Barbara Longhi (Italian Mannerist painter, 1552-1638)

Barbara Longhi was an Italian painter🎨.

She was much admired in her lifetime as a portraitist, although most of her portraits are now lost or unattributed.

Her work, such as her many Madonna and Child paintings, earned her a fine reputation as an artist.

Longhi is one of the few female artists mentioned in the second edition (1568) of Italian painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari's epic work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Vasari writes that Longhi "draws very well, and she has begun to colour some things with good grace and manner".

But as Germaine Greer discussed in her The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work, such "haphazard" selections of women artists including Longhi rarely offered "serious criticism of their achievement".

Greer then offered her own assessment: "Barbara's output was considerable, all small pictures, remarkable for their purity of line and soft brilliance of colour" and "Barbara Longhi brings to her extremely conservative picture-making a simplicity and intensity of feeling quite beyond her mannerist father and her dilettante brother".

The Museo d'Arte della Città di Ravenna owns seven works by Barbara Longhi, as well as eleven of her father Luca's and three by her brother Francesco.

Her work is represented in the collections of the Musée du Louvre (Paris), Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Museo Biblioteca del Grappa, Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, Maryland) and Indianapolis Museum of Art, and also in the Santa Maria Maggiore (Ravenna). | © Wikipedia

Barbara Longhi (Ravenna, 21 settembre 1552 - Ravenna, 23 dicembre 1638) è stata una pittrice Italiana.

Fu stimata ritrattista, ma solo poche sue opere ci sono pervenute, in parte riconducibili all'attività svolta nella bottega del padre, dove le era affidato il compito di produrre piccole tele su tema religioso, destinate alla devozione privata.

Nacque a Ravenna, dove trascorse l'intera sua esistenza.

Era figlia di Luca (1507-1580), noto pittore manierista🎨 e di Bernardina Baronzelli.

Come suo fratello maggiore Francesco (1544-1618), ricevette le prime nozioni pittoriche nella bottega paterna.

Collaborò anche alla realizzazione di pale d'altare, entrando così in contatto con il processo di commercializzazione, che allora si svolgeva attraverso mecenati.

Completò la sua formazione nel 1570, ma i suoi legami con la famiglia e con la bottega del padre rimasero forti.

Si conosce poco della sua vita e s'ignora se si sia mai sposata.

Della sua produzione come ritrattista ci è pervenuto solo il ritratto di un Monaco Camaldolese - uno dei pochi che include una data, anche se l'ultima cifra non è del tutto leggibile (1570 o 1573?) - e unico raffigurante un soggetto maschile adulto.

Lo ha ritratto nel suo studio, vestito del saio bianco camaldolese, tra i suoi libri aperti e scritti a mano. Questo dipinto si conserva oggi al Museo d'arte della città di Ravenna.

Due sue tele di piccolo formato, a soggetto religioso, sono state da lei siglate e una è datata. Una pala d'altare a Russi è firmata per esteso e datata 1618.

La Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, oggi al Museo d'arte della città di Ravenna, proviene dal monastero di Classe in Ravenna.

Nelle Nozze di Cana, dipinto ad olio su un muro del refettorio dello stesso convento di Classe, opera di Luca Longhi del 1579-1580 poi ultimata da suo figlio Francesco, secondo la tradizione riconosciuta la donna in primo piano, rivolta verso lo spettatore, sarebbe un ritratto di Barbara Longhi. | © Wikipedia

Luca Longhi (1507-1580) | Le Nozze di Cana | particolare | Ritratto della figlia Barbara, 1580

Sebastiano del Piombo | Mannerist painter

According to Vasari, the painter Sebastiano Luciani (1485-1547), known as Sebastiano del Piombo, was born in Venice.

A musician before becoming a painter, Vasari also states that he trained with Giovanni Bellini. His early works are influenced by the style of Giorgione, as is evident in his painting of Salome (National Gallery, London).

After the premature death of Giorgione, Sebastiano moved to Rome in 1511 on the suggestion of the banker Agostino Chigi, for whom he undertook the fresco decoration of the Villa Farnesina.

Istvan Sàndorfi | Hyper-Surrealist painter

István Sándorfi (1948-2007) also known as Étienne Sandorfi, was a naturalised French painter of Hungarian origin.

He received his formal art education at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris.

He mastered what art critics now term hyperrealism. But he did so with his very own blend of Surreal elements.

Camille Pissarro | Impressionist / Post-Impressionist painter

Camille Pissarro, in full Jacob-Abraham-Camille Pissarro (born July 10, 1830, St. Thomas, Danish West Indies-died Nov. 13, 1903, Paris, France), painter and printmaker who was a key figure in the history of Impressionism.

Pissarro was the only artist to show his work in all eight Impressionist group exhibitions; throughout his career he remained dedicated to the idea of such alternative forums of exhibition. He experimented with many styles, including a period when he adopted Georges Seurat’s "pointillist" approach.

A supportive friend and mentor to influential artists such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, he was described by many who knew him as "Father Pissarro".

Simone Cantarini | Baroque painter

Simone Cantarini (1612-1648) was born in Pesaro, in the Marches, a region which was a crossroads for artists from many parts of Italy.

Cantarini began his artistic training quite young, probably 1623-1625, in the studio of Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi (?1570-1640?), a painter of religious works who combined the local naturalism with the mannerist style of the late sixteenth century.

After a brief trip to Venice, Cantarini moved to the shop of Claudio Ridolfi (?1570-1644), a student of Paolo Veronese🎨 (1528-1588).