The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (193 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
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Giuliano da Maiano
.
Giulio Romano
(prob. 1499–1546).
Italian painter, architect, and designer, born in Rome and active mainly in Mantua. He was
Raphael's
chief pupil and assistant (although exactly what part he played is controversial) and one of the major figures of
Mannerist
art. About 1515 he was working on Raphael's Stanza dell’ Incendio in the Vatican and after the master's death in 1520 Giulio became his main artistic executor, completing a number of his unfinished works, including the
Transfiguration
(Vatican) and the decorations of the Villa Madama. His independent works of this time include the
Holy Family
in Sta Maria dell’ Anima, Rome. He also designed some pornographic prints that caused such a scandal that their engraver Marcantonio
Raimondi
was imprisoned (their notoriety was sustained by the sonnets that the poet Pietro Aretino wrote inspired by them soon after their publication). Giulio had moved to Mantua in 1524 and escaped Raimondi's fate. He remained there for the rest of his life and dominated the artistic affairs of the
Gonzaga
court. The great monument to his genius is the Palazzo del Tè, begun in 1526 for Federico Gonzaga . This was one of the first Mannerist buildings, deliberately flouting the canons of classical architecture as examplified by
Bramante
in order to shock and surprise the spectator. The same tendency is continued in Giulio's fresco decoration in the palace, especially in the Sala dei Giganti, where the whole room is painted from floor to ceiling to give an overall illusionistic effect, and the spectator feels himself overwhelmed by the rocks and thunderbolts hurled down on the rebellious Titans who attempted to storm Olympus. Giulio painted several other frescos in the Palazzo del Tè and in the Sala di Troia of the Ducal Palace at Mantua which testify to his classical learning and exuberant invention. His muscular style owed much to
Michelangelo
as well as to Raphael, but was less daunting than that of either and proved widely influential. Indeed, he became one of the most famous painters of his day and has the distinction of being the only artist mentioned by Shakespeare ; he called him ‘that rare Italian master Julio Romano’, but mistakenly imagined him a sculptor (
The Winter's Tale
, v. ii).
Giusti , Giovanni
(1485–1549).
Italian-born sculptor who settled at Tours in France in about 1504, changing his name to Jean Juste. He was a leading figure in the introduction of the
Renaissance
style to France. His masterpiece is the tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, made at Tours in 1517–18 and set up in the Abbey of Saint-Denis by Francis I in 1531. He was probably assisted in the work by his brother
Antonio
(1479–1519). It features seated figures of the twelve Apostles in purely Italian style, allegorical figures of the Virtues, and
reliefs
depicting the King's Italian victories.
Giustiniani
.
Prominent Italian family, branches of which were established in many parts of Italy, especially Genoa and Venice, where they played an important role in politics, literature, and religion. For the arts the most interesting member of the family was the enormously wealthy
Marchese Vincenzo
(1564–1638). He owned the finest collection of
antique
sculpture in Rome—published in the
Galleria Giustiniana
(1631), the first ever illustrated catalogue of an art collection—and was an enthusiastic and discriminating patron of painters, especially
Caravaggio
and his northern followers.
Glackens , William James
(1870–1938).
American painter and draughtsman. His early career was spent mainly as a newspaper illustrator, but he was encouraged to take up painting by Robert
Henri
, whom he met in 1891. With Henri he became a member of The
Eight
and of the
Ash-can school
. Glackens, however, was less concerned with
Social Realism
than with representing the life of the people as a colourful spectacle, and he was heavily influenced by the
Impressionists
. By the time of the
Armory Show
, which he helped to organize and in which he was represented, he was painting in the manner of the early
Renoir
. In 1912 Glackens was employed as art consultant to Dr Albert C.
Barnes
and toured Europe buying paintings by Renoir ,
Degas
,
Cézanne
, van
Gogh
, and others. In 1916 he became the first President of the
Society of Independent Artists
.

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