The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (519 page)

(1907–75)
. The leading Austrian sculptor of the 20th cent. His masterly craftsmanship soon won him acclaim, as when his work was shown in an exhibition of Austrian art in Paris in 1929; Aristide
Maillol
is said to have refused to believe that such work could have been done by a 22 year old. In his most characteristic works he carved directly in stone, preferring a hard stone with a coarse texture. He began his career working in a naturalistic style reminiscent of Maillol, but moved towards abstraction by reducing the figure to bare essentials. It was similar to the method used by
Brancusi
, but in contrast to Brancusi's smooth, subtle abstractions, Wotruba's figures are solid, block-like structures. They were left in a rough state, creating a feeling of primitive power. Wotruba also worked in bronze, and near the end of his life he branched out into architecture, designing the church of the Holy Trinity on the outskirts of Vienna (constructed 1974–6). After the Second World War he taught at the Vienna Academy and his work was admired and imitated by many younger Austrian artists, bringing about a revival of sculpture in his country.

 
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(1882–1916)
. Belgian painter and sculptor whose great talents reached incomplete development owing to his early death following operations for cancer of the eye. He is regarded as the leading Belgian exponent of
Fauvism
, but his work is less violent in colour than that of the French adherents of the style and often (as in his portraits of his wife) has a quality of serene intimacy.

 
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(1619–68)
. The most celebrated member of a family of Dutch painters from Haarlem, where he worked virtually all his life. He became a member of the painters' guild in 1640 and is said by a contemporary source to have been a pupil of Frans
Hals
. The only thing he has in common with Hals , however, is his nimble brushwork, for he specialized in landscapes of hilly country with horses—cavalry skirmishes, camps, hunts, travellers halting outside an inn, and so on. In this genre he was immensely prolific and also immensely successful—
Houbraken
says he left his daughter a dowry of 20,000 guilders. He had many imitators, including his brother
Peter
(1623–82), and his great popularity continued throughout the 18th cent., when he was a favourite with princely collectors and engravings after his work had wide circulation. Subsequently he has perhaps been underrated, for although his work generally follows a successful formula, he maintained a high quality; his draughtsmanship is elegant, his composition sure, his colouring delicate, and his touch lively.

 
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(1617–94)
. English portrait painter. He was apprenticed to George
Jamesone
in Edinburgh in 1636, then spent a long period abroad, chiefly in Rome, where he became a member of the Accademia di S. Luca (see
ACADEMY
), the only British painter of the 17th cent. to have this distinction. On his return to England in 1656 he won many patrons among his fellow Catholics and became
Lely's
chief rival, although he never had his great worldly success and died in modest circumstances. His style was less glossy than Lely's but more penetrating and individual in characterization, his sitters tending to look thoughtful rather than merely glamorous (
Magdalen Aston
, Castle Museum, Nottingham). Wright's most unusual work is an allegorical ceiling painting (Castle Museum) done for Charles II's bedroom at Whitehall Palace; it cannot be considered a success, but it is interesting as an attempt at
Baroque
decoration by someone who was familiar with the works of Pietro da
Cortona
(whom he described as ‘the greatest master of his time’). Wright was a collector, antiquarian, and scholar, a man of considerable culture; in 1685–7 he accompanied an embassy from James II to Pope Innocent XI and wrote and account of it in Italian, published in 1687 (English translation, 1688).

 
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(1734–97)
. English painter, born and principally active in Derby and generally known as ‘Wright of Derby’. He was one of the most original, versatile, and accomplished British artists of the 18th cent. and the first major English painter whose career was based outside London. In 1751–3 and again in 1756–7 he trained under
Hudson
in London, and after returning to Derby he made a name as a portraitist in the Midlands, his works displaying a firm grasp of character. In the 1760s he began to paint candlelit scenes of various types, showing the fascination with unusual lighting effects that was to run throughout his career. He was influenced in some of these by Dutch painting, but in his depictions of the contemporary scientific world he broke new ground—his finest work,
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
(NG, London, 1768), has been described by Sir Ellis
Waterhouse
as ‘one of the wholly original masterpieces of British art’. Such works won him a considerable reputation, and in 1772 James
Northcote
called him ‘the most famous painter now living for candle-lights’. In 1768–71 Wright worked in Liverpool, and in 1774–5 was in Italy, where he assiduously studied the
antique
but was even more impressed by the eruption of Vesuvius he witnessed and by a kind of man-made equivalent—the great fireworks display held annually at the Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome (he painted several pictures of both subjects). On his return to England in 1775 he moved to Bath, hoping to fill the gap left by
Gainsborough's
departure for London, but his more forthright style did not please sophisticated society there and in 1777 he returned to Derby. There he remained for the rest of his life apart from short journeys when he made tours of the Lake District in 1793 and 1794 (landscape became increasingly important towards the end of his career). Appropriately, Derby Art Gallery has far and away the finest collection of his work. There are also good examples in the National Gallery and Tate Gallery, London.