Famous Painters

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...trees have a majestic, contemplative air. The extreme heaviness of his color, which may be considered his greatest fault, did not exist when his pictures were first executed; it is to be attributed to the dark red ground on which he usually painted. In the National Gallery, London, are several of Poussin's pictures, --a Bacchanalian Dance, which in classical and poetical spirit is considered one of his finest works; and a Bacchanalian Festival, also of admirable conception and execution. His Deluge is in the Louvre. Poussin died in Rome in 1665. Gaspar Poussin, son of a Frenchman settled in Rome, was born in 1613. He was a pupil of Nicolas Poussin, and married the sister of that artist, adopting the name of Poussin in place of his own, which was Dughet. He was called by the Italians, Gaspar Duche. As a painter he resembled Nicolas somewhat, though he was not a servile imitator of him, and in landscapepainting he cannot be considered inferior to him. He had less intellectual and historic grandeur, but more passion and sentiment. He shows that he loved nature with all his heart, and his landscapes are scarcely excelled in the fresh, healthy look of nature. In the London National Gallery are a number of his landscapes in which his style can be well studied. He died in Rome in 1675. ZURBABAN. FRANCISCO ZLTRBARAN was born of humble parents at Fuente de Cantos, in Estremadura, in the year 1598. He was sent to Seville, where he became the pupil of Roelas; but he worked chiefly from nature, being especially careful in his studies of drapery. Zurbaran has been called the Spanish Caravaggio, but he was a greater painter than Caravaggio. He was summoned to Madrid through the influence of Velasquez, where he was made painter to the king, Philip IV. It is told...