1.
1766 in art
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Events from the year 1766 in art. July 19 – A baronetcy is created for British sculptor Henry Cheere, englands oldest surviving Georgian theatre is constructed in Stockton-on-Tees. The Drottningholm Palace Theatre is reopened as an house in Stockholm, Sweden, in its surviving form. Denis Diderots Essais sur la peinture is published
2.
1775 in architecture
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The year 1775 in architecture involved some significant events. Casino at Marino near Dublin, Ireland, designed by William Chambers is completed at about this date, fort Belan commanding the western end of the Menai Strait in Wales completed. Midford Castle folly in Somerset, England, built to a design by John Carter, conygar Tower folly in Somerset, England, built to a design by Richard Phelps. Bygholm Castle manor house in Denmark built to a design by Andreas Møller, hôtel Grimod de La Reynière town house in Paris built to a design by Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré. The Wick house in Richmond, Surrey, England, built to a design by Robert Mylne, bostock Hall in Cheshire, England, rebuilt, probably to a design by Samuel Wyatt. Ingersley Hall in Cheshire, England built about this date
3.
1775 in science
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The year 1775 in science and technology involved some significant events. May 25 – Joseph Priestleys account of his isolation of oxygen in the form of a gas is read to the Royal Society of London, torbern Bergmans De attractionibus electivis is published, containing the largest tables of chemical affinity ever published. Lagranges Recherches dArithmétique develops a theory of binary quadratic forms. English surgeon Percivall Pott finds the first occupational link to cancer, german physician Melchior Adam Weikard anonymously publishes the textbook Der Philosophische Arzt including the earliest description of symptoms resembling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. February 21 – La Specola, Florences Museum of Zoology and Natural History, johan Christian Fabricius publishes his Systema entomologiæ. James Watts 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament of Great Britain, jacques-Constantin Périer operates a paddle steamer on the Seine, but it proves to be underpowered. Thomas Crapper patents a flush toilet in London, edinburgh confectioner Charles Spalding devizes improvements to the diving bell, adding a system of balance-weights. Pierre-Simon Girard, age 74, invents a water turbine, december 30 – John Arnold takes out his first patent for improvements in the construction of marine chronometers in Britain, including the first for a compensation balance
4.
Nathaniel Hone the Elder
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Nathaniel Hone RA was an Irish-born portrait and miniature painter, and one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. While his paintings were popular, his reputation was enhanced by his skill at producing miniatures. He interrupted his time in London by spending two years studying in Italy, as a portrait painter, several of his works are now held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. His sitters included magistrate Sir John Fielding and Methodist preacher John Wesley and he often used his son John Camillus Hone in some of his works, including his unique portrait of The Spartan Boy. It also originally included a caricature of fellow Academician Angelica Kauffman in the top left corner. The combination of a girl and an old man has also been seen as symbolic of Kauffman and Reynoldss closeness, age difference. To show that his reputation was undamaged, Hone organised a retrospective in London. Distant cousins of Nathaniel include Sir Charles Hardy and William Beckford and his great-grand-nephew shared the same name and was also a notable Irish painter, known as Nathaniel Hone the Younger. He is also a relation to painter Evie Hone, media related to Nathaniel Hone the Elder at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Joshua Reynolds
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Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential eighteenth-century English painter, specialising in portraits. He promoted the Grand Style in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect and he was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was knighted by George III in 1769. Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, on 16 July 1723 the third son of the Rev. Samuel Reynolds and his father had been a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, but did not send any of his sons to the university. One of his sisters was Mary Palmer, seven years his senior, author of Devonshire Dialogue, in 1740 she provided £60, half of the premium paid to Thomas Hudson the portrait-painter, for Joshuas pupilage, and nine years later advanced money for his expenses in Italy. His other siblings included Frances Reynolds and Elizabeth Johnson, as a boy, he came under the influence of Zachariah Mudge, whose Platonistic philosophy stayed with him all his life. The work that came to have the most influential impact on Reynolds was Jonathan Richardsons An Essay on the Theory of Painting, having shown an early interest in art, Reynolds was apprenticed in 1740 to the fashionable London portrait painter Thomas Hudson, who had been born in Devon. Hudson had a collection of old master drawings, including some by Guercino, although apprenticed to Hudson for four years, Reynolds only remained with him until summer 1743. Having left Hudson, Reynolds worked for some time as a portrait-painter in Plymouth Dock and he returned to London before the end of 1744, but following his fathers death in late 1745 he shared a house in Plymouth Dock with his sisters. In 1749, Reynolds met Commodore Augustus Keppel, who invited him to join HMS Centurion, of which he had command, while with the ship he visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Algiers, and Minorca. From Minorca he travelled to Livorno in Italy, and then to Rome, while in Rome he suffered a severe cold, which left him partially deaf, and, as a result, he began to carry a small ear trumpet with which he is often pictured. Reynolds travelled homeward overland via Florence, Bologna, Venice, and he was accompanied by Giuseppe Marchi, then aged about 17. Apart from a brief interlude in 1770, Marchi remained in Reynolds employment as an assistant for the rest of the artists career. Following his arrival in England in October 1752, Reynolds spent three months in Devon, before establishing himself in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He took rooms in St Martins Lane, before moving to Great Newport Street and he achieved success rapidly, and was extremely prolific. In 1760 Reynolds moved into a house, with space to show his works and accommodate his assistants. Alongside ambitious full-length portraits, Reynolds painted large numbers of smaller works, in the late 1750s, at the height of the social season, he received five or six sitters a day, each for an hour. By 1761 Reynolds could command a fee of 80 guineas for a full-length portrait, the clothing of Reynolds sitters was usually painted either by one of his pupils, his studio assistant Giuseppe Marchi, or the specialist drapery painter Peter Toms. Lay figures were used to model the clothes and he had an excellent vantage from his house, Wick House, on Richmond Hill, and painted the view in about 1780
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Italian Renaissance painting
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The city of Florence in Tuscany is renowned as the birthplace of the Renaissance, and in particular of Renaissance painting. A detailed background is given in the companion articles Renaissance and Renaissance architecture, Italian Renaissance painting can be divided into four periods, the Proto-Renaissance, the Early Renaissance, the High Renaissance, and Mannerism. These dates are approximations rather than specific points because the lives of individual artists, the Proto-Renaissance begins with the professional life of the painter Giotto and includes Taddeo Gaddi, Orcagna and Altichiero. The Early Renaissance was marked by the work of Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Paolo Uccello, Piero della Francesca, the High Renaissance period was that of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. The Mannerist period included Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and Tintoretto, Mannerism is dealt with in a separate article. The influences upon the development of Renaissance painting in Italy are those also affected Philosophy, Literature, Architecture, Theology, Science, Government. The following is a summary of points dealt with more fully in the articles that are cited above. A number of Classical texts, that had been lost to Western European scholars for centuries and these included Philosophy, Poetry, Drama, Science, a thesis on the Arts and Early Christian Theology. The resulting interest in Humanist philosophy meant that mans relationship with humanity, a revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello. Simultaneous with gaining access to the Classical texts, Europe gained access to advanced mathematics which had its provenance in the works of Byzantine and Islamic scholars. The advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily, the development of oil paint and its introduction to Italy had lasting effects on the art of painting. The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city, Cosimo de Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts, not associated with the church or monarchy. A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family, their influential inlaw Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, much painting of the Renaissance period was commissioned by or for the Catholic Church. These works were often of large scale and were frequently painted in fresco of the Life of Christ. There were also many paintings on the theme of Salvation. Churches also commissioned altarpieces, which were painted in tempera on panel, apart from large altarpieces, small devotional pictures were produced in very large numbers, both for churches and for private individuals, the most common theme being the Madonna and Child. Throughout the period, civic commissions were also important, during the 15th century portraiture became common, initially often formalised profile portraits but increasingly three-quarter face, bust-length portraits. Portraiture was to become a subject for High Renaissance painters such as Raphael and Titian
7.
Royal Academy of Arts
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The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. The Royal Academy of Arts was founded through an act of King George III on 10 December 1768 with a mission to promote the arts of design in Britain through education and exhibition. Supporters wanted to foster a national school of art and to encourage appreciation, fashionable taste in 18th-century Britain was based on continental and traditional art forms, providing contemporary British artists little opportunity to sell their works. From 1746 the Foundling Hospital, through the efforts of William Hogarth, the success of this venture led to the formation of the Society of Artists of Great Britain and the Free Society of Artists. Both these groups were primarily exhibiting societies, their success was marred by internal factions among the artists. The combined vision of education and exhibition to establish a school of art set the Royal Academy apart from the other exhibiting societies. It provided the foundation upon which the Royal Academy came to dominate the art scene of the 18th and 19th centuries, supplanting the earlier art societies. Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect, used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support of the Academy, the painter Joshua Reynolds was made its first president. Francis Milner Newton was elected the first secretary, a post he held for two decades until his resignation in 1788, the instrument of foundation, signed by George III on 10 December 1768, named 34 founder members and allowed for a total membership of 40. William Hoare and Johann Zoffany were added to this list later by the King and are known as nominated members, among the founder members were two women, a father and daughter, and two sets of brothers. The Royal Academy was initially housed in cramped quarters in Pall Mall, although in 1771 it was given temporary accommodation for its library and schools in Old Somerset House, then a royal palace. In 1780 it was installed in purpose-built apartments in the first completed wing of New Somerset House, located in the Strand and designed by Chambers, the Academy moved in 1837 to Trafalgar Square, where it occupied the east wing of the recently completed National Gallery. These premises soon proved too small to house both institutions, in 1868,100 years after the Academys foundation, it moved to Burlington House, Piccadilly, where it remains. Burlington House is owned by the British Government, and used rent-free by the Royal Academy, the first Royal Academy exhibition of contemporary art, open to all artists, opened on 25 April 1769 and ran until 27 May 1769. 136 works of art were shown and this exhibition, now known as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, has been staged annually without interruption to the present day. In 1870 the Academy expanded its programme to include a temporary annual loan exhibition of Old Masters. The range and frequency of these exhibitions have grown enormously since that time. Britains first public lectures on art were staged by the Royal Academy, led by Reynolds, the first president, a program included lectures by Dr. William Hunter, John Flaxman, James Barry, Sir John Soane, and J. M. W. Turner
8.
Angelica Kauffman
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Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann RA, usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a painter, Kauffmann was a skilled portraitist, landscape. She was one of the two founding members of the Royal Academy in London in 1768. Kauffman was born at Chur in Graubünden, Switzerland and her family moved to Morbegno in 1742, then Como in Lombardy in 1752 at that time under Austrian rule. In 1757 she accompanied her father to Schwarzenberg in Vorarlberg/Austria where her father was working for the local bishop and her father, Joseph Johann Kauffmann, was a relatively poor man but a skilled Swiss muralist and painter, who was often traveling for his work. He trained Angelica and she worked as his assistant, moving through Switzerland, Austria, Angelica, a child prodigy, rapidly acquired several languages from her mother, Cleophea Lutz, including German, Italian, French and English. She also showed talent as a musician and was forced to choose between opera and art and she quickly chose art as a Catholic priest told Kauffman that the opera was a dangerous place filled with seedy people. By her twelfth year she had known as a painter, with bishops. In 1754, her mother died and her decided to move to Milan. Later visits to Italy of long duration followed and she became a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1762. In 1763 she visited Rome, returning again in 1764, from Rome she passed to Bologna and Venice, everywhere feted for her talents and charm. Writing from Rome in August 1764 to his friend Franke, Winckelmann refers to her popularity, she was painting his picture. She may be styled beautiful, he adds, and in singing may vie with our best virtuosi, in 1765, her work appeared in England in an exhibition of the Free Society of Artists. She moved to England shortly after and established herself as a leading artist, while in Venice, Kauffman was persuaded by Lady Wentworth, the wife of the British ambassador, to accompany her to London. One of the first pieces she completed in London was a portrait of David Garrick, the rank of Lady Wentworth opened society to her, and she was everywhere well received, the royal family especially showing her great favor. Her firmest friend, however, was Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his pocket-book her name as Miss Angelica or Miss Angel appears frequently, and in 1766 he painted her, a compliment which she returned by her Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1767 Kauffman was seduced by an imposter going under the name Count Frederick de Horn, whom she married and it was probably owing to Reynoldss good offices that she was among the signatories to the petition to the king for the establishment of the Royal Academy. In its first catalogue of 1769 she appears with R. A. after her name, and she contributed the Interview of Hector and Andromache, and three other classical compositions
9.
St. Martin's Lane
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St. Martins Lane is a street in Covent Garden in Central London, which runs from the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street, St. Martins Lane and Monmouth Street together form the B404. A narrow street with little traffic, St. It also has a number of cafes and a music shop aimed at opera. The theatrical agency set up by Peggy Ramsay in 1953 was located in Goodwins Court, two pedestrian alleys, St. Martins Court and Cecil Court, connect St. Martins Lane with Charing Cross Road have similar usage. It is also featured throughout the 1961 film Victim, also featuring scenes in the Salisbury
10.
Josiah Wedgwood
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Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter and entrepreneur. The renewed classical enthusiasms of the late 1760s and early 1770s was of importance to his sales promotion. His expensive goods were in demand from the nobility, while he used emulation effects to market cheaper sets to the rest of society. Every new invention that Wedgwood produced - green glaze, creamware, black basalt, having once achieved perfection in production, he achieved perfection in sales and distribution. His showrooms in London gave the public the chance to see his complete range of tableware and he pioneered direct mail, money back guarantees, travelling salesmen, carrying pattern boxes for display, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered too for his Am I Not a Man And a Brother and he was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family, and he was the grandfather of Charles and Emma Darwin. By the age of nine, he was proving himself to be a skilled potter and he survived a childhood bout of smallpox to serve as an apprentice potter under his eldest brother Thomas Wedgwood IV. Smallpox left Josiah with a permanently weakened knee, which made him unable to work the foot pedal of a potters wheel, as a result, he concentrated from an early age on designing pottery and then making it with the input of other potters. In his early twenties, Wedgwood began working with the most renowned English pottery-maker of his day, Thomas Whieldon and he began experimenting with a wide variety of techniques, an experimentation that coincided with the burgeoning of the nearby industrial city of Manchester. Inspired, Wedgwood leased the Ivy Works in the town of Burslem, from 1768 to 1780 he partnered with Thomas Bentley, a potter of sophistication and astute taste. Over the course of the decade, his experimentation transformed the sleepy artisan works into the first true pottery factory. In January 1764 Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood, his third cousin and they had eight children, Susannah Wedgwood married Robert Darwin and became the mother of the English naturalist Charles Darwin. Charles married Emma Wedgwood, his cousin and this double-barreled inheritance of Wedgwoods money gave Charles Darwin the leisure time to formulate his theory of evolution. His unique glazes began to distinguish his wares from anything else on the market, by 1763, he was receiving orders from the highest levels of the British nobility, including Queen Charlotte. Wedgwood convinced her to let him name the line of pottery she had purchased Queens Ware, anything Wedgwood made for the Queen was automatically exhibited before it was delivered. In 1764 he received his first order from abroad, Wedgwood marketed his Queens Ware at affordable prices, everywhere in the world British trading ships sailed. In 1767 he wrote, The demand for this sd, creamcolour, Alias, Queen Ware, Alias, Ivory, still increases -- It is amazing how rapidly the use of it has spread all most over the whole Globe. He first opened a warehouse at Charles Street, Mayfair in London as early as 1765, in two years his trade had outgrown his rooms in Grosvenor Square
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Jasperware
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Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, some authorities have described it as a type of porcelain. It is noted for its matte and unglazed biscuit finish and is produced in a number of different colours, relief decorations are characteristic of Wedgwood jasperware. They are produced in moulds and applied to the ware as sprigs, while named after the mineral jasper, modern analyses indicate that barium sulphate is a key ingredient. Wedgwood had introduced a different type of stoneware called black basalt a decade earlier, jasperwares composition varies but proportions may be given as follows, sulphate of barytes 150, china clay 35, blue clay 45, flint 35, gypsum 6, and Cornish stone 50. The earliest jasper was stained throughout and was known as solid, in 1844 production resumed using items coloured only on the surface and known as dip. Solid jasper was not manufactured again until 1860, jasperware is particularly associated with the neoclassical sculptor and designer John Flaxman Jr who began to supply Wedgwood with designs from 1775. Flaxman mostly worked in wax when designing for Wedgwood, the designs were then cast, some of them are still in production. Sir William Hamiltons collection of ancient Greek vases was an important influence on Flaxmans work and these vases were first known in England from DHancarvilles engravings, published from 1766. Inspiration for Flaxman and Wedgwood came not only from ancient ceramics, the vase was lent to Wedgwood by the third Duke of Portland. Wedgwood devoted four years of painstaking trials at duplicating the vase - not in glass but in black, Wedgwood jasperware can often be dated by the style of potters marks, although there are exceptions to the rules, Before 1860, Mark is Wedgwood. Usually accompanied by other potter markings and a single letter, from 1860-1929, A three-letter mark represents in order, the month, the potter, and the year. The year code starts mid-alphabet with the letter O for 1860, for certain letters there are two possible year dates. Unfortunately these date codes were used infrequently on jasperware pieces. A single letter is more commonly found during this period but it is merely a potters mark. 1891-1908, Marks are Wedgwood, England, separated, 1908-1969, Marks are Wedgwood, Made in England, separated, or Wedgwood England on small objects like thimbles. After 1929 the typeface of the word Wedgwood is changed to sans serif, 1970–present, Mark is Wedgwood Made in England as single stamp Jean-Baptiste Stahl developed his own style and techniques during his work at Villeroy & Boch in Mettlach, Saar, Germany. The name Phanolith was coined for this kind of jasperware and his work is praised for the translucency of the white porcelain on a colored background
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Pottery
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Pottery is the craft of making ceramic material into pots or potterywares using mud. Major types of potterywares include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, the place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. Early Neolithic pottery have found in places such as Jomon Japan. A clay body can be decorated before or after firing, however, prior to shaping processes. Kneading helps to ensure an even moisture content throughout the body, air trapped within the clay body needs to be removed. This is called de-airing and can be accomplished either by a called a vacuum pug or manually by wedging. Wedging can also produce an even moisture content. Once a clay body has been kneaded and de-aired or wedged, after shaping, it is dried and then fired. Clay ware takes on varying physical characteristics during the making of pottery, at sufficient moisture content, bodies at this stage are in their most plastic form. Leather-hard refers to a body that has been dried partially. At this stage the clay object has approximately 15% moisture content, clay bodies at this stage are very firm and only slightly pliable. Trimming and handle attachment often occurs at the leather-hard state, bone-dry refers to clay bodies when they reach a moisture content at or near 0%. It is now ready to be bisque fired, bisque refers to the clay after the object is shaped to the desired form and fired in the kiln for the first time, known as bisque fired or biscuit fired. This firing changes the body in several ways. Mineral components of the body will undergo chemical changes that will change the colour of the clay. Glaze fired is the stage of some pottery making. A glaze may be applied to the form and the object can be decorated in several ways. After this the object is glazed fired, which causes the material to melt
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John Flaxman
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John Flaxman R. A. was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwoods pottery and he spent several years in Rome, where he produced his first book illustrations. He was a maker of funerary monuments. His father, also named John, was known as a moulder and seller of plaster casts at the sign of the Golden Head, New Street, Covent Garden. His wifes maiden name was Lee, and they had two children, William and John, within six months of Johns birth the family returned to London. He was a child, high-shouldered, with a head too large for his body. His mother died when he was nine, and his father remarried and he had little schooling, and was largely self-educated. He took delight in drawing and modelling from his fathers stock-in-trade and his fathers customers helped him with books, advice, and later with commissions. Particularly significant were the painter George Romney, and a clergyman, Anthony Stephen Mathew. In the same year,1770, he entered the Academy as a student, in the competition for the gold medal of the Academy in 1772, however, Flaxman was defeated, the prize being awarded by the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, to a competitor named Engleheart. This episode seemed to help cure Flaxman of a tendency to conceit which led Thomas Wedgwood V to say of him in 1775, It is and he continued to work diligently, both as a student and as an exhibitor at the Academy, with occasional attempts at painting. To the Academy he contributed a wax model of Neptune, four models in wax, a terracotta bust, a wax figure of a child, an historical figure, a figure of Comedy. During this period he received a commission from a friend of the Mathew family for a statue of Alexander the Great, but he was unable to obtain a regular income from private contracts. From 1775 he was employed by the potter Josiah Wedgwood and his partner Bentley, for whom his father had also some work. The usual procedure was to model the reliefs in wax on slate or glass grounds before they cast for production, dHancarvilles engravings of Sir William Hamiltons collection of ancient Greek vases were an important influence on his work. By 1780 Flaxman had also begun to earn money by sculpting grave monuments, during the rest of Flaxmans career memorial bas-reliefs of this type made up the bulk of his output, and are to be found in many churches throughout England. One example, the monument to George Steevens, originally in St Matthais Old Church, is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, in 1782, aged 27, Flaxman married Anne Denman, who was to assist him throughout his career. She was well-educated, and a devoted companion and they set up house in Wardour Street, and usually spent their summer holidays as guests of the poet William Hayley, at Eartham in Sussex
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Transylvania
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Transylvania is a historical region located in what is today the central part of Romania. Bound on the east and south by its borders, the Carpathian mountain range. The term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the regions of Crișana, Maramureș. The region of Transylvania is known for the beauty of its Carpathian landscape. It also contains major cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Brașov, Sibiu, in the English-speaking world it has been commonly associated with vampires, due to the influence of Bram Stokers famous novel Dracula and its many film adaptations. Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ultra silvam, Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means on the other side of the woods. Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania, later Transylvania, was a translation from the Hungarian form Erdő-elve. That also was used as an name in German überwald. The German name Siebenbürgen means seven fortresses, after the seven Transylvanian Saxons cities in the region and this is also the origin of the regions name in many other languages, such as the Bulgarian Седмиградско, Polish Siedmiogród and the Ukrainian Семигород. The Hungarian form Erdély was first mentioned in the 12th-century Gesta Hungarorum as Erdeuleu or Erdő-elve, the word Erdő means forest in Hungarian, and the word Elve denotes a region in connection with this, similarly to the Hungarian name for Muntenia. Erdel, Erdil, Erdehstan, the Turkish equivalents, or the Romanian Ardeal were borrowed from this form as well, the first known written occurrence of the Romanian name Ardeal appeared in a document in 1432 as Ardeliu. Transylvania has been dominated by different peoples and countries throughout its history. It was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia, in 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory, systematically exploiting its resources. After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of tribes, bringing it under the control of the Carpi, Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars. From 9th to 11th century Bulgarians ruled Transylvania, there is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvanias population before the Hungarian conquest. The Magyars conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century, according to Gesta Hungarorum, Transylvania was ruled by the Vlach voivode Gelou before the Hungarians arrived. The Kingdom of Hungary established a control over Transylvania in 1003. Between 1003 and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary, after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of János Szapolyai
15.
John Trumbull
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John Trumbull was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary War and was notable for his historical paintings. His Declaration of Independence was used on the reverse of the two-dollar bill, Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1756, to Jonathan Trumbull and his wife Faith Trumbull. His father served as Governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784, both sides of his family were descended from early Puritan settlers in the state. The young Trumbull entered the 1771 junior class at Harvard College at age fifteen, due to a childhood accident, Trumbull lost use of one eye, which may have influenced his detailed painting style. As a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, Trumbull rendered a service at Boston by sketching plans of the British works. He witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill and he was appointed second personal aide to General George Washington, and in June 1776, deputy adjutant-general to General Horatio Gates. He resigned from the army in 1777 after a dispute over the dating of his officer commission, in 1780 he traveled to London, where he studied under Benjamin West. At Wests suggestion, Trumbull painted small pictures of the War of Independence and he painted about 250 in his lifetime. On September 23,1780, British agent Major John André was captured by Continental troops in North America, after news reached Great Britain, outrage flared and Trumbull was arrested, as having been an officer in the Continental Army of similar rank to André. He was imprisoned for seven months in Londons Tothill Fields Bridewell, after being released, Trumbull returned to the United States. In 1784, following the British recognition of the United States independence, while working in his studio, Trumbull painted Battle of Bunker Hill and Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec. Both works are now in the Yale University Art Gallery, in 1785 Trumbull went to Paris, where he made portrait sketches of French officers for the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. With the assistance of Thomas Jefferson, serving there as the US minister, while in Paris, Trumbull is credited with having introduced Jefferson to the Italian painter Maria Cosway, they became lifelong intimate friends. Trumbulls painting became widely known due to an engraving of it by Asher Brown Durand. All now hang in rotunda of the United States Capitol, congress reportedly authorized only funds sufficient to purchase these four paintings. Trumbulls The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar,1789, in 1831 Trumbull sold a series of 28 paintings and 60 miniature portraits to Yale University for an annuity of $1,000. This is by far the largest single collection of his works, the collection was originally housed in a neoclassical art gallery designed by Trumbull on Yales Old Campus, along with portraits by other artists. His portraits include full lengths of General Washington and George Clinton, New York also bought his full-length paintings of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
16.
Nathaniel Dance-Holland
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Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1st Baronet RA was a notable English portrait painter and later a politician. The third son of architect George Dance the Elder, Dance studied art under Francis Hayman, there he met Angelica Kauffman, and painted several historic and classical paintings. On his return to England, he became a portrait painter. With Hayman and his architect brother George Dance the Younger, he was one of the members of the Royal Academy in 1768. He was commissioned to paint King George III and his queen, plus Captain James Cook and his group portrait The Pybus Family is in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. In 1790, he gave up his career and became Member of Parliament for East Grinstead in Sussex. He served this seat until 1802 when he moved to Great Bedwyn, in 1807 he returned to East Grinstead, serving until his death in 1811. He was made a baronet in 1800, which became extinct upon his death and he was married to Harriet, the daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet and the widow of Thomas Dummer, for whom his brother had designed the house at Cranbury Park, near Winchester. They lived at Little Wittenham Manor in Berkshire and his wife survived him until 1825. His nephew, Sir Nathaniel Dance, was a commander of British East India Company ships. Leigh Rayments Historical List of MPs Leigh Rayments list of baronets Hansard 1803–2005, contributions in Parliament by Nathaniel Dance-Holland
17.
Joseph Duplessis
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Joseph-Siffred Duplessis was a French painter, known for the clarity and immediacy of his portraits. He was born in Carpentras, near Avignon, into a family with a bent and received his first training from his father. He subsequently studied with Joseph-Gabriel Imbert, who had been a pupil of Charles Le Brun, from 1744–47 or later he worked in Rome, in the atelier of Pierre Subleyras, who was also from the south of France. In Italy Duplessis became fast friends with Joseph Vernet, another Occitan and he continued to exhibit at the Paris salons, both finished paintings and sketches, until 1791, and once more, in 1801. His portrait of the Dauphine in 1771 and his appointment as a peintre du Roi assured his success and he received privileged lodgings in the Galeries du Louvre. In the Revolution, he withdrew to safe obscurity at Carpentras during the Reign of Terror, afterwards, from 1796, he served as curator at the newly founded museum formed at Versailles, so recently emptied of its furnishings at the Revolutionary sales. His uncompromising self-portrait at this time of his life is at Versailles and his portrait of Benjamin Franklin, more than any other, has fixed the image of Franklin for posterity since it is reproduced on the U. S. hundred dollar bill. His portrait of the financier Jacques Necker hung at Voltaires Château de Coppet, several reduced versions were made, one of which is at the Louvre. Many of his portraits received a wider circulation as engravings, un provençal, Peintre du Roi,2004. With catalogue raisonné and archival material, ISBN 2-9521063-0-4 Joseph-Siffred Duplessis The most comprehensive on-line sketch of his career. Portrait of a Gentleman, ca 1779 -1782, portrait of Chrisoph Willibald Gluck,1775 Joseph-Marie Vien,1782. A repetition, in oil en grisaille on paper, is at the Museum of Fine Arts, shown at the Salon of 1779. Ministère de la culture, Portraits by or attributed to Duplessis
18.
Marie-Suzanne Giroust
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Marie-Suzanne Giroust, Madame Roslin was a French painter, miniaturist and pastellist. She was a member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture and she was married to the Swedish painter Alexander Roslin. Marie-Suzanne Giroust was born and lived her life in Paris. She was the daughter of Barthélemy Giroust, Jeweller to the Kings Wardrobe, orphaned at an early age, she was raised by relatives. Her inheritance enabled her to art, and she was a student of first Maurice Quentin de La Tour. The teachings of Vien, in particular, affected her own art greatly, Giroust was active as an artist from the 1750s. She fell in love with the Swedish artist Alexander Roslin when she met him in the Vien studio in 1752 and she wished to marry him, but was prevented from marrying him by her guardian and family, who disliked Roslin because he was poor and a Protestant. After rejecting all the suggested to her by her guardian, she was allowed to marry Roslin after mediation from Roslins patron. The marriage occurred on 5 January 1759, the Swedish ambassador was a witness to the marriage contract. The couple had three daughters and three sons, Giroust was inducted into the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1770. There is no information about her activity within the academy and no notes that she suggested or participated in anything regarding the management or the policy of the academy from 1770 to 1772. Giroust was a painter, Alexander Roslin once estimated that she was a better pastel painter than he was. She was admired for her rendering of skin and the colours in her portrait paintings, in 1771, she was admired in her exhibition of her painting of abbé Lemonnier. The beautiful and strong colours of her Portrait du sculpteur Pigalle and she served as a model for her spouse in his 1768 painting La Dame au voile. Marie-Suzanne Giroust died of breast cancer in 1772, aged 38, henrik Vilhelm Peill Selfportrait Jacques Dumont Portrait de M. Pigalle Footnotes Sources Alexander Roslin. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, ISBN 978-91-7100-771-1 Roosval Johnny, Lilja Gösta, Andersson Knut, Svenskt konstnärslexikon, tiotusen svenska konstnärers liv och verk, dictionary of pastellists before 1800 Online edition. Media related to Marie-Suzanne Roslin at Wikimedia Commons
19.
Anton Graff
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Anton Graff was an eminent Swiss portrait artist. His pupils included Emma Körner, Philipp Otto Runge and Karl Ludwig Kaaz, Anton Graff was born as the seventh child of the craftsman Ulrich Graff and Barbara Graff née Koller at Untertorgasse 8 in Winterthur, Switzerland. In 1753 Graff started studying painting at the art school of Johann Ulrich Schellenberg in Winterthur, after three years he left Winterthur for Augsburg. There he worked with the etcher Johann Jakob Haid, however, only one year later he was forced to leave Augsburg. The members of the painters guild feared his competition. With a letter of recommendation from Johann Jakob Haid, he moved to Ansbach where he found employment with the court painter Leonhard Schneider until 1759, Graff travelled frequently to Munich to study the paintings in the different collections. In 1759 he went back to Augsburg and later moved to Regensburg, in 1765 he went back to Winterthur and Zurich. He thought he was not good enough to work for the court of Saxony. To give Hagedorn an impression of his talent he sent a self-portrait to Dresden, the self-portrait arrived on 16 January 1766, in Dresden. It was so well received that one day later Hagedorn worked out Graffs employment contract. In early 1788, the Prussian Minister Friedrich Anton von Heynitz made Graff the financially very attractive offer to work for the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, on 7 May 1789, Graff informed Count Camillo Marcolini, general director of the Dresden Art Academy, about this. On 20 June 1789, Graff was appointed Professor for portrait painting at the Dresden Art Academy, Graff made portraits of nearly 1,000 of his contemporaries and was the leading portrait painter in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th century. Graff was also the portrait painter of German poets between the Enlightenment and the early Romantic periods. Many of them were also his friends, like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe whom he met in Dresden in 1768, Graff was the favourite portrait painter of the German, Russian, Polish and Baltic nobility. Among others he portrayed Stanislaw Kostka Potocki and his most important clients included Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia. His portrait of Frederick the Great is regarded as his masterpiece, the painting is exhibited at Schloss Charlottenburg. Frederick the Great never posed for Graff, however, Graff got the authorization to watch the troops parade in 1781. This was the chance for Graff to study the physiognomy of the King, Graff was also very popular with the landed gentry, diplomats, musicians and scholars
20.
Upton House, Warwickshire
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Upton House is a country house in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, in the English county of Warwickshire, about 7 miles northwest of Banbury, Oxfordshire. It is in the care of the National Trust, the house was built on the site of the hamlet of Upton, which was destroyed in about 1500 when the land was cleared for pasture. The estate passed through various hands until the early 16th century when it was bought by Sir William Danvers and it remained with the Danvers family until 1688 when Sir Rushout Cullen purchased the estate for £7,000. Cullen built the house for himself in about 1695, in 1927 the estate was acquired by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, who owed his fortune to the fact that his father Marcus Samuel was the founder of the oil company Shell Transport & Trading. Lord Bearsted donated the house, gardens and art collection to the National Trust in 1948, Lord Bearsteds son, the 3rd Viscount, lived at Upton from 1948 until his death in 1986 and added to the gift to the National Trust the collection of fine porcelain. On the death of the 3rd Viscount, the furniture and other items on view in the rooms were offered to the nation by his daughter, Hon. Mrs. R. Waley-Cohen, through the in lieu system, mrs. Waley-Cohen continued to live in the house until 1988, when the family moved to another property on the estate. In October 1991, she offered for sale by public auction, the sale at the house by Christies, in a total of 1083 separate lots, included pictures, furniture, porcelain, silver, objects and carpets. Upton is a low house built of local yellow sandstone. The style of interiors at Upton has been described by art critic Osbert Lancaster as Curzon Street Baroque, a main attraction of Upton is the garden. A lawn, with cedar trees, sweeps gently down from the house. The garden features a garden, a series of herbaceous borders. The terracing, unseen from the house and on a first visit unsuspected, perhaps uniquely among country houses owned by the National Trust, its significance lies principally in its art collection. The house is presented more as an art gallery than as a private home and it contains a unique art deco bathroom and a collection of early Shell advertising posters, together with some of their original artwork, by such artists as Rex Whistler. The collection was assembled by Lord Bearsted, helped by his being a Trustee of the National Gallery, Lord Bearsteds sister Nellie Inonides also became an avid collector. There is also a collection of English fine porcelain, including Chelsea, Derby, Bow and Worcester, map sources for Upton House, Warwickshire Upton House at the National Trust Upton House Garden - a Gardens Guide review Historic England
21.
Waddesdon Manor
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Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale,6.6 miles west of Aylesbury, the house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild as a weekend residence for grand entertaining. The last member of the Rothschild family to own Waddesdon was James de Rothschild and he bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust. It is now administered by a Rothschild charitable trust that is overseen by Jacob Rothschild and it is one of the National Trusts most visited properties, with around 335,000 visitors annually. Prior to the construction of Waddesdon Manor, no house existed on the site, Ferdinand de Rothschild wanted a house in the style of the great Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley. The Baron, a member of the Viennese branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, Destailleur was already experienced in working in this style, having overseen the restoration of many châteaux in that region, in particular that of the Château de Mouchy. Through Destailleurs vision, Waddesdon embodied an eclectic style based on the châteaux so admired by his patron, Baron Ferdinand. The towers at Waddesdon were based on those of the Château de Maintenon, however, following the theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord. They are also far more ornate, the structural design of Waddesdon, however, was not all retrospective. The house also had hot and cold running water in its bathrooms, central heating, the building contractor was Edward Conder & Son. Works were acquired for their quality and fine provenance. One of the highlights of the collection is the extraordinary musical automaton elephant, dating from 1774, in the 1890s, Baron Ferdinand focused on the Renaissance collection for his small museum in the New Smoking Room. This collection was bequeathed to the British Museum and is now known as the Waddesdon Bequest, the interior of Waddesdon Manor was photographed in 1897 for Baron Ferdinands privately published The Red Book. Subsequent owners added noted collections of Limoges enamel, arms and armour, maiolica, medieval manuscripts, prints, extensive landscaping of the hill was carried out, including leveling the top. The gardens and landscape park were laid out by the French landscape architect Elie Lainé, an attempt was made to transplant full-grown trees by chloroforming their roots, to limit the shock. While this novel idea was unsuccessful, many large trees were successfully transplanted. The gardens were enhanced with statuary, pavilions and an aviary that is still in use, the Proserpina fountain was brought to the Manor at the end of the 19th century from the Palace of the Dukes of Parma in northern Italy, the Ducal Palace of Colorno. The gardens are listed Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks, Baron Ferdinand played host to many important guests including the future Edward VII
22.
Buckinghamshire
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Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford. Some areas without rail links to London, such as around the old county town of Buckingham. The largest town is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the area is administered as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire County Council as a non-metropolitan county, in national elections, Buckinghamshire is considered a reliable supporter of the Conservative Party. A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers, in this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Chequers, an estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury, the Thames forms part of the county’s southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake, many national companies have offices in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries, the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district of Buccas home. Buccas home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, the county has been so named since about the 12th century, however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia. Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence, however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, the county can be split into two sections geographically. The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England, the River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes, the main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes, the southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods at 267 metres above sea level, quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was used to build older local buildings
23.
Alexander Roslin
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Alexander Roslin was a Swedish portrait painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insightful psychological portrayal with a representation of fabrics. In his choice of style and lustrous, shimmering colors Alexander Roslin exemplifies Rococo and he lived in France from 1752 until 1793, a period that spanned most of his career. Rococo artists opted for a more jocular, elegant and ornate style, characterized by lightness, elegance and graceful approach to art and architecture. The painting by Roslin depicting Jeanne Sophie de Vignerot du Plessis, Alexander Roslin was born on 15 July 1718, in Malmö, Sweden, the son of naval physician Hans Roslin and Catherine Wertmüller. Stockholm had become an intellectual and artistic center since Queen Christina had established connections with Paris, at the age of sixteen he became apprenticed to the court painter Georg Engelhard Schröder in Stockholm, studying painting there until 1741 and beginning to paint large portraits in oils. Schröder was influenced by Hyacinthe Rigaud and Nicolas de Largillière, in 1741, Roslin settled in Gothenburg, and the following year moved to Scania, where he remained until 1745 painting portraits and also creating religious paintings for the church at Hasslöv. In 1745, Roslin left Sweden for Bayreuth, where he had invited to work for Frederick. In 1747, he moved to Italy to study the works of the great masters, while in Italy he portrayed, among others, the family of Philip, Duke of Parma in 1752. In the same year Roslin moved to Paris, at the age of 34, here, in 1759, he married the pastel painter Marie-Suzanne Giroust. The couple had three sons and three daughters, in 1768 Roslin painted her dressed in Bolognese fashion, Lady with Veil, a portrait that the art critic, writer and philosopher Denis Diderot judged très piquante. In 1767 he painted a portrait of them both, she is depicted working in pastels on a portrait of Henrik Wilhelm Peill, while Roslin points at a gold box he received from Peill as a present. The frame of the painting is inscribed Loin et près, showing that the portrait was a token of friendship and this painting was purchased by the Swedish National Museum in 2013. In Paris he was a protégé of François Boucher and his work became fashionable. He was chosen as a member of the French Art Academy and his early portraits are painted in bright, cool colours, and show the influence of Jean-Marc Nattier and Hyacinthe Rigaud. Around the 1760s he started using daring colouring in his paintings, such as in the portrait of his wife, Lady with Veil, and the Jennings Family. Roslin had great skill in painting the surfaces and texture of precious materials such as fabrics and jewels. In Paris he soon became one of the foremost portraitists of his time, valued mostly for practiced rendering of fabrics and gentle complexions
