The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (17 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
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Anquetin , Louis
(1861–1932).
French painter, designer, and writer. He was a friend of Van
Gogh
and
Toulouse-Lautrec
(fellow-students in
Cormon's
studio), and with
Bernard
he was one of the pioneers of
cloisonnism
. After about 1890, however, Anquetin's work was much more traditional, and he became interested in research into the techniques of the Old Masters, notably
Rubens
, on whom he wrote a book (1924). He was a prolific draughtsman and made tapestry cartoons for the Beauvais and Gobelins factories.
Anrep , Boris
(1883–1969).
Russian-born mosaicist and painter, active mainly in England. He organized the Russian section of Roger
Fry's
second
Post-Impressionist
exhibition in 1912 and after the First World War, in which he served in the Russian Army, he settled in London, although he also spent a good deal of time in Paris. Anrep was deeply interested in Byzantine art and came to specialize in mosaic pavements, the best-known examples being in the Tate Gallery, representing William Blake's
Proverbs
(1923), and the National Gallery—four floors on and around the main staircase, executed between 1926 and 1952. The subjects are
The Awakening of the Muses, The Modern Virtues, The Labours of Life
, and
The Pleasures of Life
; portraits of many well-know contemporaries are incorporated in them, for example the philosopher Bertrand Russell representing ‘Lucidity’ and the film actress Greta Garbo as Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy. They were paid for by Samuel
Courtauld
and other benefactors.
Anshutz , Thomas
.
See
HENRI
.
Antal , Frederick
(1887–1954).
Hungarian-born art historian who settled in England in 1933 and became a British citizen in 1946. He was deeply interested in historical methodology, and is regarded as the leading exponent of an approach that attempted to apply the Marxist interpretation of history to the arts. His views are most fully expressed in
Florentine Painting and its Social Background
(1948), in which he argues that developments in style and subject matter were directly influenced by social and political changes. The book was widely admired, but it was also attacked as being over-rigid in the way it linked artistic phenomena with social and economic causes. Antal's other books include the posthumously published
Hogarth and his Place in European Art
(1962), in which he applied his methods more subtly and flexibly, revealing his fascination with
Hogarth
as an expression of English middle-class morality and culture. A collection of his articles,
Classicism and Romanticism, with Other Studies in Art History
(1966), includes ‘Remarks on the Method of Art History’, which is a statement of his own credo. Antal never held a regular teaching post in England (he occasionally lectured at the
Courtauld
Institute), but he was an influential figure.
Antelami , Benedetto
(active late 12th cent.).
Italian
Romanesque
sculptor, the most notable figure in the history of Italian sculpture before Nicola
Pisano
. His name first appears on a marble panel representing the
Descent from the Cross
(1178) in Parma Cathedral. He is chiefly known for his
reliefs
on the doors of the Baptistery at Parma, which was begun in 1196, and it has been suggested that he may have overseen the whole structure as architect as well as sculptor. On stylistic grounds he has also been credited with a hand in the sculptural decorations of Fidenza Cathedral (formerly Borgo San Donnino ) and of S. Andrea at Vercelli. His elongated figures, compact compositions, and skilful use of drapery folds give his work a gravity and dramatic expressiveness hitherto unknown to north Italian sculpture.

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