French portraitGLOSSARYThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). and history painter and teacher of several well-known artists.
From 1846 to 1853 Bonnat lived in Madrid, Spain, where his father owned a bookshop. In Madrid he received his artistic training under Federico Madrazo (1815-1894]. He later worked in Paris, and studied under Léon Cogniet (1794-1880]. His earlier works are religious paintings in which his study of Spanish BaroqueGLOSSARYThe period in art history from about 1600 to about 1750. In this sense the term covers a wide range of styles and artists. In painting and sculpture there were three main forms of Baroque: (1) sumptuous display, a style associated with the Catholic Counter Reformation and the absolutist courts of Europe (Bernini, Rubens); (2) dramatic realism (Caravaggio); and (3) everyday realism, a development seen in particular in Holland (Rembrandt, Vermeer). In architecture, there was an emphasis on expressiveness and grandeur, achieved through scale, the dramatic use of light and shadow, and increasingly elaborate decoration. In a more limited sense the term Baroque often refers to the first of these categories. The development of the Baroque reflects the period's religious tensions (Catholic versus Protestant); a new and more expansive world view based on science and exploration; and the growth of absolutist monarchies. art is evident. In Paris, he became known as a leading portraitist, never without a commission. His many portraits show the influence of Velázquez, Ribera and other Spanish masters, as well as Titian and Van Dyck, whose works he studied in the Prado.
His later and better-known portrait series of prominent Europeans and Americans was begun in 1875. In these he drew inspiration from Diego Velázquez and the Spanish realists. His subjects included Adolphe Thiers, Victor Hugo, Hippolyte Taine, Louis Pasteur, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and other contemporaries. He painted about 200 portraits, most of them featuring photographically accurate draftsmanship and subdued colouring.
In 1888 Bonnat became professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts, and he became its director in 1905. He was an influential teacher - his students included Thomas Eakins, Gustave Caillebotte, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - and he ran a busy studio for more than three decades. His excellent and wide-ranging art collection is part of the Bonnat Museum in Bayonne.
