Frank Holl R.A. | Portrait painter

From: British Museum

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Draughtsman, illustrator, painter and royal portraitist; born in Kentish Town, London, to a family of engravers; received his first instruction from his father, Francis Holl, ARA; educated at University College School and entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of 15 in 1860, receiving a silver medal in 1862 and gold in 1863; exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1864 until his death; becoming an Associate in 1878 and an Academician in 1883; his major works included portraits of Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and prominent politicians.

Thérèse Schwartze (1851-1918)

Thérèse Schwartze (Amsterdam, 20 dicembre 1851 - Amsterdam, 23 dicembre 1918) è stata una pittrice Olandese, molto celebrata nel suo tempo, che unì grandi competenze tecniche di ritrattista con un eccellente senso degli affari.

Nata ad Amsterdam nel 1851, Thérèse era la figlia del pittore di origine americana Johan Georg Schwartze, da cui ricevette la sua prima formazione.

In seguito andò a studiare per un anno presso il Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten e poi si recò a Monaco di Baviera dove proseguì i suoi studi insieme a Gabriel von Max e Franz von Lenbach.

Arunas Rutkus (Lithuanian painter, 1961)

Arunas Rutkus is one of those rare artists who, sensing the rhythm of globalization, joined the global art stage with great confidence.

The artist has exposed his works in more than 50 personal and group exhibitions across the globe, and his artworks can be found in museums, galleries and in private collections in the USA, Qatar, Monaco, France, United Arab Emirates, China, Russia, United Kingdom, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Hungary, Spain, Israel, New Zealand, Lithuania.

Arunas Rutkus is famous for his unique painting style, characteristic for so called Eastern school – figurative poetic symbolism, and impeccable implementation technique.

Mats Åkerman, 1956 | Modern painter

Mats Åkerman, born in Stockholm, is a Swedish painter, draftsman and graphic artist.

He has created his own fantasy world which he calls "The Swagi Union".

The main character in this world is called Rocco Rivarossi and the story takes place mostly in the 1950s.

The pictures often depict restaurants, boats, trains and urban environments.

Walter MacEwen | Genre painter

Walter MacEwen (13 February 1860, Chicago - 20 March 1943, New York City) was an American painter.

From 1884 to 1914, he often lived and worked in the Netherlands.

He is considered to have been a member of the Egmondse School, named after the mostly American artists' colony near Egmond aan Zee.

He was the son of a merchant and entrepreneur of Scottish origin.

Louis Justin Maurice Perrey | Genre / Portrait painter

Louis Justin Maurice Perrey (1856-1904) was an French painter of portaits and genre scenes working in late 19th Century. Louis Perrey exhibited at the Paris Salon.

Janis Rozentāls | Art Nouveau painter

Janis Rozentāls (1866-1916) was a famous Latvian painter.

Rozentāls was born in Bebri Farmstead, Saldus parish, Courland Governorate in the Russian Empire.

He was the son of a blacksmith. He received the basic education at H.Krause's Elementary School in Saldus and Kuldīga District School.

At the age of fifteen he left for Riga aiming to achieve his dream of becoming an artist, later attending Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Johann Baptist Reiter | Genre painter

Johann Baptist Reiter (28 May 1813, Linz - 10 January 1890, Vienna) was an Austrian portrait and genre painter of the Biedermeier period.

His father was a master carpenter. He spent three years as an apprentice at his father's company, painting furniture, signs and crosses.

Encouraged by the lithographer and art dealer, Josef Hafner, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

His teachers there included Leopold Kupelwieser and Thomas Ender.

Martin Drolling | Genre painter

Martin Drolling (Oberhergheim, September 19, 1752 - Paris, April 16, 1817, aka Drolling the Elder) was a French painter.

He was father to Michel Martin Drolling, and to Louise-Adéone Drölling, one of the few successful female painters of the time.

Martin Drolling, a native of Oberhergheim, near Colmar, was born in 1752.

He received his first lessons in art from an obscure painter of Schlestadt, but afterwards went to Paris and entered the École des Beaux-Arts.

Cecilia Beaux | Impressionist painter

Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) è stata una pittrice Statunitense.

Ritrattista, fu un'esponente autorevole dell'impressionismo Americano.

Iniziò la sua attività artistica dipingendo su porcellana e producendo litografie e disegni.

Fu allieva di Catharine Ann Drinker nel 1871, e dell'olandese Francis Adolf van der Wielen dal 1872-1873; si iscrisse alla Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts di Filadelfia dal 1877-1878 per studiare ancora con Camille Piton nel 1879 e con William Sartain dal 1881-1883.

Léon Lhermitte | Les Halles, 1895

From: Petit Palais - City of Paris Fine Art Museum

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Léon Lhermitte was chosen in 1889 to create a monumental painting for Paris City Hall.

The painter’s choice of a contemporary subject, the delivery of goods to Les Halles, broke with the tradition of an allegorical theme.

Originally from Picardy, Lhermitte was a master of Realism, an artistic movement which developed in France at the end of the 19th century, following on from Courbet and influenced by the novels by Zola.

The painter’s aim was to testify to life at the time, and he drew scenes of everyday life on the spot, which he then used to paint large compositions.

In 1882 he painted Paying the harvesters (Musée d’Orsay), which was his first major success.

Winslow Homer | The Life Line, 1884

The Life Line is a late 19th-century painting by American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910).

Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts the rescue of a passenger from a stricken ship.

The work - one of Homer's most iconic - is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

From: Philadelphia Museum of Art

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The dramatic rescue from a foundering ship shown here was made possible by a recent innovation in lifesaving technology, the breeches buoy.

Secured firmly to ship and shore, the device permitted the transfer of stranded passengers to safety by means of a pulley that was hauled back and forth by crews at either end.

Ardith Starostka, 1962 | Figurative painter

Ardith Starostka is an American Portraits and figurative painter. Beginning at the age of twelve, Ardith Starostka has had the desire to create works of art that capture the likeness of the human face and form.

Basically self taught, Starostka found her inspiration in museums through the works of 19th century French academic painter William Adolphe Bouguereau and Dutch artist Rembrandt.

Starostka is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and an Associates degree in Art.

Michele Gordigiani | Portrait / Genre painter

Michele Gordigiani (Florence, 1835-1909) was an Italian painter, known best for his portraits.

Biography

Gordigiani was the son of a famous Florentine musician.

He first studied at the Academy in Florence under Giuseppe Bezzuoli, then Luigi Norcini and Silvestro Lega; he also worked in the studios of Luigi Mussini and Adolph Sturler.

In 1855, he frequented the Caffè Michelangiolo along with his brother Anatolio, where he met many of the Macchiaioli painters.

William Affleck | Victorian Gardens

William Affleck (1869-1943) was a London painter of landscapes and rustic scenes, especially old cottages.

He was born at Rochdale in Lancashire and studied at Heatherley's and the Lambeth School of Art.

Affleck exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1891-1915, and also at Suffolk Street, the New Watercolour Society and elsewhere.

He was also a member of the London Sketch Club.

George John Pinwell RWS | Victorian painter / Illustrator

George John Pinwell RWS (London 26 December 1842 - 8 September 1875 London), was a British illustrator and watercolourist.

Pinwell was born on 26 December 1842 at 12 Great Mays Buildings, London. He was baptised on 27 July 1845, at St. Mark's, Surbiton, south-west London, along with his younger brother Henry (born c. 1845).

His parents were John Pinwell, a carpenter or builder, and his wife, Mary Ann Baker.

Pinwell's father was thought to have been involved in building the original Surbiton railway station in south-west London.

His mother was "a rough, illiterate woman", and "a rough and determined person".

Michael Alford, 1958 | Figurative painter

Michael Alford is a British figurative artist known for an expressive painting style that fuses classical technique with a modern sensibility. He lives and works in London.

Michael’s painting is diverse, reflecting his interest in a range of different subjects and ways of seeing. He paints contemporary cityscapes, street scenes, landscapes, figures and portraits.

He is also a muralist and war artist.

Rosa Bonheur | Realist painter

Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 - 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals (animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style.

Her paintings include Ploughing in the Nivernais, first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1848, and now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and The Horse Fair (in French: Le marché aux chevaux), which was exhibited at the Salon of 1853 (finished in 1855) and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Hermann Hesse | Sono una stella / I am a star / Ich bin ein Stern

Sono una stella del firmamento

che osserva il mondo, disprezza il mondo

e si consuma nel proprio ardore.

Io sono il mare di notte in tempesta

il mare urlante che accumula nuovi

peccati e agli antichi rende mercede.

Abdullah Evindar

Edward Henry Potthast | Along the Mystic River, 1925-1927

From: Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

In a letter written shortly before his death the American painter Edward Henry Potthast (1857-1927) recalled that he spent most of his summers "along the New England coast-Annisquam, Gloucester and Provincetown. Of late years I have been going to the Maine coast".

To the list of places visited along the eastern coastline of the United States, Potthast might have added Noank, Connecticut, on the Mystic River, where he also sketched and is probably the subject of this painting.

Edward Henry Potthast's paintings along the northern shoreline of the United States are markedly different from his joyful scenes of New York City's beaches.