The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (229 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists Online
Authors: Ian Chilvers
Houbraken , Arnold
(1660–1719).
Dutch painter and writer on art. His paintings are now forgotten, but he is important for his large biographical work
De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen
(The Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters), 3 vols., 1718–21. This was the first comprehensive study of Netherlandish art since van
Mander
published his
Schilderboeck
in 1604 and is the most important source-book on 17th cent. Netherlandish artists. Arnold's son
Jacobus
(1698–1780) was a leading portrait engraver. His work includes engraved plates after his father's designs for the
Groote Schouburgh
.
Dutch painter and writer on art. His paintings are now forgotten, but he is important for his large biographical work
De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen
(The Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters), 3 vols., 1718–21. This was the first comprehensive study of Netherlandish art since van
Mander
published his
Schilderboeck
in 1604 and is the most important source-book on 17th cent. Netherlandish artists. Arnold's son
Jacobus
(1698–1780) was a leading portrait engraver. His work includes engraved plates after his father's designs for the
Groote Schouburgh
.
Houdon , Jean-Antoine
(1741–1828).
French sculptor. A pupil of Jean-Baptiste
Lemoyne
and of Jean-Baptiste
Pigalle
, he won the
Prix de Rome
in 1761. He was in Rome 1764–8 and there produced two works of sculpture which assured his reputation: an
écorché
figure (Schlossmuseum, Gotha, 1767), casts of which were widely used in art academies, and
St Bruno
(Sta Maria degli Angeli, 1767), executed in a direct and unpretentious classical style. After returning to Paris in 1769, he was successful in the popular mythological idiom, becoming a member of the Academy in 1777 with his
Morpheus
(Louvre, Paris). His greatest strength, however, was in his portrait busts. By the middle 1780s he was acknowledged as the leading portrait sculptor of Europe and his fame spread also to America. In 1785 the State of Virginia commissioned from him a statue of George Washington, and he visited America in order to study his model face to face before doing his famous marble statue of Washington as the modern Cincinnatus, called from the ploughshare to wield the reins of government (Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, 1788, bronze copy outside the NG, London). In his portraiture Houdon had a knack of catching characteristic tricks of gesture and expression and a brilliant gift of depicting the marks of individuality, rather than a profound penetration into human character. His portraits of Voltaire (e.g. in the Comédie-Française, Paris, and V&A, London) are among his most celebrated works. During the French Revolution Houdon narrowly escaped imprisonment and although he found favour again under Napoleon (a terracotta bust of the Emperor is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, 1806), he produced little of importance after the turn of the century. He became senile in 1823.
French sculptor. A pupil of Jean-Baptiste
Lemoyne
and of Jean-Baptiste
Pigalle
, he won the
Prix de Rome
in 1761. He was in Rome 1764–8 and there produced two works of sculpture which assured his reputation: an
écorché
figure (Schlossmuseum, Gotha, 1767), casts of which were widely used in art academies, and
St Bruno
(Sta Maria degli Angeli, 1767), executed in a direct and unpretentious classical style. After returning to Paris in 1769, he was successful in the popular mythological idiom, becoming a member of the Academy in 1777 with his
Morpheus
(Louvre, Paris). His greatest strength, however, was in his portrait busts. By the middle 1780s he was acknowledged as the leading portrait sculptor of Europe and his fame spread also to America. In 1785 the State of Virginia commissioned from him a statue of George Washington, and he visited America in order to study his model face to face before doing his famous marble statue of Washington as the modern Cincinnatus, called from the ploughshare to wield the reins of government (Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, 1788, bronze copy outside the NG, London). In his portraiture Houdon had a knack of catching characteristic tricks of gesture and expression and a brilliant gift of depicting the marks of individuality, rather than a profound penetration into human character. His portraits of Voltaire (e.g. in the Comédie-Française, Paris, and V&A, London) are among his most celebrated works. During the French Revolution Houdon narrowly escaped imprisonment and although he found favour again under Napoleon (a terracotta bust of the Emperor is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, 1806), he produced little of importance after the turn of the century. He became senile in 1823.
Howson , Peter
.
.
Huber , Wolfgang
(or Wolf )
(or Wolf )
(
c.
1490–1553).
German painter, printmaker, and architect, active mainly in Passau, where he was court painter and architect to the prince-bishop. He was first and foremost a poetic interpreter of his native landscape and is usually counted among the masters of the so-called
Danube School
. His landscape drawings are particularly delicate and his religious paintings often have landscape backgrounds.
c.
1490–1553).
German painter, printmaker, and architect, active mainly in Passau, where he was court painter and architect to the prince-bishop. He was first and foremost a poetic interpreter of his native landscape and is usually counted among the masters of the so-called
Danube School
. His landscape drawings are particularly delicate and his religious paintings often have landscape backgrounds.
Hudson , Thomas
(1701–79).
English portrait painter, a pupil of Jonathan
Richardson
, whose daughter he married. From the mid 1740s to the mid 1750s he was the leading fashionable portraitist in London, rivalled only by
Ramsay
. His studio produced a great deal of work, with much help from specialist assistants, and Hudson has been described by Sir Ellis
Waterhouse
as ‘the last of the conscienceless artists, of whom
Lely
was the first in England, who turned out portraits to standard patterns and executed comparatively little of the work themselves’. Hudson went into semi-retirement in the late 1750s, when his former pupil
Reynolds
was rapidly rising in success.
English portrait painter, a pupil of Jonathan
Richardson
, whose daughter he married. From the mid 1740s to the mid 1750s he was the leading fashionable portraitist in London, rivalled only by
Ramsay
. His studio produced a great deal of work, with much help from specialist assistants, and Hudson has been described by Sir Ellis
Waterhouse
as ‘the last of the conscienceless artists, of whom
Lely
was the first in England, who turned out portraits to standard patterns and executed comparatively little of the work themselves’. Hudson went into semi-retirement in the late 1750s, when his former pupil
Reynolds
was rapidly rising in success.
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