Giuseppe Abbati was an Italian artist who belonged to the group known as the Macchiaioli. He was born in Naples and received early training in painting from his brother Vincenzo. He participated in Garibaldi's 1860 campaign, suffering the loss of his right eye. Afterwards he moved to Florence where, at the Caffè Michelangiolo, he met Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, and the rest of the artists who would soon be dubbed the Macchiaioli.

While his early paintings were interiors, he quickly became attracted to the practice of painting landscapes en plein air. His activity as a painter was interrupted during 1866 when he enlisted again in the army for the Third Independence War, during which he was captured by the Austrians.m

Returning to civilian life at the end of the year, he moved to Castelnuovo della Misericordia and spent the final year of his life painting in the countryside. Abbati died at the age of thirty-two in Florence after his own dog bit him, infecting him with rabies.

Tags:   giuseppe abbati abbati painter 19th century italian 1864 1860s piagentina the milkman civic museum naples street scene realism macchiaioli

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Aivazovsky was born in the Crimea, to a poor Armenian family. . His talent as an artist earned him sponsorship and entry to the Simferopol gymnasium №1 and later the St.Petersburg Academy of Arts, from which he graduated with the gold medal. Earning awards for his early landscapes and seascapes, he went on to paint a series of portraits of Crimean coastal towns before traveling throughout Europe. In later life, his paintings of naval scenes earned him a longstanding commission from the Russian Navy.

In 1845, Aivazovsky went to Constantinople upon the invitation of Sultan Abdülmecid, a city he was to travel to eight times between 1845-1890. During his long sojourn in Constantinople, Aivazovsky was commissioned for a number of paintings as a court painter by the Ottoman Sultans Abdülmecid, Abdulaziz and Abdulhamid, 30 of which are currently on display in the Ottoman Imperial Palace.

Due to his long life in art, Aivazovsky became the most prolific Armenian painter of his time. He left over 6,000 works at his death in 1900. As of 2006, Aivazovsky's works have been auctioned for as much as $3,200,000, and his international reputation continues to grow. On June 14, 2007 his painting "American Shipping off the Rock of Gibraltar" sold for 2,710,000 pounds, "the highest price paid at auction for Aivazovsky"

Tags:   ivan aivazovsky aivozovsky painter 19th century russian 1842 1840s the bay of naples by moonlight realism landscape

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Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev was an early Russian painter of landscape art.
After training in the Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, he spent three years in Venice studying the works of famous French and Italian landscape painters.

Returning to Saint Petersburg to work, his popularity grew over time. In 1800, Emperor Paul of Russia commissioned a series of paintings of Moscow from him.

Tags:   fedo alekseev painter 19th century russian 1800 1800s the foundling hospital in moscow cityscape boats water buildings realism

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Washington Allston was a U.S. poet and influential painter. He pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was well known during his lifetime for his experiments with dramatic subject matter and his bold use of light and atmospheric color.

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Conté crayon on laid paper.

Charles Angrand was a visible presence in the Parisian avant-garde in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Associated with a circle of artists known as the Neo-Impressionists, Angrand emulated the shadowy crayon drawings of Georges Seurat, Neo-Impressionism's standard-bearer. Here Angrand presents himself, not at all as an artist, but as a bourgeois dandy, impeccably dressed and smoking a small cigar. His dashing figure emerges from a penumbra of black ground. Following Seurat's lead, Angrand deftly manipulates the stark white of the textured paper to illuminate the darkness. Fellow Neo-Impressionist Paul Signac praised Angrand's crayon drawings: "… his drawings are masterpieces. It would be impossible to imagine a better use of white and black …These are the most beautiful drawings, poems of light, of fine composition and execution."

Tags:   charles angrand angrand painter 20th century french 1892 1890s self portrait artist portrait impressionism pointillism portrait hat

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