The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (329 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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Munkácsy , Mihály von
(1844–1900).
Hungarian painter. After training in Budapest, Munich, and Düsseldorf he lived mainly in Paris. He had a resounding early success when he won a gold medal at the 1870
Salon
with
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
(NG, Budapest) and won an international reputation with his
Milton and his Daughters
(Lenox Library, New York, 1877–8). These theatrical costume pieces were enormously popular with rich collectors and Munkácsy became one of the wealthiest artists of his day. His best works are now, however, considered to be his landscapes, in which although he did not paint out of doors, he continued the tradition of the
Barbizon School
. He despised the
Impressionists
, but his work is often very free in handling. The National Gallery in Budapest has the best collection of Munkácsy's work and he is regarded as his country's greatest painter.
Hungarian painter. After training in Budapest, Munich, and Düsseldorf he lived mainly in Paris. He had a resounding early success when he won a gold medal at the 1870
Salon
with
The Last Day of a Condemned Man
(NG, Budapest) and won an international reputation with his
Milton and his Daughters
(Lenox Library, New York, 1877–8). These theatrical costume pieces were enormously popular with rich collectors and Munkácsy became one of the wealthiest artists of his day. His best works are now, however, considered to be his landscapes, in which although he did not paint out of doors, he continued the tradition of the
Barbizon School
. He despised the
Impressionists
, but his work is often very free in handling. The National Gallery in Budapest has the best collection of Munkácsy's work and he is regarded as his country's greatest painter.
Munnings , Sir Alfred
(1878–1959).
English painter, a specialist in scenes involving horses. He was an artist of considerable natural ability, but he became rather slick and repetitive and his great popularity is more with lovers of horses than lovers of painting. He was President of the
Royal Academy
, 1944–9, and was one of the most outspoken opponents of modern art in England. In particular he is notorious for a splenetic speech he delivered at the RA annual dinner in 1949. It was broadcast live on radio and was a national talking point the next day. His successor as PRA, Sir Gerald
Kelly
, did much to restore the damage Munnings did to the Academy's prestige. There is a museum dedicated to him in Dedham, Essex, where he lived for much of his life.
English painter, a specialist in scenes involving horses. He was an artist of considerable natural ability, but he became rather slick and repetitive and his great popularity is more with lovers of horses than lovers of painting. He was President of the
Royal Academy
, 1944–9, and was one of the most outspoken opponents of modern art in England. In particular he is notorious for a splenetic speech he delivered at the RA annual dinner in 1949. It was broadcast live on radio and was a national talking point the next day. His successor as PRA, Sir Gerald
Kelly
, did much to restore the damage Munnings did to the Academy's prestige. There is a museum dedicated to him in Dedham, Essex, where he lived for much of his life.
Münter , Gabriele
.
.
Murillo , Bartolomé Esteban
(1617/18–82).
Spanish painter, active for almost all his life in his native Seville. His early career is not well documented, but he started working in a naturalistic
tenebrist
style, showing the influence of
Zurbarán
. After making his reputation with a series of eleven paintings on the lives of Franciscan saints for the Franciscan monastery in Seville (1645–6, the pictures are now dispersed in Spain and elsewhere), he displaced Zurbarán as the city's leading painter and was unrivalled in this position for the rest of his life. Most of his paintings are of religious subjects, appealing strongly to popular piety and illustrating the doctrines of the Counter-Reformation church, above all the Immaculate Conception, which was his favourite theme. His mature style was very different to that seen in his early works; it is characterized by idealized figures, soft, melting forms, delicate colouring, and sweetness of expression and mood. The term
estilo vaporoso
(‘vaporous style’) is often used of it. Murillo also painted
genre
scenes of beggar children that have a similar sentimental appeal, but his fairly rare portraits are strikingly different in feeling—much more sombre and intellectual (an outstanding self-portrait is in the NG, London). In 1660, with the collaboration of
Valdés Leal
and Francisco
Herrera
the Younger, Murillo founded an
academy
of painting at Seville and became its first president. He died at Seville in 1682, evidently from the after-effects of a fall from scaffolding. He had many assistants and followers, and his style continued to influence Sevillian painting into the 19th cent. His fame in the 18th cent. and early 19th cent. was enormous. With
Ribera
he was the only Spanish painter who was widely known outside his own country and he was ranked by many critics amongst the greatest artists of all time. Later his reputatiòn plummeted, and he was dismissed as facile and sugary, but now that his own work is being distinguished from that of his numerous imitators his star is rising again.
Spanish painter, active for almost all his life in his native Seville. His early career is not well documented, but he started working in a naturalistic
tenebrist
style, showing the influence of
Zurbarán
. After making his reputation with a series of eleven paintings on the lives of Franciscan saints for the Franciscan monastery in Seville (1645–6, the pictures are now dispersed in Spain and elsewhere), he displaced Zurbarán as the city's leading painter and was unrivalled in this position for the rest of his life. Most of his paintings are of religious subjects, appealing strongly to popular piety and illustrating the doctrines of the Counter-Reformation church, above all the Immaculate Conception, which was his favourite theme. His mature style was very different to that seen in his early works; it is characterized by idealized figures, soft, melting forms, delicate colouring, and sweetness of expression and mood. The term
estilo vaporoso
(‘vaporous style’) is often used of it. Murillo also painted
genre
scenes of beggar children that have a similar sentimental appeal, but his fairly rare portraits are strikingly different in feeling—much more sombre and intellectual (an outstanding self-portrait is in the NG, London). In 1660, with the collaboration of
Valdés Leal
and Francisco
Herrera
the Younger, Murillo founded an
academy
of painting at Seville and became its first president. He died at Seville in 1682, evidently from the after-effects of a fall from scaffolding. He had many assistants and followers, and his style continued to influence Sevillian painting into the 19th cent. His fame in the 18th cent. and early 19th cent. was enormous. With
Ribera
he was the only Spanish painter who was widely known outside his own country and he was ranked by many critics amongst the greatest artists of all time. Later his reputatiòn plummeted, and he was dismissed as facile and sugary, but now that his own work is being distinguished from that of his numerous imitators his star is rising again.
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