A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
Hamburg in 1804. He studied in his native town
under Gerdt Hardorf and Leo Lelimann, and in 1821
went for further instruction to Dresden, and thence
to Diisseldorf, where he entered the atelier of Cornelius : there he made the acquaintance of Kaulbach,
with whom he continued a friendship through life.
In 1825 he accompanied his master to Munich, and
was there employed by him on the frescoes of the
Glyptothek. In 1827 he returned to Hamburg;
he then, in 1832, went through Berlin to Italy, and
remained there three years. On his return to Ger-
many, with the exception of a second visit to Italy
in 1839, in company with his friend Kaulbach, he
resided at Munich and at Hamburg, where he died
in 1878.
ABher'8 WorkB, which con8ist of historical pictures, genre paintings, and portraits, are found for the most part in Hamburg — both in public buildings and private collections.
The following are some of the best examples of his art: Peasant Family. 1835. Resurrection of Christ. 1851. King Lear with the dead body of Cordelia. 1854. St. Cecilia. Maria I'Ortolana. Portrait of Mile. Jenny Lind.
ASHFIELD, Edmund, an English painter in crayons, who flourished towards the close of the 17th century, was a scholar of Michael Wright. His portraits were much admired. He was the instructor of Lutterel, whose merit in crayon painting surpassed that of his master. He died about 1700. There are a few portraits by him at Burleigh House.
ASHFORD, William, was bom at Birmingham about 1746. Early in life he went to Dublin and took a situation in the Ordnance Office, which he gave up in order to follow landscape painting. He was one of the original members, and the first president, of the Hibernian Academy, instituted in 1823. Late in life he retired to Sandymount, near Dublin, where he died in 1824. The Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge possesses some of his best landscapes.
ASNE, Michel l'. See L'Asne.
ASPARI, DoMENico, who was bom at Milan in 1745, studied under Valdrighi at Parma, and there executed some decorative paintings for the Ducal Palace. On his return to Milan, he almost entirely gave up painting in order to devote his attention to engraving, forming his style from that of Piranesi : in this branch of art he was very successful. His masterpiece of painting is the ' Madonna and Child enthroned, with Saints,' which he executed for the church of Osnago. His portrait, by himself, is in the Milan Gallery. He died in 1831.
Of his engravings we may mention the following : The Flight into Egypt ; after a picture laid to be by Correijijio.
The Last Supper ; after Leonardo da Vinei. M. Peregrina Amoretti ; after Soroni. Twenty-three Views of Milan.
ASPER, Hans, a Smss painter, born at Zurich in 1499. He painted portraits with great success, and was also esteemed for his drawings of game, birds, and flowers, which he imitated with much truth to nature. He painted also pictures of battles and kindred subjects. Notwithstanding that the merit of this artist was such as to be thought de- serving of a medal being struck to record it, he lived and died in poverty. He was town-painter; but, unfortunately, most of the works which be executed in that capacity on public buildings have been destroyed by being painted over, or by the pulling down of the houses. He died at Zurich in 1571. Numerous portraits, ascribed to Asper, are in the Town Library and other collections of Zurich. One of his best works is a portrait of Regula Gwalter, a daughter of Zwingfi, and her little daughter of seven years old, in the Town Library, which also possesses Zwingli's portrait, by the same painter. It is difficult,
however, to distinguish Asper's pictures from those of other artists of the same school.
ASPERTINI, Amico, the younger brother of Guido Aspertini, was born at Bologna about 1475. He studied under Ercole Roberti Grandi and Lorenzo Costa, but he appears to have acquired the greatest part of his art education by visiting various cities in Italy. From 1506 till 1510 he was engaged on his masterpiece, the paintings of the ' History of the Crucifixion,' which have been recently restored, in the chapel of Sant' Agostino in San Frediano, at Lucca. He also executed works of merit in many of the churches and houses of Bologna ; with Cotignola, Bagna- cavallo, and Innocenzo da Imola he decorated the chapel 'della Pace' in San Petronio, but the work has since been destroyed; with Francia and Costa he painted in Santa Cecilia the still existing frescoes of the history of that saint. The Pinacoteca at Bologna has a ' Madonna and Child with Saints,' by him, and the Berlin Gallery an 'Adoration of the Shepherds,' signed amicus bononiensis FACIEBAT. Aspertini died at Bologna in 1552. He was also a sculptor. According to Vasari, he was called ' Amico da due Pennelli,' from his being able to paint with both hands at the same time. Ho was of a most capricious and whimsical disposition, approaching sometimes to mental derangement.
ASPERTINI, GuiDO, was born at Bologna about the year 1460. He was the scholar of Ercole Grandi, and proved a very reputable painter of history. His principal work, which l:e finished in 1491, was the ' Crucifixion,' under the portico of the cathedral at Bologna. It has since perished. He died in the prime of life when 35 years of age. In the Pinacoteca at Bologna is an 'Adoration of the Kings,' by him.
ASPRUCK, Franz, a goldsmith, designer, and engraver, of a Brussels family, flourished in Augsburg from about 1598 to 1603. From the resemblance of his drawing to that of R. Spranger, it is probable he may have been his scholar. There are a few prints by him with the initials of his name, F. A.; thirteen plates— full-length figures — ' Christ and the Apostles,' after Agostino Carracci, and ' Cupid and Anteros,' a small plate, after Joseph Heintz.
ASSCHE, Henbi van, born at Brussels in 1774, showed from his earliest years a predilecHon for painting, and received from his father, who was a distinguished amateur artist, the first principles of design and perspective. He was afterwards placed with Deroy of Brussels, from whom he received further instructions in painting. Journeys in Switzerland and Italy contributed to develop his talent as a landscape painter. His great partiality for representing waterfalls, mountain streams, and mills gained for him the name of ' The Painter of Waterfalls.' Several pictures by
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