The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (210 page)

 
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(1774–1833).
One of the most successful French painters of his period. He won the
Prix de Rome
in 1797, and his later successes included becoming director of the French
Academy
in Rome in 1822 and being created a baron in 1829. His style was derived mainly from
David
, but his scenes from classical history and mythology are less severe and more stagey. As the teacher of
Géricault
and
Delacroix
amongst others, he was an important figure in the transition from
Neoclassicism
to
Romanticism
. He laid particular emphasis on the painted sketch and as a professor at the École des
Beaux-Arts
, he was instrumental in establishing a sketch competition as a preliminary to the Prix de Rome.

 
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(1861–1949).
American industrialist, collector, and philanthropist, a member of a famous family of financiers whose fortunes were based on the mining and smelting of metals. Like other members of his family, he devoted much of his vast wealth to philanthropy and in 1937 he founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation ‘for the promotion and encouragement of art and education in art’. In 1943 he commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a museum in New York City to house his collection, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was opened in 1959, a decade after the founder's death. It is renowned not only for the outstanding collection of late 19th-cent. and 20th-cent. art it contains, but also for the radical nature of the architecture, which marks a complete departure from traditional museum design; the exhibition space is a continuous spiral ramp, six ‘storeys’ high, encircling an open central space. It is architecturally exhilarating, but its suitability for displaying paintings and sculptures has been much questioned. Guggenheim's niece,
Peggy Guggenheim
(1898–1979), was a noted patron, collector, and dealer, who played an important role in promoting avant-garde art, in particular by helping to introduce
Surrealism
to the USA and by furthering the career of many leading
Abstract Expressionists
. She spent much of her life in Europe, but during its brief existence (1942–6) her Art of this Century gallery in New York was the main showcase for Abstract Expressionism in its formative period. In 1941 she married and divorced Max
Ernst
. Her own superb collection is open to the public in Venice under the administration of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

 
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(d. 1577).
North Italian sculptor, who worked first in Genoa and then (from 1537) in Rome, where he succeeded
Sebastiano del Piombo
at the Papal Mint (1547). Guglielmo had a prolific and varied career, his work including several papal busts and tombs in various Roman churches, the most important being that of Paul III in St Peter's (1549–75). He also produced numerous small devotional and pagan statuettes and was known as a restorer and copier of
antique
works (both activities typical of his age). The major influence on his style was
Michelangelo
and he had a penchant for reclining figures in the manner of the master's
Day
and
Night, Dawn
and
Evening
in the Medici Chapel, Florence.

 
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Guido da Siena
.

Sienese painter active during the 13th cent. Nothing is known of his life, and his only certain work is a
Madonna and Child
in Siena Town Hall. The picture bears the date 1221, but this has been the subject of much controversy as stylistically the painting seems to belong about half a century later. It has been suggested that the inscription may have some commemorative purpose, the significance of which is now lost, rather than being a record of the date of execution. Although the painting is majestic in effect and follows
Byzantine
conventions of
iconography
, the figures are more natural in posture, to some extent relaxing the stiff linear patterns which had been conventional in central Italian painting up to that time. The throne too is set in a deeper picture space, which adds to the realism of the figures. On the basis of this picture a number of other panels, most of which are in the Siena Pinacoteca, have been assigned to Guido or his school. Despite his great obscurity, he is regarded as sharing with
Coppo di Marcovaldo
the honour of founding the Sienese School.

 
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