Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/171

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PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS.


fu Amsterdam that his beat works must be sought to this day. His pictures consist of coast-scenes and views in towns, with figures. Amsterdam. Gallery. The Boatmen's House, i beebe- STEATEN.

„ „ Euins of the Old Town-Hall at Amsterdam., i beerestraatex. n n Sea fight between English and Dutch. I BEEK-STRAATEX. „ Town Hall. View of the Dam, Amsterdam. 3. BEEEESTRATEN FT „ „ View of Amsterdam taken from the Y. JOAN BEEBSTEAATEX. „ Six Coll. The Chapel of St. Olof at Amster- dam. BEERSTBABT. Berlin. Museum. Winter Landscape, j. beeb- STBAATEX. 1664. Paris. Louvre. The Old Port of Genoa, johankes BKKR3TRAATEX FECIT. Rotterdam. Museum. View of Mayence. 1654. (For further information, see ' L'Art et les Artistes HoUandais,' by Henry Havard, part iii., 1880.) BEESTEN, A. H. van, a Dutch painter of por- traits and bassi-rilievi, in which it is said that he excelled ; but being a man of great modesty, he suffered others to turn his talents to their profit. He lived in the middle of the 18th century.

BEGA, Abr. Coen. See Begeijn.

BEGA, CoBNELis PiETERSZ, wlio Was bom at Haarlem in 1620, was the son of a sculptor called Peter Begijn (or Beggijn), and Houbraken tells us that he changed his family name to Bega, on account of some irregularities of conduct, which had occasioned his father to disown him. This is doubted by recent writers, who think that perhaps Bega is only another form of Begijn. Bega was a scholar of Adrian van Ostade ; and though his pictures are not equal to the admirable productions of that master, they have sufficient merit to rank him amongst the most interesting artists of his country. His pictures, like those of Van Ostade, represent Dutch peasants regaling and amusing themselves, and the interiors of Dutch cottages. He treated those subjects with a most humorous delineation of character ; and his pictures are de- servedly placed in the choicest collections. He became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1654 ; and died at Haarlem in 1664, of the plague, caught while attending a lady suffering from that disease, to whom he was to have been married. The following are some of his best works :

Amsterdam. Museum. Berlin. Gallery. Cassel. Gallery. Dresden. Gallery Florence. XJ^ri. The Philosopher. Peasants ' concert. Lady playing the Inte. Peasant Family. Alehouse. Interior. The Chemist (signed and dated 1661). Peasants dancing {signed). Groups of players. A man playing the lute. A woman playing the lute Interiors {three). Interior of an Inn. Interior. Interior {signed and dated 1652). , Interiors. Frankfort St&del. Hague. Galhry. Munich. Finakoik. Paris. Louvre. Petersburg. Hermitage

He left about thirty-seven etchings, among which are the following :

An interior of an Alehouse, with three Peasants, one with a Goblet in his Hand. A Sketch of two Peasants and a Boy. The interior of a Dutch Cottage, a Man with a Pitcher, another Peasant with a woman and a Child. A Man leaning on a Table, and his Wife snckling a CbUd.

A Company of five Men and Women regaling. Company regaling, a Woman pouring out Wine. Eight Peasants, two are playing Cards ; very scarce.

BEGARELLI, Antosio (called by Vasari, BegaItiso). This artist is not introduced here as a painter, but rather as a designer and modeller, whose works may rank with those of contemporary painters, with whom he seems to have been in close connection. He was bom at Jlodena, about the year 1498, and is said to have been instructed by Gio- vanni dell' Abbate, the father of the painter Niccol6. Begarelli worked chiefly at Modena, where many churches are decorated with his plastic compositions in terra-cotta ; and in his later years also at Parma. These are free standing figures, neariy life-size, grouped together above altars in the chapels, and apparently intended to replace pictures. This peculiar adaptation of plastic works was first used at Modena by Guido Mazzoni (died 1518), called U Modanino, a highly -gifted artist of realistic tendencies. They form a specialty of Modenese art. T?he assertion that Begarelli was associated with Correggio seems to be incorrect. It has been supposed (by Vidriani, 1662), that Begarelli made the models from which Correggio painted many of his Soaring figures, and even instructed his friend in the art of modelling. Begarelli's figures have a far closer resemblance to those of the Ferrarese painter Garofalo than to those of Correggio. They have the same types as the former used, and his draperies are similariy arranged. Whilst Maz- zoni's terra-cotta figures are painted in variegated colours, Begarelli painted them entirely in white. Vasari relates that " Michelangelo, when passing through Modena, saw many beautiful figures which the Modenese sculptor, Maestro Antonio Begarino, had made of terra-cotta, coloured to look like marble, which appeared to him to be most excel- lent productions ; and, as that sculptor did not know how to work in marble, he said, ' If this earth were to become marble, woe to the antiques.' " Begarelli died in 1565. J. P. R.

BEGAS, Kabl, a German painter of historical subjects, genre, and portraits, was bom at Heinsberg, near Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1794. Whilst yet a boy he eirinced a talent for painting, in which he received some instruction from Phihppart, whilst pursuing the usual course of study at the University of Bonn. In 1812 he went to Paris, where he passed eight months in the atelier of Gros. The King of Prussia, when in Paris in 1814 and 1815, appre- ciated the talents of Begas, and made him an allowance, which enabled him to visit Italy to study the works of the great masters. In 1825 he went to Beriin, where he fixed his residence, and became a member and professor of the Academy of Arts. He died there in 1854. His principal paintings are :

Job and his Friends. 1816. Christ on the Mount of Olives. 1S18. In the Garrison Church at Berlin. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. 1820. In the Cathe- dral, Berlin. Tobias and the Angel. 1826 {engraved by Berger). The Resurrection. 1327 {engraved by Fischer). Tobias and the Angel. 1827. In the National Gallery Berlin. Lorelei. 1835 {engraved hy Mandel). The Sermon on the Mount. 1842. In the church o/ Landsberg. The Transfiguration. Christ carrying his Cross. Henry IV. at the Castle of Canossa.

I Young Girl under an Oak Tree.

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