The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (485 page)

(1756–1843).
American painter. Trumbull fought in the American War of Independence (for a time he was aide-de-camp to George Washington ) and his career was devoted mainly to depicting the outstanding events and personalities of the Revolution. He was strongly influenced by Benjamin
West
, with whom he studied in London (he made several visits there, and during the first of them, 1780–3, was imprisoned in reprisal for the hanging of a British agent in America). In 1817 he became President of the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, but his tyrannical attitude, especially towards young painters, led to many members leaving to set up the
National Academy of Design
in 1825. His pictures did not sell well, so in 1831 he assigned those in his studio to Yale University Art Gallery in exchange for an annuity. The most famous of his works there, and one of the most reproduced images in American art, is
The Declaration of Independence
(1786–97), in which most of the portraits were painted from life. His larger works are usually fairly stodgy, but his smaller pictures and sketches can be much livelier. Trumbull, who died an embittered old man, published an autobiography in 1841.

 
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(1935– ).
British abstract sculptor. He was among the pupils of Anthony
Caro
who created a new British sculptural avant-garde in the latter half of the 1960s (see
NEW GENERATION
). His work is in various materials and often makes striking use of colour. In 1974 he published
The Language of Sculpture
and in 1975 he organized a major Arts Council exhibition at the Hayword Gallery, London, entitled ‘The Condition of Sculpture’.

 
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(1858–1929).
British painter. He studied at the
Slade
School, 1875–80, then in Italy and Paris, where he was strongly influenced by contemporary French
plein-air
painting. Tuke had known and loved Cornwall since childhood and after he returned to England in 1883 he settled there, living first at Newlyn (see
NEWLYN SCHOOL
) and then from 1885 in a cottage near Falmouth. His favourite subject—which he made his own—was nude boys in a sunlit atmosphere against a background of sea or shore. At first the freshness of these works—so different to the frigid studio nudes to which the public was accustomed—caused prudish objections (Tuke was a founder member of the
New English Art Club
in 1886 and the sight of one of his paintings caused the dealer Martin Colhaghi to withdraw his financial backing for the group's first exhibition). However, they soon became favourites with the public and are now regarded as being among the finest and most individual works of English
Impressionism
. Tuke also painted portraits throughout his life.

 
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(
c.
1430–95).
Italian painter, the first major artist of the School of Ferrara, where he was appointed court painter to the
Estes
in 1452. His sculptural figure style was derived in the first place from
Mantegna
, though its tortuous, metallic quality was a product of Tura's own feverish imagination. He also acquired a feeling for monumentality from
Piero della Francesca
, who was painting in Ferrara
c.
1449. Tura was mainly a religious painter, his work including two huge shutters (1469) for the organ of Ferrara Cathedral, now in the Museo del Duomo; they represent
The Annunciation
and
St George and the Princess
. Good examples of his work on a smaller scale are in the National Gallery, London. Tura was an important influence on the other two major painters of the 15th-cent. Ferrarese School—
Cossa
and
Roberti
. The latter replaced him as court painter in 1486 and Tura died poor.

 
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(1922– ).
British sculptor and painter. After serving as an RAF pilot in the Second World War he studied at the
Slade
School, 1946–8, then in 1948–50 lived in Paris, where he saw a good deal of his fellow Scot and Slade student
Paolozzi
and met such illustrious figures as
Brancusi
and
Giacometti
. As a sculptor Turnbull moved from
Surrealistic
and primitivist works to painted steel geometrical constructions in the manner of
Caro
. As a painter he was one of the first British artists to work in the manner of the American
Colour Field painters
.

 
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