Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)

Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (8 dicembre 1861-27 settembre 1944) è stato uno scultore e pittore Francese.

Maillol è nato a Banyuls-sur-Mer, Roussillon. Decise in tenera età di diventare un pittore e si trasferì a Parigi nel 1881 per studiare arte.

Dopo diverse candidature e diversi anni di povertà, la sua iscrizione al École des Beaux-Arts è stato accettato nel 1885, e ha studiato lì sotto Jean-Léon Gérôme e Alexandre Cabanel.

I suoi primi dipinti mostrano l'influenza dei suoi contemporanei Pierre Puvis de Chavannes e Paul Gauguin.

Van Gogh | The Sunflower series, 1888

Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s impending arrival, Vincent van Gogh was determined to cover the walls of The Yellow House with paintings of sunflowers.

August 21, 1888 Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo:

"Now that I hope to live with Gauguin in a studio of our own, I want to make decorations for the studio. Nothing but big flowers. Next door to your shop, in the restaurant, you know there is a lovely decoration of flowers; I always remember the big sunflowers in the window there.

If I carry out this idea there will be a dozen panels. So the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow".

Ricardo Sanz, 1957

Spanish painter Ricardo Sanz is a figurative contemporary artist. His artistic vocation was forged thanks to his grandfather, who owned the gallery of art La Perfecta, where he met the great artists of painting: Sorolla, Zuloaga, Vázquez Díaz, etc.

At the age of 14 he started his education as a painter with the master José Camps, combining this with his studies in History of Art until he graduated from the University of Deusto in Madrid. He continues studying with important contemporary artists in France and Italy.

He finally settled in Madrid, where he lives and has his atelier since 1980. He has always kept a close link to San Sebastian, his home town, where he spends long periods of time. His work is the result of many influences.

Gerard Terburg (1617-1681)

Gerard ter Borch (December 1617 - 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg, was an influential and pioneering Dutch ⎆ genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age.
He influenced fellow Dutch painters ⎆ Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou ⎆, Eglon van der Neer and Johannes Vermeer ⎆.

According to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Ter Borch:

"established a new framework for subject matter, taking people into the sanctum of the home"

showing the figures’ uncertainties and expertly hinting at their inner lives. His influence as a painter, however, was later surpassed by Vermeer ⎆.

Renoir | La Promenade, 1875-1876

A young woman shepherds a pair of identically dressed little sisters along the path of a well-maintained public park. All three figures are outfitted for the cold and in the height of fashion.

The eldest wears a blue velvet jacket with wide sleeves trimmed with red fox; the little girls wear miniature blue-green jackets trimmed with either swansdown or white mink.

Further up the pathway to the right, Renoir🎨 has included no fewer than eleven additional figures and two playful dogs.

Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt portraits by Ary Scheffer

Ary Scheffer (Dutch-French Romantic painter, 1795-1858)🎨🎨 | Portrait of Frédéric Chopin, 1847

- Dordrecht Museum, Netherlands

Frédéric François Chopin, born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1 March 1810 - 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era who wrote primarily for the solo piano.

Édouard Manet ed il Realismo

Già negli esordi l'arte di Édouard Manet (1832-1883) apparve indubbiamente connotata da pressanti esigenze realiste, a tal punto che arrivò persino a infuriarsi con il maestro Couture, troppo legato agli accademismi («insomma, vi comportate così quando andate a comprare un mazzo di ravanelli dalla vostra fruttivendola?»).

A turbarlo in particolar modo era in particolare la mancanza di naturalezza delle pose adottate dalle modelle:

«Vedo che ha dipinto una finanziera.

E di eccellente fattura.

Ma dove sono finiti i polmoni della modella?

Sembra che sotto l’abito non respiri.

Come se non avesse un corpo.

È un ritratto da sarto»

William Holman Hunt | The Awakening Conscience, 1853

The Awakening Conscience was conceived as the material counterpart to Hunt's The Light of the World (1851-3, Warden and Fellows of Keble College, Oxford). Its inspiration was a verse from Proverbs:

'As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart'.

With his typical thoroughness, Hunt hired a room at Woodbine Villa, 7 Alpha Place, St John's Wood, a 'maison de convenance', to use as the setting.