Müggel Lake, Villa Este, View near Narni, Bathing Nymphs, Villa Borghese, Swiss Winter Landscape, View of Naples, Bay of Spezzia; View at Tivoli, National Gallery, Berlin.—Allgem. d. Biogr., ii. 700; Rosenberg, Berl. Malersch., 329.
BLEIBTREU, GEORG, born at Xanten,
March 27, 1828. Battle painter; pupil of
Düsseldorf Academy in 1843-48, and again,
shortly after, under Theodore Hildebrandt;
first won success with scenes from the
Danish war. Later painted battles from the
wars of Frederick the Great and the German
war of deliverance. In 1858 he moved to
Berlin, accompanied in 1866 the Prussian
army in the suite of Prince Frederick
Charles, and in 1870 in that of the Crown
Prince. Member of Berlin Academy in
1869. Works: Battle of Kolding, Destruction
of the Kiel Turner-Corps at Flensburg
(1852); Battles of Grossbeeren, on the Katz-*bach
(1857); Battle of Aspern, Storming the
Grimma Gate in Leipsic, Duke Ferdinand of
Brunswick in Battle of Crefeld (1858); Episode
from Battle of Waterloo (1858); Skirmishes
on Königshügel at Oeversee; Crossing
to Alsen, Battle of Königgrätz, National
Gallery, Berlin; The Bavarians before Paris,
Surrender of Napoleon after Sedan, Meeting
of Moltke and Wimpffen, King William
near a Battery before Paris, King William
after Battle of Gravelotte, Napoleon's Flight
after Battle of Waterloo (1878); Attack
of Saxon Corps at St. Privat (1880); Storming
of Fröschweiler by the Würtemberg
Troops (1880); The Summons in 1813
(1881), Arsenal, Berlin.—Brockhaus, iii.
156; Müller, 56; Rosenberg, Berl. Malersch.,
157.
BLEKER, DIRCK, born at Haarlem,
flourished about 1650. Dutch school; history
and portrait painter, strongly suggesting
the school of Rembrandt; became a citizen
of Amsterdam in 1652, and, to judge from
the prices paid for his pictures, was among
the most esteemed artists of his time.
Works: Mary Magdalen (1652); Venus;
Danaë; Male portrait (1657), Brunswick
Gallery.—Kramm, vii. 14; Riegel, Beiträge,
ii. 282; Willigen, 82.
BLEKER, GERRIT CLAESZ, flourished
at Haarlem, died there, buried Feb. 8,
1656. Dutch school; history and landscape
painter; formed probably under the influence
of Cornelis van Haarlem and of Lastmann,
later under that of Rembrandt. Works:
Conversion of Saul, Rotterdam Museum;
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra (1634), Brunswick
Gallery; Tobias and the Angel, Pesth
Museum.—Bode, Studien, 348; Riegel, Beiträge,
ii. 223; Willigen, 81.
BLES, DAVID, born at The Hague,
Sept. 19, 1821. Genre painter; pupil of
Kruseman; studied in 1841-43 in Paris,
and visited afterwards Belgium and England.
Paints chiefly humourous subjects.
Order of Iron Crown (1850), Leopold (1855),
L. of Honour (1870). Works: Young
Household, Imagined Sickness of the Pastor
(1848); Three Mothers, Flower Girl
(1855); Diana in Painting, Diana in Life,
Amateur Concert (1860); German Dining
Room in 1795 (1862); Forbidden Novel
(1863); Children's Duet, Precocious Lover,
Siesta, Clandestine Correspondence (1864);
Empty Place at Hearth (1868); Friends of the
Family (1877); Dutch Booth in 1765 (1879).—Larousse;
Müller, 57.
BLES, HERRI DE (Hendrik met de
Blesse, Henricus Blesius), called also Civetta,
born at Bouvignes, near Namur,
about 1480, died probably at Liège, about
1550 (? after 1521). Flemish school; landscape
and history painter, in the manner of
Joachim Patenier, representing one of the
last branches of the Van Eyck school, and in
other respects the transition to the Italianized
Flemish style of the following period.
Lived also in Italy, painted at Venice and
Brescia, and was of Mechlin in 1521 (?).
His pictures (marked by the owl, whence
the nickname Civetta), show an earlier and
a later period; the former characterized by
great carefulness, the latter by exaggeration
of naturalistic tendency. The colouring is
usually grey, in his late examples cold and
