FRANCESCO GUARDI
Venice 1712-1793
Guardi, the most prominent member of a family of art-
ists, most likely received his earliest artistic training from
his older brother, Giovanni Antonio. Documentation re-
garding the family is scarce. However, it is known that
Francesco joined the painters' guild of Venice in 1761. By
that date he was already securely established as a suc-
cessful painter. Guardi's paintings of religious subjects,
such as the Miracle of Saint Gonzalo of Amarante of 1763
(Vienna, Kunsthistoriches Museum), indicate the influ-
ence of Alessandro Magnasco. Guardi is best known for
his paintings of vedute (views) of Venice, such as Piazza
San Marco of circa 1755 (National Gallery), in which he
carried on the tradition of view painting popularized by
Luca Carlevaris and Canaletto. Guardi also painted
imaginary landscapes and capricci (architectual fantasies).
From the 17705 until his death, he recorded contempo-
rary Venetian events in a number of paintings and draw-
ings. These include the visits of dignitaries to Venice
(1782), the city's first balloon ascent (1784), and the in-
auguration of the La Fenice theater (1792).GUERCINO (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
Cento I59i-Bologna 1666
Guercino was for the most part a self-taught artist. As a
youth he admired the work of Ludovico Carracci,
whose paintings could be seen in Cento and nearby Bo-
logna. In 1617 Guercino moved to Bologna, where he
painted several important works for Cardinal Alessan-
dro Ludovisi, later Pope Gregory XV; these included the
Raising of Tabitha of 1617 (Palazzo Pitti). Between 1617
and 1621 Guercino produced a series of powerful Ba-
roque altarpieces, including his early masterpiece Saint
William of Aquitaine Receiving the Habit of 1620 (Bologna,
Pinacoteca). From 1621 on, Guercino worked for Pope
Gregory XV in Rome. There he began a number of proj-
ects, including the lyrical, illusionistic ceiling painting of
Aurora in the Palazzo Ludovisi. He returned to Cento in
1623 to head an active studio and, following the death of
Guido Reni in 1642, moved to Bologna to assume a pre-
eminent artistic position in that city.
HANS HOFFMANN
Nuremberg(?) circa i53O-Prague(?) 1591/2 1
Little is known of Hoffmann's training. He probably vis-
ited the Netherlands before settling in Nuremberg in
1557, at which time he is first documented there. From
the early 15705 on he made a specialty of producing wa-
tercolor and gouache nature studies, many of which
were copied after or inspired by works by Durer that he
had seen in Nuremberg collections. In 1584 Hoffmann
moved to Munich, where he entered the employ of Duke
William V of Bavaria. In 1585 he was named court
painter by Emperor Rudolf II and took up residence in
Prague, the seat of the imperial court. Among his prin-
cipal surviving works made for the emperor is Hare
among Grasses and Wildflowers in a Glade of 1589 (private
collection), which is also his only surviving panel paint-
ing. Several years later Hoffmann died, presumably in
Prague. He was the major representative of the "Durer
Renaissance," in which the continued veneration of the
master by artists and collectors alike led to the production
of works of art copied after him or inspired by his paint-
ings, drawings, and prints.JE AN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE
INGRES
Montauban 1780-Paris 1867
Ingres studied art first with his father and then, in 1791,
at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Toulouse. He entered
David's Parisian studio in 1797 and won the Prix de Rome
in 1801, though he did not leave for Italy until 1806.
Ingres earned a living painting portraits such as Made-
moiselle Rivière of 1805 (Louvre), in which his sensuous
line and extraordinary ability to describe the sitter's in-
dividual features are fully evident. The narrative paint-
ings he created in Italy to be sent to France, including Oe-
dipus and the Sphinx of 1808 (Louvre), elicited severe
criticism for their realism, and he remained in Italy for
another sixteen years. He settled in Florence in 1820 and
in the same year received a commission from the cathe-
dral of Montauban for the Vow of Saint Louis XIII of
1820-24, his first great success at the Salon. Ingres re-
turned to Paris in 1824 and was elected to the Académie
in 1825, achieving recognition as a champion of Classi-
cism against the Romantic movement. He was in Rome
again from 1835 to 1841 as the director of the Académie.
During his last years in Paris, he continued to produce
works of great beauty, including The Turkish Bath of
1859-60 (Louvre).JACOB JORDAENS
Antwerp 1593 -1678
Jordaens is recorded in the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke
in 1607 as a pupil of Adam van Noort and became a mas-
ter in the guild in 1615. In the following year he married
Catharina van Noort, the daughter of his teacher. In 1635
he participated in the decoration of Antwerp for the
triumphal entry of the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, and in
1636-3 7 he helped execute paintings for the Torre de la
Parada after designs by Rubens. During his later career
Jordaens received commissions from King Charles I,ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES 335