Page:Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers, volume 1.djvu/215

 at the Royal Academy, evinced his power of colour and of portraying the effects of the sunny south. Amongst his contributions to the latter institution were :

Arch of Titus. 1S59. Capri. 1870. Marina di Laccho, Ischia. 1873. Coral Boat at Dawn, Bay of Naples. 1875. Hidden Fires, Vesuvius from Capodimoute. 1876.

BIONDI, Francesco, who was born at Milan in 1735, painted sacred subjects. He died in 1805. In the gallery of his native town there is a ' Madonna and Child,' by him.

BIORD, Peter. The name of this artist is affixed to an etching representing ' Cupid and Psyche.' It is executed in a bold, spirited style, and is apparently the production of a painter.

BIRCH, Henry, an English engraver, practised in the latter part of the 18th century. He engraved after Stubbs and other contemporary painters.

BIRCH, John, portrait and landscape painter, was bom at Norton, Derbyshire, in 1807. As a boy he gave indication of a love for art, sketching the beautiful scenery of the neighbourhood. For some time he assisted his father in his business as a file-cutter, but afterwards went to a carver and gilder, with whom he remained seven years. He Sien determined to take up portrait painting as a profession, and went to London, where he studied nnder H. P. Briggs. Here he received several commissions to paint copies of the portraits by his master, in which he was so successful, that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish the copy from the jriginal. Amongst the original portraits which he £ainted were several of Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn aw Rhymer ; one, a half-length, representing him amongst the rocks of Rivilin, was painted on the spot, when the poet and painter were on a ramble together. His landscapes consist of views of the magnificent scenery of Derbyshire : ' Dove- dale,' ' Millin's Dale,' ' Matlock High Tor,' ' En- trance to the Peak Cavern,' were favourite subjects of his pencil. Birch was a man of enlarged and liberal views, and of great conversational powers. For some years, towards the latter part of his life, he resided in London, making occasional visits to his native town, during the last of which it is said that he painted about forty portraits in nine months. He died at South Hackney in 1857.

BIRCH, William, a miniature painter and en- graver, was born at Warwick about 1760. He exhibited enamel portraits at the Royal Academy from 1781 to 1794, when he went to Philadelphia, where he died. As an engraver he is best known by his ' D^lices de la Grande Bretagne,' consist- ing of thirty-six plates of ancient buildings in Norwich and elsewhere, pubhshed in 1791.

BIRCK, Paul. Strutt mentions this artist as the engraver of four plates, exclusive of a title, representing the ' Four Elements,' in circles, sur- rounded with ornaments, which appear to be pat- terns for goldsmiths. They are executed with the graver in a style resembling that of J. T. de Bry. On the title is the following inscription : Quatuor Mundi Elementa, elegantibus figuris seu imagin- ibus artificiosa expressa. Paulus Birch, f.

BIRCKAERT, Anton, (or Birckart,) a German engraver, who was bom at Augsburg in 1677, and resided some time at Prague, where he died in 1748. He engraved some large architectural plates with figures, which are executed with the graver in a stiff, formal style. Basan mentions a print by him representing the ' Martyrdom of Forty Portuguese Jesuits ; ' after Borgognone. Dlabacz has given a numerous catalogue of his works.

BIRCKENHOLZ, Paulds, was a native of Germany, and flourished about tlie j'ear 1670. He was a print-seller as well as an engraver, and pub- lished a set of small pl.ates, representing warlike trophies, with figures, &c. They are executed chiefly with the graver, in a neat, but formal style. The title to these plates is Omnis generis instru- menta bellica.

BIRD, Edward, an English painter, bom at Wolverhampton in 1762 (or 1772), served an appren- ticeship to a maker of tea-trays, and was employed to embellish them with fruit, flowers, and fanciful designs. At the expiration of his term of service he left Birmingham, and set up a school for drawing at Bristol. During the intervals of instruction he made sketches, designs, and compositions for pictures ; and it would appear that his progress was due to his own observation and persevering industry. He painted humorous and pathetic sub- jects, which attracted much attention, and induced the members of the Royal Academy to enrol his name as an Associate in 1812, and as an Acade- mician in 1815. His best pictures, as historical compositions, are 'The Battle of Chevy Chase,' and the ' Surrender of Calais.' His chief merit, as an artist, lay in natural and touching representations of homely and social subjects ; history, both sacred and profane, required a spirit more imaginative than he possessed. He was a kind-hearted man, much respected by bis brother artists ami all who knew him. He died at Bristol in 1819, and was buried in the cloisters of the cathedral. Among his best paintings are :

Good News {exhibited at the Academy in 1809). Choristers Rehearsing (»urc/(ased by the Prince Regent), A Country Auction (exhibited in 1812). A Poacher's Career, m sis subjects. 1812. Queen Philippa interceding for the Burghers of Calais. 1814. The Day after Chevy Chase (purchased by the Duke of Sutherland for 300 guineas). Death of Eh. (This picture received a prize of 300 guineas from the British Institution, and was bought for 500 guineas by the Duke of Sutherland.) Tlie Kaffle for the Watch (in the National Gallery). Christ led to be Crucified (exhibited in 1817). The Death of Sapphira (his last work). 1818.

BIRD, John, a landscape painter, was born in 1768. He made some of the drawings for Angus's 'Principal Seats of the Nobility' (1787), and other topographical works. He died at Whitby in 1829.

BISCAINO, Bartolommeo, the son of Giovanni Andrea Biscaino, was bom at Genoa in 1632. He was instructed by his father in the first rudiments of the art, and afterwards became a scholar of Valeric Castelli. From the early indications he gave of uncommon genius, great expectations were formed of his future eminence, and they were not disappointed. Before he had reached his twenty- fifth year he had painted many considerable works, but his career was cut short by the plague, which visited Genoa in 1657, to which his father and himself fell victims. The Dresden Gallery pos- sesses three pictures by this artist, representing ' The Woman taken in Adultery,' ' The Adoration of the Magi,' and ' The Circumcision of Christ. He etched several plates, in a free, bold style, resembling in some degree the works of Benedetto Castiglione, but in a more finished manner. Hia