The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (166 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
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Félibien des Avaux , André
(1619–95).
French architect and writer, a friend of Nicholas
Poussin
in Rome. His
Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellens peintres anciens et modernes
, first published in 1666–88 and often reprinted, is a major source book and contains the best contemporary biography of Poussin. In 1676 he published a textbook on artists' techniques with a dictionary of art terms.
Felixmüller , Conrad
.
Fergusson , John Duncan
(1874–1961).
Scottish painter and, to a lesser degree, sculptor, the most renowned of the
Scottish Colourists
. He abandoned medicine to study painting and in 1905 settled in Paris. His early work was
Whistlerian
, and he then came under the influence of
Manet
, but by 1907 he had adopted the bold palette and firm outlines of
Fauvism
and became the most uncompromising adherent to the style among British artists (
Blue Beads
, Tate, London, 1910). In 1914 the war brought him back to Britain; he lived in London, 1914–29, in Paris, 1929–40, and finally in Glasgow, 1940–61. Soon after settling in Glasgow he founded the New Art Club to provide better exhibiting facilities for the city's progressive artists, and out of it grew the New Scottish Group (1942), of which Fergusson was first President. In 1943 he published a book entitled
Modern Scottish Painters
.
Fernandez , Alejo
(
c.
1470–1543).
Spanish painter, probably of German extraction, as he is referred to as ‘Maestro Alexos— pintor Aléman’. He married the daughter of a painter called Pedro Fernandez at Cordova and took her name, but he worked mainly at Seville, where he was the leading painter of the first third of the 16th cent. His work, which is represented in Seville Cathedral, was essentially Flemish
Mannerist
in style, but it has a personal lyrical quality, and his treatment of architecture and
perspective
suggests that he may have visited Italy. He had a busy studio and several followers, among them his son
Sebastián
.
Fernanadez
(or Hernandez ), Gregório
(
c.
1576–1636).
Spanish sculptor, active at Valladolid from
c.
1605. Continuing the tradition of painted religious sculpture, he worked in the manner of
Juan de Juni
but with greater realism of expressive gesture. He was one of the first and greatest masters of
Baroque
naturalism in Spain, abandoning the earlier practice of using gold and brilliant colours and insisting upon realistic colouring from the
polychromists
who painted his sculptures. Among the numerous altarpieces emanating from his workshop are those of S. Miguel, Valladolid (1606) and Plasencia Cathedral (1624–34). He is well represented in Valladolid Museum.
Ferrari , Gaudenzio
(
c.
1471/81–1546).
Italian painter, active in his native Piedmont and in Lombardy. His early work was strongly influenced by
Leonardo
and his Milanese followers, and throughout his life he remained
eclectic
, absorbing into his highly-charged, emotional style elements from
Pordenone
and
Lotto
and also, for example, from the engravings of
Dürer
. He was an artist of considerable power and individuality, but his work has remained comparatively little known because much of it is in fairly remote situations. His most remarkable works are
The Stations of the Cross
in a series of chapels at the Sanctuary of Sacro Monte, Varallo, in which life-size foreground figures are carved in the round and the rest of the scene painted behind them.

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