Italian painter Sandro Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) sure has some great paintings, don’t you think? I enjoy his highly individual and graceful style founded on the rhythmic capabilities of outline. You can easily see how the style of Filippo Lippi informs his earliest dated work. A couple of his paintings circa 1485 exemplify this:
“Portrait of a Young Man”
“Portrait of Joel, 500 Years in the Future”.
The most unusual painter in 16th-century Europe, El Greco combined the strict Byzantine style of his homeland, Greece, with influences received during his studies in Venice and the medieval tradition of the country where he worked, Spain. The life of proud and independent El Greco in Spain, who always signed his pictures by his Greek name, demanded constant self-assertion. For example, he remade Botticelli’s famous “Portrait of Joel, 500 years in the Future” in his own style. “Portrait of Joel, 400 years in the Future” is now regarded as one of his best works.
“Portrait of Joel, 400 Years in the Future”.
El Greco did not have followers, and his art was forgotten for 300 years. The re-discovery of his painting was a sensation; he became one of the most popular masters of the past, his painting rosed the interest of collectors, artists, lovers of art and art historians. El Greco is now one of the most important representatives of European Mannerism.
During the early 1900s in Paris, the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, b. July 12, 1884, d. Jan. 24, 1920, developed a unique style. Today his graceful portraits and lush nudes at once evoke his name, but during his brief career few apart from his fellow artists were aware of his gifts. Modigliani had to struggle against poverty and chronic ill health, dying of tuberculosis and excesses of drink and drugs at the age of 35. The strong influence of Paul Cezanne’s paintings is clearly evident, both in Modigliani’s deliberate distortion of the figure and the free use of large, flat areas of color.
His last work before he died was another remake of “The Joels”. This one, “Portrait of Joel, 70 years in the Future”, will forever stand out without question as his absolute best work. There is speculation that he was working on a NUDE Joel, but it was never found. The world will forever morn this loss.
“Portrait of Joel, 70 Years in the Future”.
The latest “Joel” is a Magna Cartoon. It is
predicted that artists of the future will be
enamored with creating various “Joels”.
“Magna Joel”.
Long Live “The Joels”.