ALFA PAINTINGS

William Stephen Coleman – nineteenth century English painter and illustrator.

Born at Horsham, Sussex, he was one of the 12 children of the surgeon William Thomas Coleman and his wife Henrietta Dendy; the artist Helen Cordelia Coleman (1847–1884) was the fifth daughter of the family.

Coleman was unsuccessful in a career as a surgeon, and turned to natural history illustration. He collaborated with Harrison Weir, Joseph Wolf and others; in the preparation of the wood-blocks he was assisted by his sister Rebecca. He painted in watercolour, mainly landscapes with figures, in a style with something in common with Birket Foster, and semi-classical figure subjects, related to those by Albert Joseph Moore. His classically-influenced works placed him in the "toga and terrace" or "marble school" with George Bulleid, W. Anstey Dollond, Norman Prescott-Davies and Oliver Rhys.


An Interesting Story by William Stephen Coleman Coleman also executed etchings, occasionally worked in pastel, and painted in oil. He was a member of the original committee of management of the Dudley Gallery, contributing to the first exhibition in 1865. He continued to exhibit till 1879, and remained on the committee till 1881.

In 1869 Coleman began to experiment in pottery decoration; the Mintons Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore was established under his direction in 1871, and he executed figure designs for Mintons ceramic ware. He died after a long illness at 11 Hamilton Gardens, St. John's Wood, on 22 March 1904.

Jules Louis Philippe Coignet - famous French artist of the 19th century

Jules Louis Philippe Coignet was born in Paris in 1798 and died there in 1860. He was a noted landscape painter who had studied under Jean-Victor Bertin. He travelled a good deal in his own country as well as elsewhere in Europe and the East, and produced a considerable number of paintings. A regular exhibitor at the Paris Salon exhibitions, he was awarded a gold medal there in 1824 and was given state recognition by being made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1836.

As a painter, Coignet in somewhere in between the Idealists and the Realists, and his work is remarkable for the combination of vigor and delicacy in the effects of light and shade, for poetical feeling, for a firm brush, and occasionally for grandeur of conception. This is particularly evident in "The Ruins of the Temple of Paestum", now in Munich's Neue Pinakothek. There are times too when his paintings have an atmospheric, almost Impressionist effect. One example is the coastal sunset in the Louvre; another is the pastel "Grey weather over the sea" (1848) in the Dijon museum.

Following the 1824 exhibition in Paris of John Constable's paintings, Coignet began painting outside in the forest of Fontainbleau and encouraged his students to do the same. One of his specialities was painting tree 'portraits', of which there are many examples, both as finished paintings and as sketches in oil paint. Two notable examples are the ancient oak, with a dolmen and meditating monk in the background, in the Quimper museum and the dramatic "Oak tree and reeds" in the Musée Jean de La Fontaine at Château-Thierry. As a pioneer of open air painting (la peinture en plein air), Coignet has been counted a member of the Barbizon school, the artists associated with the village of Barbizon, where he had painted long before they settled there. In fact one of the minor members of this school, the genre painter Ferdinand Chaigneau [fr], was a pupil of Coignet's.

In addition to producing many water-colours, pastels and etchings, he wrote a book on landscape painting and published in 1825 a series of sixty Italian views. Among his other pupils were Léo Drouyn [fr], the Belgian landscapist Auguste Böhm [fr] and the orientalist Charles-Théodore Frère.

Jules Coignet's painting in domestic collections is a rarity, which gives the picture a uniqueness and value.

The son of a prominent artist E.I. Makovsky, one of the founders of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA).

Makovsky's apartment was located on the embankment of the Moscow River overlooking the Kremlin. Since childhood, Vladimir was surrounded by an atmosphere of art. Famous people gathered in his father's house - Glinka, Gogol, Schepkin, Bryullov, Tropinin ... Makovsky took the first lessons of fine art from V. A. Tropinin. At fifteen, he painted the genre painting "The Boy Selling Kvass" (1861).

From 1861 to 1866 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture with the successor of the Venetian school S.K. Zaryanko and E.S. Sorokin. Vladimir graduated from college with a silver medal and the title of a class artist of the III degree for his work "Literary reading".

In 1869, for the painting "Peasant Boys Watch over Horses," Makovsky received the title of class artist of the first degree and the Vigee-Lebrenza gold medal expression. With the birth in 1869 of the first child, the son of Alexander, Makovsky shows an interest in childhood topics ("Peasant Boys", "Shepherdesses", "Night", "Return from the Night"). The painting "Playing Grandmas" was the first painting by Makovsky, purchased by P. M. Tretyakov for his gallery, which meant his recognition as an artist.

In 1872, he became a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. From the very beginning he was one of the most active members of the Partnership, participated in almost all exhibitions, and since 1874 he was elected a member of the board.

In 1873, for the painting "Nightingale Lovers" Makovsky was assigned the title of an academician by the Academy of Arts. The painting was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Vienna, where it attracted everyone's attention. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote about it: "... if we have something to be proud of, to show something, then, of course, in our genre ... in these small pictures, in my opinion, you can spot even love for all the humanity, not only Russians in particular. "

At the same time, he painted 21 genre paintings for the album "Episodes of the Sevastopol Life of 1854-1855."

From 1882 to 1894, Makovsky taught at the Moscow School of Painting and from 1894 to 1918 in St. Petersburg at the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he was invited for the position of the head of the genre workshop. In 1895 he was appointed a rector of the academy. Makovsky's students were A.E. Arkhipov, V.N. Baksheev, E.M. Cheptsov, V.A. Kuznetsov. Since 1905, he was a State Councilor.

Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky died on February 21, 1920 and was buried in Petrograd at the Smolensky Orthodox cemetery.

Master of historical paintings and portraiture.

He studied at the Stockholm Academy with Frederick Vesnin (1782-1862), then at the Dusseldorf Academy where in 1835 he painted the icon "Mary with the Baby, Shepherds and Angels" for Kristinberg (Stockholm), the former church at the Masonic shelter.

After moving to Ladugarslandet in 1841 he painted the portrait of the pastor. Pictures: "King Oscar I" (belongs to the Order of Timmermann, Stockholm); "The Beautiful Dalecarlerina Sells Milk at the Stortorget" (Stockholm City Museum); The Great Winterbild, 1848 (owned by Dr. Henrik Alm, Rosenwick, Stockholm); "Pastor Per Lindsten", 1862 (owned by Hedv. El. Church, Stockholm); "Pastor M. Chr. Bergvall ", 1864; several paintings (mainly copies) are in Drottningholm Castle and the Stockholm City Hall.