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Our Color
ful Monthly Newsletter | ||||||||||||||||||||
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November 2007 Artist Of The Month: El Greco | ||||||||||||||||||||
Around 1567, El Greco moved to Venice, where he might have worked in the studio of Titian, and from there to Rome, where he mixed with the city’s elite. It was in Italy that El Greco first developed his unique style. His figures were presented unusually elongated, often wearing surprising attitudes that gave familiar religious scenes a new interpretation. As well as by Titian, he was influenced by Raphael and Michelangelo who he nonetheless described as “a good man, but he did not know how to paint.” In 1577, El Greco moved to Madrid and then to Toledo. It was a good time for an artist with a name for religious imagery to arrive in what was then the religious capital of Spain. The monastery-palace of El Escorial was under construction but with Titian dead, and Tintoretto, Veronese and Anthonis Mor all refusing to travel to Spain, Phillip II was struggling to find high-calibre artists to paint its walls. Hoping to make an impression, El Greco painted two commissions for the king: Allegory of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St. Maurice. Phillip, known as a fussy client, placed them in the chapter-house rather than the chapel and commissioned nothing more from El Greco. Remaining in Toledo, El Greco painted The Burial of the Count of Orgaz in 1586, now his best known work. Despite Phillip’s displeasure, the years 1597-1607 were the artist’s busiest and he completed a series of paintings and altar-pieces. His last major commission came in 1608 and he died in 1614. El Greco stood out from his contemporaries through his use of proportion and perspective, once suggesting that an altarpiece be extended by half a meter to take a lengthened figure into account. But he considered color more important even than form, repainting, retouching and almost remixing the colors on the canvas itself. Today, his influence can be see in works by Picasso, Cezanne and Manet. You can find a great collection of El Greco patterns to use with SegPlayPC ™ here: http://www.segmation.com/SegPlayPCPatterns.asp#ELG. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Here are some recently added SegPlay™ patterns (see more..)
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Unknown Modigliani Painting to be Shown in Belgrade A previously unknown painting by Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani will go on show in Belgrade in November, reports Reuters. The Modigliani Institut Archives Legales Paris-Rome took seventeen years to verify the authenticity of “Portrait of a Man,” which dates from around 1918. The picture displays a young man with neatly combed hair and is painted with diluted oils. The identity of the model is unknown. The painting’s owner, an unnamed Serbian collector, asked specifically that the work’s first public showing take place in Belgrade. Also in November, Christie’s will auction Modigliani’s portrait of sculptor Oscar Miestchaninoff for an estimated $25m. Source: Guardian Artist Banksy Caught in eBay Fraud Banksy, the British graffiti artist whose works are collected by celebrities including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has become the victim of an eBay scam. The Guardian, quoting from the Art Newspaper, reports that employees of Pictures on Walls (POW), the company that publishes Banksy’s works on paper, placed unauthorized prints on eBay then artificially inflated the prices. Buyers were told that the authenticity of the prints could be confirmed. Altogether some 20 unauthorized prints are believed to have been sold on eBay but the number could be as high as 100 prints. Prices reached more than £6,000 (around $12,000). Source: Guardian | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Trivia: Artists and their Nicknames El Greco wasn’t the only artist to be better known by his nickname than by his real name. Here are four more artists whose real identities are less known than their works.
Botticelli -- The Italian artist who painted The Birth of Venus was born Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. His nickname means “little barrels” and derives from the Tuscan word battigello meaning “goldbeater.” Botticelli would have had to beat gold during his apprenticeship.
Canaletto -- The Venetian landscape artist, Giovanni Antonio Canal, acquired his nickname not because he liked to paint Venice’s waterways but because he was the son of the painter Bernardo Canal. The name of “Canal junior” outlasted that of Canal senior.
Paolo Uccello -- A Florentine painter famous for his use of perspective, was born Paolo di Dono. His nickname refers to love of painting birds.
Masaccio -- Another Florentine painter who worked during the Renaissance, Masaccio’s real name was Tommaso Guido. His friends -- and history -- called him “Fat Untidy Tom.”
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Segmation News
Our Windows Mobile version of SegPlay™, SegPlayMobile™ has been released and we're receiving some great comments about it! Our SegPlayPC pattern collection is continues to expand (at last count over 700 patterns in more than 30 sets are available)!! We've added some popular new pattern sets in the past few weeks including "Horsing Around", "Camille Pissarro - Father of Impressionism", and "Christmas Time". 
Be sure to stop and check out our new Segmation Video Gallery where we've compiled a bunch of nicely done YouTube movies relating to painting and fine art. You'll definitely get inspired when you watch the "Painting with Food" videos!! We're always looking for more appealing art pieces for our SegPlay™ online paint by number collection. If you are an aspiring artist and am interested in setting up a free personal category on SegPlay to showcase some of your work in our fun paint by number world, drop us an email submit@segmation.com.
We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter. Please feel free to pass it on to a friend or colleague. If you have any comments or suggestions about this newsletter, please drop us an email to: comments@segmation.com.
Happy Holidays!!
Segmation • 2822 Filbert Drive • Walnut Creek, CA 94598
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