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A portrait is a record of a particular individual. Excellent examples exist in museums and private collections executed in marble, bronze, fresco and on canvas from antiquity to our present time.
The famous bust of Queen Nefretete c. 1360 B.C. is painted limestone and one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art. The earliest Greek art to have survived in the original is that of Mausolus, from the Mausoleum at Halicarnissus, 4th century B.C. The imperial Roman portraits during the reign of emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) show a new trend in Roman portraiture representing the emperor in an air of divinity, myth, and reality. Painted Roman portraits, according to Pliny, was an established custom in Rome.
Portraiture was not practiced as an art form again until the time of the Renaissance in Italy. It was the artist's desire to return to the classics based on a rejection of the art of the Middle Ages and that brought to this new era not the rebirth of art of antiquity, but the birth of a new and modern art.
Antonio Rossellino carved a marble portrait bust of the highly esteemed Florentine physician, Giovani Challini. In this work the physician's personality has been observed with extraordinary precision giving this portrait an air of individuality far beyond that of portraits created in ancient times.
Other Italian painters of the 15th century produced remarkable portraits such as Domenico Ghirlandaio and Botticelli. Early in the next century Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Titian would paint prodigiously gifted portraits of breadth and powerful form.
The great age of painting in Spain was the 17th century dominated by Valazquez who produced magnificent portraits, stylistically unequaled in his time. It is interesting to note the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens helped Valazquez to discover the beauty of the many Titians in the royal collection during his visit to the Spanish court on a diplomatic mission in 1528.
Rubens, the superb master painter, epitomized the dramatic and extroverted Baroque style. His huge volume of work including portraits reflect his enormous intellect and vitality.
Rubens' most valued assistant was the Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyck whose fame rests mainly on his portraits commissioned for the English court.
The Baroque style in Holland is perhaps best captured by the great portrait painter of Haarlem, Grans Hals, whose canvases display the complete candidness of his sitters in a style considered modern today.
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Close to Haarlem was the cosmopolitan city of Amsterdam where Hals' contemporary, Rembrandt, was considered the greatest genius of Dutch art and the city's most sought after portrait painter. His self portraits numbering more than any other artist in history reflect the painter's critical, self-analytical and penetrating assessment of himself as reflected in a mirror.
Across the English channel in the 18th century the first English artist of genius in a century, William Hogarth, was receiving commissions for his portraits, the only constant source of income for English painters. The greatest master in this field was Thomas Gainsborough, the favorite portraitist of British high society. It was the age of enlightenment and the philosopher David Hume said Gainsbororgh's painting s epitomized the idea that painting must incorporate both nature and art. Gainsborough's younger contemporary was Sir Josua Reynolds, and a great rival on the London scene.
Reynolds was the president of the Royal Academy in London since its founding in 1768. He wrote his famous "Discourses" which he delivered at the Royal Academy to the student body on fifteen occasions. He stressed obedience to the "Rule of Art", insisting that a sitter must be elevated from the status of an individual by borrowing poses from the antique, "the heroic model".
The French artist Jacques-Louis David and his pupil Jean-Auguste Domenique Ingres, as well as both the American expatriates Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley were all giants in the movement of Neoclassicism which came to an end with Ingres' death in 1867. These four extremely talented artists were disciples of "History Painting", but portraiture was among their strongest gifts and their most steady source of income. Ingres was, in fact, the last great professional in a field soon to be dominated by the camera.
The three great American expatriates during the last quarter of the 19th century were James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. All three, especially Sargent, practiced portraiture. Whistler and Cassatt were among the earliest followers of Manet and the French Impressionists. Sargent holds the record as the most prolific late 19th century and early 20th century American painter executing over eight hundred portraits. His art was brilliant in technique and dazzling in its radiant surface effects.
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Today artists continue to practice portraiture in spite of the modern abstract movements that have captured the 20th century. One of today's most professional practitioners is Joseph Sheppard of Baltimore, Maryland and Pietrasanta, Italy. This book of Sheppard's portraits clearly convinces us that he has mastered the techniques of the painted portrait.
Sheppard has divided his book into two parts: the commissioned portraits and the character studies and celebrities. The following comments are the result of an interview with the artist Joe Sheppard.
Joe Sheppard's painting and drawing are in the grand tradition of the 17th century Flemish and Dutch painters. Sheppard's artistic training began with his painting teacher Jacques Maroger (b 1885 d 1962). Maroger was formally the Technical Director of the Laboratory of the Louvre in Paris and President of the Restoreres of Art in France.
It is of interest to note that Maroger's teacher was the French artist Louis Anquetin (1961-1932), who during his lifetime was referred to as the Michelangelo of France, recognizing his gift as a superb draftsman. Anquetin was a close friend of Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec ,and they painted portraits of each other. Vincent Van Gogh was also a mutual friend of Anquetin and together they founded a style of painting called "Cloisonism" and Anquetin's painting "Avenue de Clichy, Five O'clock", 1887, directly influenced Van Gogh's oil "Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles", 1888. Anquetin quit the group of French Impressionists, saying that none of them knew how to draw. He then went back to the museums to study the works of the old masters, Rubens, Hals and Rembrandt, earnestly trying to rediscover their lost secret painting techniques. The remaining years absorbed his time and he was virtually forgotten.
Maroger studied and worked with Anquetin and continued his teacher's research into the old masters' mediums and techniques. While at the Louvre, Maroger was credited with the discovery of the first oil painting medium of the 15th century artist Jan Van Eyck, receiving the "Legion of Honor" for his research. On the eve of World War II, Maroger moved to New York City where he met Mrs. Robert Garrett, a patron of the arts and an amateur painter. Mrs. Garrett's family built and owned the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and was instrumental in building the first railroad in Russia. Mrs. Garrett persuaded Maroger to go to Baltimore and give her private lessons.
The French artist Raoul Dufy (1887-1953) and the Austrian George Groz (1893-1959) were known to Maroger and also came to the United States in the 1930's and met Maroger at Mrs. Garrett's home. Before leaving Europe Maroger became the technical advisor for Raoul Dufy while he was painting the large mural "Electricity" for the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. He used the Maroger medium for the painting.
Maroger was asked to teach at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore. Joseph Sheppard became Maroger's student for his four years of study at the Institute and continued his artistic relationship until Maroger's death. While teaching at the Institute Maroger formed a group of artists that used his medium for paintings based on the principles of 17th century painters. Those artists exhibited together at the Grand Central Galleries in New York City. The group included Maroger, Reginald Marsh (1898-1954), Joseph Sheppard and other students from the Institute.
During Maroger's late years, Joseph Sheppard won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1957. This enabled him to travel to Europe and experience the major museums where he copied the portraits by Rembrandt, Rubens, Hals and other great masters of the 17th century. While in Paris Sheppard met Madame Versini, a pupil and follower of Louis Anquetin. Sheppard, together with Madame Versini and Siegfried Hahn, a South African painter, toured France and gave lectures and painting demonstrations on the technique and medium used by Rubens.
Sheppard returned from Europe to Baltimore and organized a group of young artists called "Six Realists" who studied with Maroger and used his techniques to paint contemporary subjects. At this time he joined the faculty of the Maryland Institute to fill the vacancy left by the death of Maroger. His curriculum included anatomy, life drawing and oil painting in the Maroger technique.
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In 1974, Sheppard traveled to Italy where he took up residency. He returned to Baltimore to paint a commissioned portrait of the mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, which met with great success. The acclaim for his work convinced Sheppard to seek other portrait commissions. That decision opened a very successful career for him and this book is the result of that decision. He demonstrated in his portraits the draftsmanship, color, personal character and three dimensional effect found in the paintings of the 17th century masters.
The portrait of President George Bush, completed in 1995, utilizes an extended right hand to give movement to an otherwise static pose while also offering a friendly and welcoming gesture. The world globe, to the President's right, is added to show his concern with foreign policy, but the highlight of the globe is Washington, D.C. The solid form of the President is at the same time friendly, and appears as if he could momentarily greet you. The President's great seal on the wall behind him balances the three dimensional round form of the globe.
Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski is presented as a dynamic and strong lady. Sheppard is a close friend of the senator and has had many occasions to watch her in conversation. He felt the clenched fist symbolized her strength of character, while the smile and twinkle in her eye displayed her warmth and sense of humor. The rose becomes her feminine attribute.
Mayor Schaefer of Baltimore is shown standing in a street of row houses where he lived. The artist includes this "humble beginning" as a contrast to the new city of Baltimore seen in the distance. He is posed as a "maverick" with an attitude of toughness.
Eight years later Sheppard was commissioned to paint Schaefer as Governor of Maryland. Governor Schaefer is shown seated in his office with the state flag. His face shows the strain of the years in office, the years waging political battles from city hall on towards the state house. His black Labrador dog looks up in a gesture of fidelity as the Governor places his right hand on his head in an act of love and understanding.
Leon Fleisher, concert pianist, is presented in contemplation rather than performing. He holds the Beethoven Concerto Scores in his right hand, a trademark of his repertoire. On the piano music stand is the score for the Left Hand Concerto by Ravel. Fleisher, until recently, was forced to play with only his left hand after a tragic injury to his right hand. Recently, Fleisher surprised his audience with a performance of Mozart's A Major Piano Concerto requiring the use of both hands.
The most complex painting in the book is the group portrait of five members of the Smith family. The artist was overwhelmed with the problems of arranging five figures and a dog in different sizes according to each child's age. Sheppard was forced to invent the composition in terms of proportion, perspective, color and personality likenesses for the pose of each child.
Sheppard relishes the opportunity to step outside or modern day world. Chris Merritt, opera singer, gave Sheppard the opportunity to present him in operatic costume. The painting appears to have been done in 17th century even to the dramatic "Tromps L'Oeil" right hand extended toward the viewer.
The portraits of Fred Winner, Walter Sondheim and Henry Rosenberg are those of important businessmen. Each face shows strength of character in attitudes, suggesting power, influence and position.
Unlike Rembrandt who began his successful career painting commissioned portraits and then, later in life chose subjects of his own interest, Sheppard has turned to the commission portrait as a new phase in his long and successful career.
Joseph Sheppard is one of today's best professional practitioners of the painted portrait. This carefully designed book of his portraits clearly informs us that he has elevated the portrait to a work of art in the best tradition of the masters of the 17th century.
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