beside the easel

View of the Grand Canal and the Dogana, ca.1743 Born in Venice on January 30, 1721 Bernardo Bellotto was the nephew and student of his famous uncle Giovanni Antonio Canal , or Canaletto. Bellotto's style has a stronger use of chiaroscuro and tighter integration of the landscape whereas his uncle focused more on Venetian architecture as a distinctive splendor within the landscape. Bellotto was equally fascinated with old alleyways and crumbling Roman ruins as his Venetian roots. The other important distinction is that Canaletto remained in Venice for most of his career, venturing out only to London while Bellotto travelled to other parts of Italy and also to Germany, Austria, and Poland. Bellotto also returned on occasion to the vedute tradition of capriccio from Pannini , or painting from imagination rather than life, something Canaletto only depicted in his etchings. Above in View of the Grand Canal and the Dogana we can see Bellotto's informal and approachable eye...

Perseus Confronting Phineus with the Head of Medusa, ca.1710 One of my favourite Italian Baroque painters, Sebastiano Ricci was born on August 1, 1659 in Belluno , north of Venice. He represents everything that Venetian painters are known for, namely colour and great compositions yet he is also a storyteller, breathing life into mythology and religion with fervent sensuality. At times his figures seem Mannerist, and yet in others his figures are powerful, beautifully lit characters in an opera or play. His women seem to glow, and his men ranged from nobility to violent fighters, surrounding all of them in natural landscapes or architectural capriccios, and his colors seem to dance effortlessly with his compositions. Ricci is a painter's painter. Above we see a famous scene from Greek mythology that Ricci depicts with captivating drama. Note how the figures surrounding Perseus in one-point perspective from his helmet. I love how Ricci contrasts the warm flesh tones of Perseus...

Lucrezia as Poetry, ca.1641 Born on July 21, 1615, Salvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter from Arenella, near Naples. Rosa is one of the only artists from the era to have had an influence on the Romantic artists, namely Turner , for his emotionally charged landscapes and highly independent attitude of being an artist, often rejecting lucrative commissions and only painting "my brushes when I am in ecstasy". An accomplished poet, he wrote many satires and was highly cynical in matters of the heart and marriage, quoted as saying that Un buon cavallo e una bella donna sono due care bestie — a good horse and a beautiful woman are two dear beasts. This painting above of his wife, Lucrezia shows a stylized yet perceptive manner of portraiture. Judging by her appearance she was younger than him by more than a few years. This image here from Wikipedia is not the best for detail but it illustrates Rosa's understanding of body language and facial expression. Astrai...

Portrait of Giovanni Paolo Pannini by Louis Gabriel Blanchet One of my favourite vedutisti , Pannini was born on this day in 1691. During the Rococo of the late 1600's two major ideas evolved in landscape painting: the capriccio and the veduta , which eventually sort of merged into a kind of scenic cappriccio. The Capriccio, meaning caprice or fancy, evolved from the idea of imagination triumphing on the base of Classical architecture, often depicting it with deep shadows and bold colours, whereas the veduta. or view, arose from the British who frequently visited Spain, France and Italy (the Grand Tour) where they became so inspired by the glorious vistas they wanted to take a souvenir back home with them, a veduta. This of course launched the careers of some artists, especially Canaletto. Pannini, although he didn't invent the style, was the one who inspired all of them and as we can see by his portrait above by Blanchet, Pannini was held in high regard in his lifetime. ...