Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings - Volume I.djvu/177

 *soub, Inundation of the Nile (1857); Plain of Ghiseh, Dyke on the Nile (1857); Evening in the Desert of Tyh, The Nile, Pilgrims to Mecca (1861), Luxembourg Museum; View of a Harbour (1861), Strassburg Museum; Sackiés of Lower Egypt, Street in Cairo (1863); Fellahs drawing a Dahabieh (1864); Dead Sea (1866); Sirens (1867); Evening, Mahmoudieh Canal (1868); Religious Festival in Cairo, Dorad Fishing (1869); Fairies' Pond, The River Sauldre, Ruins of Baalbec (1874); A Pond, A Meadow, The Sauldre (1875); Montboulan Ford, Dahabieh Aground (1877).—Bellier; Larousse; Meyer, Künst. Lex., iii. 436.

BELMONTE Y VACOS, MARIANO, born at Cordova, Spain, died at Valencia in 1864. Landscape painter; was professor in the art-schools of Cadiz and Valencia. Medals, 1858, 1860, 1862. Works: Casa de Campo at Madrid (1859), Grotto of Palomas near Valencia (1865), Museo Nacional, Madrid.—Meyer, Künst. Lex., iii. 437.

BELOVED, THE, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, George Rae, Birkenhead, England; canvas. Illustration of Song of Solomon. Five life size, three-quarters length female figures and a negro girl, the last in front of the group, bearing roses in a golden vase. The marriage procession has halted, and the bride, clad in apple-green silk, has removed the veil from her face and throat, while her companions press closely around her, forming a mass of glowing colour.—Athenæum, Oct., 1875, 444; Jan., 1883, 93.

BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST, Washington Allston, Museum Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; canvas, H. 12 ft. 6 in. × 18 ft. 6 in. Daniel interpreting the handwriting on the wall to Belshazzar at his feast (Dan., v.). In foreground, the king, queen, Daniel, and four magicians; behind them a group of Jewish men and women, and beyond the banquet tables with many guests; in distance on an elevated platform a golden statue of a god, with worshippers. Begun in England and brought, in 1818, to Boston, where it was purchased by several citizens for $10,000, part of which was advanced. Allston hoped to finish it in six months, but, on account of criticisms of Gilbert Stuart, determined to make a radical change in the perspective. It remained in his studio until his death, when it was left unfinished, his last week's work having been spent on it.—Memorial Hist. Boston, iv. 395; Knickerbocker Mag., xxiv. 205; Tuckerman.

BELTRAFFIO (Boltraffio), GIOVANNI ANTONIO, born in Milan in 1467, died there, June 15, 1516. Lombard school. Taught in the old Milanese school of Foppa and Civerchio, he came under the influence of the new founded by Leonardo da Vinci. His colouring is, however, brighter, and his contrasts of light and shade more vigorous. His best works are: Madonna of the Casio Family (1500), Louvre; Madonna, Casa Poldi, Milan; Madonna, Bergamo Gallery; male portrait, Ambrosian Library, Milan, and two portraits at the Isola Bella. The portrait of the Maréchal de Chaumont, Charles d'Amboise, in the Louvre, by Beltraffio, or Andrea Solario, has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.—Vasari, ed. Mil., iv. 51; Burckhardt, 703; Müller, Essai, 122; Rio, iii. 205; Ch. Blanc, École milanaise; Lübke, Gesch. ital. Mal., ii. 446.

BELTRANO, AGOSTINO, born at Naples, died there in 1665. Neapolitan school; history painter; pupil of Massimo Stanzioni, married his fellow-scholar Aniella di Rosa, whom he stabbed in a fit of jealousy in 1649, fled to France and returned to Naples in 1659. Was a good fresco painter, and a colourist in oil of considerable merit. Works: Legend of St. Biagio, S. Maria della Sanità, Naples; Cupola, S. Maria della Donna Regina, ib.; Ceiling in a Chapel, S. Maria la Nuova, ib.; three panels in oil, ib.—Meyer, Künst. Lex., iii. 447.

BEMBO, BONIFAZIO or FAZIO, of Cremona, died about 1500. Lombard school. In 1455 was in the service of Duke Francesco Sforza, and in 1461-7 was among decorators of the palaces at Milan and Pavia. In 1467-8, painted in fresco portraits of