Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings - Volume I.djvu/198

 Florentine school; son of Lorenzo; painted many works between 1420 and 1450, some of which are extant, as for example the SS. Cosmo and Damian, Uffizi, rather sombre in colour, but careful in drawing; and some saints under the windows of a chapel in the Duomo, Florence, much repainted. Bicci is the author of a group in terra cotta, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, over the door of the hospital of S. Egidio, Florence, which Vasari wrongly attributes to Dello Delli.—Milanesi, Archivio Storico Italiano, 183; Vasari, ed. Le Mon., ii. 232; ed. Mil., ii. 49, 63; C. & C., Italy, ii. 30.

BICCI, NERI DI BICCI DI LORENZO DI, born in 1419, died in 1491. Florentine school; son of Bicci di Lorenzo, and grandson of Lorenzo. He reduced his art to the level of a trade, and filled half Tuscany with altarpieces and pictures. His masterpiece, San Giovanni Gualberto enthroned between ten seated Saints, in the Regio Lotto of old S. Pancrazio, Florence, is ill drawn, flat, and inharmonious in colour, but not without character. There are four Annunciations by this painter in the Florence Academy. Many of his scholars were so dissatisfied with the traffic carried on by Neri in his studio, that they left him before their apprenticeship was ended, to find other masters of higher tone.—Vasari, ed. Le Mon., ii. 232; ed. Mil., ii. 49, 69, 261; C. & C., Italy, ii. 32.

BICKER. See Miel.

BIEFVE, ÉDOUARD DE, born in Brussels, Dec. 4, 1809, died there, Feb. 7, 1882. History painter; pupil of Brussels Academy, then in 1828-30 of Paelinck; went in 1831 to Paris, where he remained ten years, sending his works to the exhibitions in Antwerp, Ghent, and Brussels. His masterpiece, Compromise of the Nobles at Brussels in 1566 (Brussels Museum and National Gallery, Berlin), exhibited in Ghent in 1841, and which won him the gold medal, was exhibited throughout Germany. Member of the Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Vienna Academies, and a knight of the Belgian Order of Leopold, the Bavarian of St. Michael, and the Prussian of the Red Eagle. Works: Ugolino and his Sons, Masaniello (1830), Execution of Anne Boleyn, Rubens presented to Charles V., Flagellation of Christ, Raphael and the Fornarina, Eucharis and Telemachus, Paix des Dames in 1529, Charles I. decorating Rubens, Alva witnessing the Decapitation of Egmont and Horn (1852), Raczynski Gallery, Berlin; Countess Egmont after her Husband's Seizure, and in the Prison after his Execution (1860); Council of War of the Duke of Parma (1862); Banquet of the Gueux, The Teutonic Order electing the Great Elector of Brandenburg their Grand Master.—Jordan, 51; Müller, 51.

BIENNOURRY, VICTOR FRANÇOIS ELOI, born at Bar-sur-Aube, Jan. 10, 1823. History painter; pupil of Martin Drolling and of the École des Beaux Arts, where he won the grand prix de Rome in 1842. Medal, 1864. Works: Rich Man and Lazarus (1849); Death of St. Joseph (1855), St. Roch's, Paris; Man chasing Fortune, Man awaiting Fortune on his Couch (1857); Baptism of Christ (1859); The Arts (1863); Christ on Mount of Olives (1864); Parthenope (1865); Socrates exercising Patience (1868); Æsop composing a Fable (1869). In fresco: The Works of Mercy, The Cardinal Virtues, St. Eustache, Paris; Scenes in Lives of SS. Paul and Peter, St. Severin's, ib.; Institution des Quinze-Vingts (1880), St. Louis Lyceum, ib.—Larousse, ii. 720.

BIERMANN, GOTTLIEB, born in Berlin, Oct. 13, 1824. History and portrait painter; pupil of the Berlin Academy and of Wilhelm Wach; went in 1849 to Paris, where he studied under Cogniet, and thence to Italy. Studio in Berlin since 1853; painted at first historical subjects, but now paints chiefly portraits, excelling in children's groups and female figures. Member of and professor in the Berlin Academy. Works: Death of Gustavus Adolphus, Episode from Battle of Kunners