Denis Calvaert (1540– 16 April 1619) was a Flemish painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 born at Antwerp, but lived most of his life in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, where he was known as Il Fiammingo (the Fleming). Calvaert was a profound student of architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

, and history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, exceedingly accurate in perspective and graceful in design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

. His colouring is full and rich, his execution suave and accurate and, although there is something of an awkward stillness in the movements of his figures and an academic mannerism

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 in his grouping, yet in composition he was far ahead of his rivals and in colouring undoubtedly their superior. His principal works are to be seen at Bologna, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, St. Petersburg, Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, and Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

, and many of his pictures have been engraved. His life was one of great devotion to his art and his faith, and he was greatly respected in Bologna.

After studying landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

-painting for some time in his native city (the Antwerp "Record of Artists" or "Liggeren" (1556–57), gives his name as Caluwaert), he first studied under Christiaen van Queecborn.

He then went to Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, where worked under Prospero Fontana

Prospero Fontana

Prospero Fontana was an Italian painter of the late Renaissance.-Biography:Fontana was born in Bologna, and became a pupil of Innocenzo da Imola. He afterwards worked for Perin del Vaga in the Palazzo Doria in Genoa. Towards 1550, it is reported that Michelangelo introduced him to Pope Julius III...

. His paintings acquired the mannerism

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 of Flemish art and appeared to be the work of an Italian. From Bologna he went to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in 1572, where he assisted Lorenzo Sabbatini

Lorenzo Sabbatini

Lorenzo Sabbatini was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.-Biography:Sabbatini was born in Bologna.Nicknamed Lorenzino da Bologna, studied with Prospero Fontana, who was his teacher and collaborator...

 in his works for the papal palace of the Vatican

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

.

He returned to Bologna and founded a studio. He had a number of prominent young apprentices, including Guido Reni

Guido Reni

Guido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...

, Giovanni Battista Bertusio

Giovanni Battista Bertusio

Giovanni Battista Bertusio was a painter of the early-Baroque period, active in Bologna. He trained initially under Denys Calvaert, then under Ludovico and Agostino Carracci. He married the painter Antonia Pinelli. He died after 1650.-References:...

, Francesco Albani

Francesco Albani

Francesco Albani or Albano was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early years in Bologna:Born 1578 in Bologna, his father was a silk merchant who intended to instruct his son in the same trade; but by age twelve, Albani became an apprentice under the competent mannerist painter Denis Calvaert, where he...

 and Domenichino. But these were soon lured by Annibale Carracci

Annibale Carracci

Annibale Carracci was an Italian Baroque painter.-Early career:Annibale Carracci was born in Bologna, and in all likelihood first apprenticed within his family...

 to work in prominent commissions in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. Vicenzio Gotti and Giacomo Semenza also worked in his studio, but then went to work with Guido Reni. Vincenzo Spisanelli

Vincenzo Spisanelli

Vincenzo Spisanelli was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Bologna.Spisanelli was born at Orta San Giulio, Piedmont. He was a pupil of Denis Calvaert in Bologna, but was also active in Ferrara, Imola, Modena, and in Lombardy.He survived the plague of 1630, but not his wife,...

 and Gabriello Ferrantini

Gabriello Ferrantini

Gabriello Ferrantini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Bologna in the late 16th and early 17th century. He was a pupil of the painter Denis Calvaert and Francesco Gessi. Among his pupils were Matteo Borboni and Michelangelo Colonna....

 also worked in his studio

Calvaert was respected by his colleagues, Ludovico Carracci

Ludovico Carracci

Ludovico Carracci was an Italian, early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker born in Bologna....

, the leader of the rival studio, attended his funeral in the Servite church and brought with him all his pupils. His works are especially admired for the power of grouping and coloring which they display.

His masterpiece is "St Michael" in St. Peter's, Bologna and most of his works are in the national museum of Bologna.

External links

• Denys Calvaert On-Line. ArtCyclopedia.