Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/198

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A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF


the eame printer, induced Bewick to project the ' History of Quadrupeds.' This work, after several years of preparation and labour, was published in 1790. In the preparation he was encouraged and patronized by Marmaduke Tonstal of WyclifEe, whose museum of animals, both winged and quad- ruped, living and dead, was very extensive. In the intervals of collecting materials for this work, Bewick was employed in engraving on copper the plates of natural history for a small quarto volume, entitled 'A Tour through Sweden, Lap- land, &c., bv Matthew C'onsett, the companion of Sir G._ H. "Liddell ; ' 'The Whitley large Ox ' (bred in ifull). From the moment of the pub- lication of the ' History of Quadrupeds,' which passed through three editions in three years, Thomas Bewick's fame was established. He sub- sequently, in conjunction with his brother John, supplied the woodcuts for the elegant edition of ' Goldsmith's Traveller and Deserted Village,' and for ' Pamell's Hermit,' botli printed by Bulmer. Tliese appeared in 1795, and were allowed to excel everything of the kind that had before been pro- duced. In 1797 was published the first volume of 'British Birds,' for which Beilby furnished the written descriptions ; the second volume, on ' Brit- ish Water Birds,' devolved on Bewick alone, who was assisted in the literary corrections by the Rev. Henry Cotes, vicar of Bedlington. These were followed by numerous illustrations of publications of the day, in which he availed himself of the talents of the several pupils whom he had in- structed, and who have since so eminently dis- tinguished themselves in the same line of engrav- ing ; among these were Nesbitt, Harvey, Robert Johnson, Luke Clennell, Ransom, and Hole. Be^^ck was indefatigable, and the number of engravings he executed is almost inconceivable. One volume, edited by the Rev. T. Hugo, and published in 1870, contains impressions of upwards of 2000 wood- cuts. He was an early riser ; fond of indulging in rustic and athletic sports, which are so prevalent in the north ; was warm in his attachments, and had some humorous peculiarities. He died, as he had lived, a truly honest man, near the Windmill Hills, at Gateshead, in 1828. There are several memoirs of his life, the best of which is, perhaps, that which is included in the ' History of Wood Engraving,' by John Jackson, who devoted to Bewick fifty pages of his book, illustrated with thirty engravings.

BEWICK, William, born at Harworth, Durham, in 1795, came to London in early life, and became a pupil of Haydon, at whose request he made drawings of the Elgin Marbles for Goethe. In 1822 he sent a large picture of 'The meeting of Jacob and Rachel to the British Institution. A few years afterwards Sir Thomas Lawrence gave him a commission to copy Miclielangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and for three or four years he resided in Italy. He then settled in London for a few years as a portrait painter, until ill-health compelled him to retire into the country. In 1843 he was one of the competitors for the decorations of the Houses of Parliament, and sent up a cartoon of 'The Triumph of David.' He died in 1866. (See 'Life of William Bewick,' by Thomas Land- seer, 1871.)

BEXTERHAM. See Bertekham.

BEYER, Jan de. See De Beueb.

BEYEREN. See Beijeren.

BEYLBROECK, M., a Flemish engraver, who resided in England about the year 1713. He en- graved a plate representing the ' Death of Dido,' after Sebastien Bourdon, which is neatly executed, but stiff and formal, and without much effect.

BEYTLER, JIatthias, (Beitler or Beutler,) was born at Augsburg about 1550. About 1582 he was living at Anspach, where he distinguislitd himself as an engraver. The following works by this artist are now in existence :

A little Book of Animals. 1582. Twelve plates, mostly representing Animals. A little Book of Eoses. &c. 1582. Eleven plates with different figures. Christ on the Cross.

BEZ. See Bastier de Bez.

BEZZUOLI, Giuseppe, historical painter, was born at Florence in 1784. His principal works are found in his native town ; at St. Renii, ' The Baptism of Clovis ; ' in the Villani mansion, ' A Madonna ' in fresco ; in the Pitti Palace, ' The Entry of Charles VIII. into Florence.' His own portrait is in the Uffizi. In the Borghese Palace at Rome are two ceilings, representing ' The Toilet of Venus,' and ' Venus carrying ofE Ascanius, He died in 1855.

BIAGIO, Bernardino (di Betto) di, is commonly known as Pinturicchio (the 'little painter,' a name he acquired from the smallness of his stature, and which he, to some extent, adopted in order that he might be distinguislied from a Bernardino of Perugia, a painter of no great merit) ; he was also called Sordicchio, either because of deafness, or of his corpulency. His father's name was Benedetto Biagio, and hence he was sometimes called Bernardino di Betto. He was born at Pe- rugia in 1454. He was an assistant, and probably also the pupil, of Pietro Perugino, with whom, according to Vasari, he worked in the Sistine Chapel. Amongst his earliest paintings were soma frescoes in Santa Maria del Popolo, executed for Cardinal della Rovere. He was employed by Innocent VIII, to paint frescoes in the castle of Sant' Angelo, and the walls in the Belvedere (no'n known as the Museo Clementino), and by Alex- ander VI. to decorate the Appartaraento Borgia in the Vatican. He decorated six rooms, in one of which the frescoes were destroyed by Leo X. to make way for works by Giovanni da Ddine and Perino del Vaga. The other five, however, remain intact. Pinturicchio also painted frescoes representing the ' Life of St. Bernard of Siena ' in the Cappella Bufalini in Santa Maria Ara Coeli, and various frescoes in Santa Maria del Popolo. While "t Rome, in 1491, he was called to Orvieto to decor- ate the cathedral of that town, but of the works which he then executed only much-damaged frag- ments remain. In 1496 Pinturicchio went from Rome to Perugia and executed many good works. In 1500 — 1501 he painted frescoes, representing the ' Annunciation of the Virgin,' and ' Christ dis- puting with the Doctors,' in the cathedral at Spello. He next painted ten subjects from the ' Life of Enea Silvio Piccolomini ' (afterwards Pius II.) — his best and most famous work — in the hbrary of the cathedral of Siena. In these fres- coes he is supposed to have received assistance from Raphael in the general design and the out- line ; this work occupied him, with various inter- ruptions, from 1602 till 1507. The last known work by this master is the ' Clirist bearing the

Cross,' in the Casa Borromeo, at Milan, painted in

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