Leopold Schmutzler | La vendangeuse

Leopold Schmutzler (1864-1940) was born in Mies. His father was a saddler and innkeeper, who also gave him his first drawing lessons. Originally, he planned to attend the "Naval School of Music" in Pula, but was turned down for poor eyesight.

From 1880 to 1882, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna with Christian Griepenkerl (the person who later rejected Hitler's application to the Academy).

After that, he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and studied with Otto Seitz. He settled there after his graduation in 1885.

Bartholomeus van der Helst | The Musician, 1662

Tuning the strings of her theorbo-lute, a beautiful musician directs an engaging glance at the viewer.

The foreground of the picture displays a viola da gamba and sheet music for tenor and soprano voices, suggesting that the lute player anticipates a duet.

Dutch painters of the seventeenth century frequently associated music-making and courtship with amateur concerts, providing opportunities for mingling and flirtation. | Source: © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bartholomeus van der Helst | The Musician, 1662 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Andreas Achenbach | Fisher Couple on the Beach, 1910

Andreas Achenbach (1815-1910) was a German landscape and seascape painter in the Romantic style.

He is considered to be one of the founders of the Düsseldorf School.

His brother, Oswald, was also a well known landscape painter.

Together, based on their initials, they were known as the "Alpha and Omega" of landscape painters.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun | Genius of Alexander I, 1814

"Genius of Alexander I" a remarkable painting created by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) in 1814. The artwork can be found in the prestigious Collection of State Hermitage, located in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In this neoclassical masterpiece, Vigee Le Brun skillfully portrays the essence and power of Alexander I, who was the ruler of France at that time.

The artist's attention to detail is evident as she captures every intricate feature with precision on canvas using oil paints.

Andreas Achenbach | Fischmarkt in Ostende

Andreas Achenbach (1815-1910) was a German landscape painter, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting and born in Kassel.

He began his art education in 1827 in Düsseldorf under Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow at the Düsseldorf Academy of Painting.

He studied at St Petersburg and travelled in Italy, Holland and Scandinavia.

Boris Kustodiev | Pittore accademico

Boris Michajlovič Kustodiev / Борис Михайлович Кустодиев (Astrachan', 7 marzo 1878 - Leningrado, 28 maggio 1927) è stato un pittore e scenografo Russo.

Gioventù

Boris Kustodiev nacque ad Astrachan', nella famiglia di un professore di filosofia, storia della letteratura e logica presso il locale seminario teologico.

Suo padre morì giovane, ed il peso del mantenimento della famiglia ricadde sulle spalle della madre.

La famiglia Kustodiev affittò una piccola ala della casa di un ricco mercante.

Joshua Burbank, 1968 | Mixed media painter

Originally from California, Joshua Burbank graduated from San Francisco art school in the year 2000.

As an apprentice he worked under the noted sculptor Al Farrow, whose artwork adorns the cover of 2013 David Bowie single The Stars.

He has exhibited once with The Outsiders, at 2013's solo exhibition.

Sandro Botticelli | Madonna of the Pomegranate, 1487

The Madonna of the Pomegranate was painted in circa 1487 with tempera on a wood panel by Sandro Botticelli.

It is now in the Uffizi in Florence.

Sandro Botticelli was a leading Italian Renaissance artist from Florence, Italy.

The Madonna (art) uses the circular format, better known as a tondo, which focuses the attention on the main characters, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, who are surrounded symmetrically by angels on each side.

Sandro Botticelli | The Virgin and Child with a Pomegranate, 1480-1500

The Virgin Mary stands with her infant son, Christ, in the corner of a large but sparsely decorated room.

He is balanced on a small table, the only piece of furniture, but is dangerously close to its edge; a closed book further restricts the space available to him.

The Virgin uses both hands to support his left leg as he leans forward. His translucent robe hardly provides protection.

The grey colour of the walls evokes a sandstone known as pietra serena, a common building material in Renaissance Florence.

Sandro Botticelli | The Virgin and Child with a Pomegranate, 1480-1500 | National Gallery, London

Albrecht Dürer | The Madonna with the Iris, 1500-10

The Virgin Mary breastfeeds the infant Christ in a walled garden surrounded by flowers.

God the Father, a small figure radiating light, appears in the sky above.

The image of the Virgin and Christ Child in a garden was derived from the poetic imagery of the Song of Solomon, a book of the Old Testament.

In it, a woman is described as a lily and a rose as well as an enclosed garden (which, when associated with Mary, came to symbolise her virginity).

Eduardo Naranjo, 1944

Eduardo Naranjo, uno dei più grandi pittori Spagnoli, è nato a Monastero (Badajoz).

Incontra nel 1957 il suo maestro Eduardo Acosta e si iscrive alla Scuola di Arti e Mestieri, dove studia fino al 1960.

Nello stesso anno entrò alla Scuola di Belle Arti di Santa Elisabetta d'Ungheria.

Nel 1961 si trasferisce a studiare alla Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando di Madrid, ed è lì che la sua formazione termina con la pittura.

Ambrogio Alciati | The kiss, 1917

The Italian Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) was a well-known portrait painter at the beginning of the 20th century, who mainly found his clients among the wealthy Milanese bourgeoisie.

He owed his popularity to his talent to get through to the character of those portrayed.

This gift led in his free work - especially female figures and genre pieces - to the expression of deeply felt human emotions such as passion and emotion.

Odilon Redon - Still Life

George Henry Boughton | A spring idyll, 1901

George Henry Boughton RA (1833-1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer.

Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The family emigrated to the United States in 1835, and he grew up in Albany, New York where he started his career as a self-taught artist. At this early stage, he was influenced by the artists of the Hudson River School.

Emma Ekwall [1838-1925]

Emma Ekwall-Scheutz was the first Swedish woman - painter, received the Royal Medal. She was born on January 18, 1838. After graduating from the Academy of Painting, where she studied from 1865-1870, lived for a time in Munich and Leipzig. She painted mostly portraits of their children, floral still lifes and genre scenes. She died in 1925 in Stockholm.