The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (34 page)

(1908– ).
French painter (and occasional stage designer), born in Paris of aristocratic Polish parents, both of whom painted. He had no formal training but had the reputation of being an infant prodigy and was encouraged by the family friends
Derain
(of whom Balthus painted a memorable portrait, MOMA, New York, 1936) and
Bonnard
. Since the late 1930s Balthus has been obsessed with the theme of the adolescent girl awakening to sexual consciousness, usually depicted in languid but powerful interiors such as
The Living Room
(Minneapolis Inst. of Arts, 1941–3). From 1961 to 1977 he was Director of the French Academy in Rome. Otherwise he has spent most of his life living in seclusion in France or Switzerland. He works slowly and his output is small, but his highly distinctive, erotically charged images have made him internationally famous, indeed something of a cult figure. His work has appealed to critics as well as the public and he is widely regarded as one of the 20th cent.'s leading upholders of the great tradition of figure painting.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

bambocciate
.

See
LAER , PIETER VAN
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1493–1560).
Florentine sculptor, painter, and draughtsman. He was a favourite of the
Medici
family, but he is remembered more for his unattractive character and the antipathy of his contemporaries than for the quality of his work. His most famous and conspicuous sculpture is
Hercules and Cacus
(Piazza della Signoria, Florence, finished 1534), a pendant to
Michelangelo's
David
. The commission had originally been intended for Michelangelo himself, and Bandinelli's ponderous figure, which he had boasted would surpass
David
, was ridiculed by
Cellini
and others. Bandinelli had a habit of failing to fulfil his commissions and Cellini's accusations of incompetence had much justification. In return, Bandinelli attempted to sabotage Cellini's career, as he also did with another rival,
Ammanati
. Bandinelli was a fine draughtsman. His paintings include a pompous self-portrait in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1735–1805).
English sculptor. He studied in Rome 1772–9 and in 1781 was employed by Catherine the Great in Russia. Back in England, he became with
Flaxman
the leader of the
Neoclassical
movement in sculpture. He had a very high reputation with his contemporaries:
Reynolds
called him ‘the first British sculptor who has produced works of classic grace’ and Queen Charlotte (queen consort of George III) is said to have wept when she saw his most famous work, the monument to Penelope Boothby (Ashbourne Church, Derbyshire, 1793), in which the child is shown sleeping rather than dead. Small monuments such as this show Banks at his best, and his few surviving portrait busts demonstrate a gift for characterization. His larger monuments, however, are somewhat ponderous.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(active
c.
1497, d. 1516?).
Venetian painter and engraver. His early career is obscure and he is first documented in 1500 in connection with his huge (nearly 3m. wide) woodcut view of Venice, which had taken three years to complete. Most of his known career was spent in northern Europe, where he worked for several royal patrons. His delicate engravings, many of mythological figures, helped to spread the Italian conception of the nude in northern Europe. As a painter he is best known for his
Dead Bird
(Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 1504), an early example of an independent still life.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Barberini
.

Tuscan family who came to prominence with the election of
Maffeo
(1568–1644) as Pope Urban VIII in 1623 and became the chief patrons of
Baroque
art in 17th-cent. Rome. Urban's favourite artist was
Bernini
, from whom he commissioned two great works in St Peter's—the statue of St Longinus and the
baldacchino
over the High Altar. Some of the enormous quantity of bronze required for the baldacchino was taken from ancient metal stipped from the Pantheon, giving rise to the adage
Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini
(What the barbarians failed to do, the Barberini did). Urban used most of the metal to cast cannon for the Castel Sant' Angelo, saying it was more important to defend the pope than to keep rain out of the Pantheon. The Barberini also employed Pietro da
Cortona
,
Romanelli
, Andrea
Sacchi
, and others in the decoration of the family palace and of St Peter's. The Palazzo Barberini, in the design of which Bernini and two other outstanding contemporary architects—Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini—all played parts, now houses part of the national art collection.