The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (77 page)

(
c.
1535–74).
Netherlandish painter of large still lifes—market and kitchen pieces—active in Antwerp. Bueckelaer was the nephew and pupil of Pieter
Aertsen
, and he followed his uncle's preference for scenes in which a religious subject is relegated to the background by the still life or
genre
content (
Christ in the House of Mary and Martha
, Musées Royaux, Brussels, 1565). He seems to have been the first painter to depict fish stalls.

 
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(active first half of 14th cent.). Italian painter, a tantalizingly enigmatic figure. Various early sources, not only
Ghiberti
and
Vasari
, but also the writers Boccaccio and Sacchetti , attest to his celebrity as an artist—evidently one of the leading painters of the post-
Giotto
generation—and as a burlesque character. Their cumulative testimony is impressive, but as no works can be securely attributed to him, many critics have regarded him as a legendary rather than a historical figure. Recently, however, there have been attempts to give Buffalmacco a stature commensurate with his literary reputation by attributing to him the famous frescos of
The Triumph of Death
in the Campo Santo, Pisa, which are usually considered the work of Francesco
Traini
. A rival school of thought has it that Buffalmacco may be identified with another obscure personality, the
Master of St Cecilia
.

 
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(1928– ).
French painter, etcher, lithographer, designer, and occasional sculptor. A precocious artist, he had developed a distinctive style and won considerable critical acclaim by the age of 20. His work, which includes religious scenes, landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, is instantly recognizable, characterized by elongated, spiky forms with dark outlines, sombre colours, and an overall mood of loneliness and despair. It seemed to express the existential alienation and spiritual solitude of the post-war generation, and Buffet enjoyed enormous success in the 1950s. Later, as he found himself overwhelmed by commissions, his work became more stylized and decorative, losing much of its original impact.

 
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(
c.
1374–1465).
Venetian sculptor and architect. With his father
Giovanni
(active 1382-d.
c.
1443), he ran the most successful Venetian sculpture workshop of the period. Major works of the shop include the decoration of the Càd'Oro (1422–34) and the Porta della Carta (1438–42) of the Doges' Palace. They epitomize the survival of the
Gothic
style in Venice into the mid-
quattrocento
.

 
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(1893–1967).
American painter, mainly in watercolour. In 1921 he settled permanently in Buffalo, where he worked as head designer in a wallpaper factory until he was able to devote himself full-time to art in 1929. Burchfield's work divides into three clear phases. Up to about 1918 he painted scenes of nature that have an obsessive, macabre quality, often based on childhood memories and fantasies. In his second phase—during the 1920s and 1930s—he was one of the leading
American Scene painters
, portraying the bleakness of small-town life and the grandeur and power of nature. In the early 1940s he became disenchanted with realism, however, and changed his style again, reviving the subjective spirit of his youthful work but in a more monumental vein, as he turned to a highly personal interpretation of the beauty and mystery of nature (
The Sphinx and the Milky Way
, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1946). In the 1950s Burchfield taught at several institutions including the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and the University of Buffalo. The Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, Buffalo, possesses his papers and a good collection of his paintings.

 
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