istoryworld
Events relating to painting
The Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn develops a life-long interest in self-portraiture
Rembrandt moves from his home town of Leiden to set up a studio in Amsterdam
Van Dyck moves to London and becomes portrait painter to the British court and aristocracy
Rembrandt marries Saskia van Uylenburgh, who will feature in many of his paintings
A painted ceiling by Rubens, celebrating the Stuart dynasty, is installed in the Banqueting House in Whitehall
The Dutch artist Gerrit Dou paints with exquisite precision and becomes leader of a group known as the 'fine painters'
The profusion of paintings on sale in Holland astonishes an English visitor, John Evelyn
The Dutch artist Aelbert Cuyp paints landscapes that glow with the warmth of gentle sunlight
Jan Vermeer marries and begins a quiet career as a painter and art dealer in his home town of Delft
The painter Pieter de Hooch is a friendly guide through the welcoming spaces of the seventeenth-century Dutch courtyard and home
Diego Velazquez paints his only surviving female nude, The Toilet of Venus (known as the Rokeby Venus)
Velazquez, in Las Meninas, paints himself painting the king and queen of Spain
Canaletto begins to specialize in views of the Venetian canals, finding his main customers among the British
Jean-Antoine Watteau paints the most splendid shop sign in history, for his friend Gersaint
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo begins a series of frescoes to decorate the prince bishop's residence in Würzburg
French painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin returns to the subject matter that first took his interest, still life
French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard wins the cherished Prix de Rome at the age of 20
Francesco Guardi, previously a painter of figures, begins to specialize in view of Venice, his native city
Johann Joachim Winckelmann publishes a book on Greek painting and sculpture which introduces a new strand of neoclassicism
English painter Joseph Wright sets up a studio in his home town, Derby
Joshua Reynolds, by now the most fashionable portrait painter in London, copes with as many as 150 sitters in a year
Liverpool-born artist George Stubbs sets up in London as a painter, above all, of people and horses
Portrait-painter Thomas Gainsborough moves from Suffolk to set up a studio in fashionable Bath
German painter Johann Zoffany moves to England to find work as a painter of conversation pieces and portraits
American artist Benjamin West settles in London, where he becomes famous for his large-scale history scenes
