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

Hugo Salmson | Something in the air

Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843-1894) was a Swedish painter, known for figures and genre scenes.

Salmson was born in Stockholm, Sweden.

He was the son of Fredrik Ludvig Salmson, a wholesaler, and his wife Maria Perlberg. He initially studied business, but soon decided on an artistic career.

In 1862, he began his studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts where he was trained by Johan Christoffer Boklund.

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).