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-
