Rome. His father who is a lawyer died when he was still young and so Rubens’ life was greatly influenced by his schoolmaster’s and his mother’s sturdy religious character. His religious influence is greatly evidenced in his masterpieces and he became the leading influence of Catholic Counter-Reformation style in painting. He is famous for his colorful, mysterious, and extravagant style of painting and most especially for the passionate religious quality of his portraits.

One of his famous masterpieces is the controversial Massacre of the Innocents. This painting is an evidence of his deep religious passion and influence. It is based from a chapter in the bible. The painting is all about King Herod’s attempt to kill infant Jesus upon the knowledge that a great Jew king has been born. He was in a killing frenzy in an attempt to prevent infant Jesus from becoming a rival. Rubens perfectly and artistically portrayed the heinous religious crime.

The painting was controversial because it has two versions. The first version was created during 1611-1612 and was mistakenly attributed to one of his assistants Jan van den Hoecke for the longest time. It was only in 2001 when an expert judged it and declared the painting to be Rubens’. The second version was painted by Rubens towards the end of his life around the year 1636 and 1638 and is still hanging in the Alte PinakothekMunich collection until the present. These mishaps happened because Ruben trained his students to paint portraits exactly the way he does. Or he lets his students paint and he does the finishing touches of the portraits.

The painting has profound religiosity and is painted with emotion and passion that is why it stays in one’s mind. It is lavished with colors and intense style that enhances the dramatic sense of the painting. The painter used Italian Baroque style which shows that Rubens was greatly influenced by Caravaggio. One thing that made this painting famous is the rich combination of decorative style, the intense movement and sensuality of the characters in the painting and the dramatic combination of rich and intense colors used by the painter.

Another thing that made this painting so renowned is the style which is expertly executed by Rubens. The painting was painted using Chiaroscuro; it is a style using light and dark color contrast. Rubens expertly played with the colors and perfectly combined them and played with its contrast magnificently resulting to a great masterpiece of all time.

Up to this moment, Rubens continues to live among us through his undying works of art. The Massacre of the Innocents remains one of the best artwork and is evidence that once long ago a great portrait painter existed.

Author:    Shyxter

Anthony van Dyck

August 27th, 2011

Sir Anthony van Dyck, a leading court painter in England, was a Flemish Baroque artist. He was born on March 22, 1599 with the Flemish name Antoon van Dyck in Antwerp. He clearly showed talent at an early age while studying under Hendrick van Balen in 1609. In the year 1615, he started as an independent painter and had already set up a workshop with a younger friend Jan Brueghel the Younger. And by the time he was 15, he was already known as a highly accomplished artist. In 1632, King Charles I invited him to England to become a court painter. He was wed to Mary Ruthven, the Earl of Gowrie’s grand-daughter, in 1639 and they had an only daughter who was born on December 1, 1641.

Anthony van Dyck was considered by Peter Paul Rubens as one of his best pupils. He acquired all the skill and technique of Rubens, with regards to rendering the texture and surface of things, while working under him for years. But with regards to temperament and mood, he differed greatly from his master. His paintings always had a slightly melancholic and a lethargic mood, in which may had been the reason why it caught the people’s attention. While he was in England, he developed his own style in portrait painting which was a combination of a relaxed elegance and ease with a discreet authority of his subjects. His style dominated the realm of English portrait-painting until the end of the 18th century. He was famous for having the ability to portray the human figure with natural dignity and authority in his portraits.

Van Dyck was well-known for his portraits of King Charles I of England and Scotland, his family, and court. His most famous work truly was the portrait of King Charles I of England and it was clearly shown in the painting the technique he used, which visibly portrayed King Charles as a person with relaxed elegance, natural authority, and dignity. Representing the human figure to have the above mentioned qualities was Anthony van Dyck’s technique.

Aside from the portraits of King Charles I and his family, he also created various paintings of people and religiously inspired images.  Before becoming a court painter, Anthony van Dyck spent six years in Italy and studied under various master painters and learned their techniques, particularly Titian who influenced him the most. While he was in Italy, he earned his living through creating portraits especially of the Genoese Aristocracy. He became a well-known portrait painter of the English court and aristocracy. He created over 350 portraits, including royal portraits, in just less than 10 years.

Anthony van Dyck died in London on the 9th of December 1641, just a few days after his daughter was born. He was then buried in St. Paul Cathedral. His death was so untimely but his painting style persisted for more than two centuries all over Europe. And because of his great contribution to the world of portrait painting, he earned the recognition of being one of the greatest painters of all time.

Author:   Shyxter