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[l’Argenta]

(b Argenta, nr Ferrara, 1546; d Ferrara, Dec 9, 1636).

Italian architect, engineer and designer. He was the son of Vincenzo Aleotti (not Francesco Aleotti, as is sometimes erroneously stated), from whom Giovanni Battista claimed he ‘learnt the art … as much as from all the other teachers I had’ (letter, 1583; see Coffin, p. 121). In 1575 he succeeded Galasso Alghisi as architect to Alfonso II d’Este (ii), Duke of Ferrara and Modena, who nicknamed him l’Argenta after the town of his birth. When, on the death of the Duke, the Este duchy devolved to the Papal States (1598), Aleotti was confirmed as official architect, with a stipend of 20 scudi per month. His activity extended to various parts of the Po plain, embracing different architectural genres and including some important urban projects.

Among Aleotti’s religious buildings were several churches in Ferrara, including S Barbara (1586–8), S Maria della Rotonda at Castel Tedaldo (1597...

(b Sangerhausen, July 30, 1641; d Dresden, May 29, 1706).

German painter, draughtsman, graphic artist and writer on art. He was a son and pupil of Andreas Bottschild II (c. 1590–1657), a painter and engraver, who decorated churches in Sangerhausen. Samuel had further training with his brother Johann Andreas Bottschild (b 1630; d after 1670), with whom he went to Saxony. In 1658–61 they worked jointly on gallery paintings of 19 scenes from the Passion (heavily restored 1852) in the Dorfkirche at Hohnstädt, near Leipzig. The decorations for the banqueting hall of Schloss Rötha, near Leipzig (c. 1668–70; destr.), were Bottschild’s first complete programme of mythological themes. At Rötha he also completed two group portraits of the female and male lines of the Friesen family (Dresden, Inst. Dkmlpf.)

In 1673 Bottschild painted a Presentation in the Temple for Freiberg Cathedral. It was probably after this that he left for Italy with his cousin and pupil ...

(Johann)

(b ?April 9, 1691; d Mannheim, Jan 11, 1752).

German sculptor, stuccoist, draughtsman and illustrator. He was the most important sculptor active in Franconia and the Palatinate in the first half of the 18th century; nevertheless, although his very individual late Baroque sculpture, mostly carved in wood, was highly regarded by his contemporaries, he was quickly forgotten after his death. His rich oeuvre was severely depleted, particularly as a result of World War II. It was only after that date that his importance was reassessed. Egell probably served an apprenticeship with the Würzburg sculptor Balthasar Esterbauer (1672–1722) and collaborated on the interior decoration of the Banz monastery. His first documented work is an expressive Crucifix made in 1716 for St Michael’s Monastery in Bamberg (now in St Otto, Bamberg). His stylistic development was affected by his work between 1716–17 and 1719 as one of the team directed by Balthasar Permoser, which made all the sculptural decorations at the Zwinger in Dresden for ...

(b Frankfurt am Main, May 12, 1606; d Nuremberg, Oct 14, 1688).

German painter and writer. A leading figure in 17th-century German painting, he is chiefly famed for his biographical writings in the Teutsche Academie. His great-nephew, an engraver who died young in London, also bore the name Joachim von Sandrart (1668–91).

Sandrart came from a family of Calvinist refugees from Wallonia. After initial lessons in drawing with Georg Keller and Sebastian Stoskopff (1597–1657), he began an apprenticeship in engraving in 1620 with Peter Isselburg in Nuremberg. In 1622 he went to Prague for more advanced tuition with Aegidius Sadeler II, who advised him to turn to painting. He accordingly apprenticed himself to Gerrit van Honthorst in Utrecht. Here, in 1627, he met Peter Paul Rubens, whom he accompanied on a journey through Holland. In 1628 he went with Honthorst to the English court. In 1629 Sandrart travelled via Venice and Florence to Rome. Here he initially became friendly with Domenichino; his acquaintance included both northerners—Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, François Du Quesnoy, Pieter van Laer—and Italians—Pietro da Cortona, Andrea Sacchi and Pietro Testa. From ...

(b Tours, May 19, 1593; d Paris, May 10, 1670).

French painter, printmaker and illustrator . Born into a prosperous family in Tours, he received his early training in Paris, probably in Jacob Bunel’s studio. In 1609–10 he travelled to Rome; although his presence there is recorded only in 1618–20, he was probably based there throughout that decade, becoming a member of the community of young French artists that included Simon Vouet and Valentin de Boullogne. They were all predominantly influenced by the art of Caravaggio and of his most direct follower Bartolomeo Manfredi. Vignon’s severe half-length figures (St Paul, Turin, Gal. Sabauda; Four Church Fathers, on loan to Cambridge, Fitzwilliam), executed possibly even earlier than 1615, are in a Caravaggesque style, as are his paintings of singers, musicians and drinkers (e.g. the Young Singer, Paris, Louvre), although the latter group owes more to the style of contemporary genre painting. However, Vignon was already showing an interest in new artistic experiments, the origins of which were northern, Venetian and Mannerist. His sensitivity to the splendid colouring of Venice and to the art of Jacques Bellange, Georges Lallemand and Jacques Callot is manifest in his ...