John Joseph Enneking | Spring Hillside, 1899-1902

John Joseph Enneking was born in Ohio in 1841 and was orphaned at a young age. He began to paint at the age of five and developed a natural talent before travelling East to New York and Massachusetts.

He trained in Germany, Italy and France and he was the first American to return from Paris in 1874 after having painted with Claude Monet, Pissarro and Renoir in Monet’s gardens at Argentueil (where Enneking painted Monet’s wife and child).

Jean-Baptiste Greuze | Le uova rotte, 1756

Anche se questo dipinto venne eseguito a Roma e presenta ambiente e costumi italiani, la fonte del soggetto ritratto è un quadro olandese del Seicento dell’artista Frans van Mieris il Vecchio (1635-1681), Le uova rotte (Museo dell’Ermitage, San Pietroburgo), che l'artista francese Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) conosceva attraverso un’ incisione.

Le uova rotte simboleggiano la perdita della verginità.

Il bambino che cerca di ricomporre le uova rappresenta l’ignara innocenza dell’infanzia.

Il quadro suscitò una reazione favorevole quando fu esibito al Salon di Parigi nel 1757. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean Baptiste Greuze | Broken Eggs, 1756 (detail) | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Benjamin Osro Eggleston | Young Woman in a Theater Box, 1891

"Young Woman in a Theater Box" is an 1891 oil painting by Benjamin Osro Eggleston (1867-1937).

A landscape painter in the tonal style and figures, Benjamin Osro Eggleston was born in Belvidere, MN and studied art at the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts under Douglas Volk.

He also traveled to Paris where he completed additional studies.

Upon his return he established a studio in Brooklyn from which he worked and traveled.

From 1900-1920 he summered at the Old Lyme Art Colony and in the 1930's he spent his time in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Howard Chandler Christy | The Christy Girl

Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952) was an American artist and illustrator.

Famous for the "Christy Girl" - a colorful and illustrious successor to the "Gibson Girl" - Christy is also widely known for his iconic WWI military recruitment and Liberty loan posters, along with his 1940 masterpiece titled, Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, which is installed along the east stairwell of the United States Capitol.

Karol Bąk, 1961

Karol Bąk artista - pittore, illustratore e grafico. I suoi dipinti sono caratterizzati da illusione e surrealismo.

Si è diplomato alla Scuola Secondaria di Belle Arti di Poznań come espositore di interni.

Nel 1984 ha iniziato gli studi presso la Facoltà di Grafica della Scuola Superiore Statale di Belle Arti (ora Accademia di Belle Arti di Poznań).

Si è laureato con lode nel 1989 ottenendo due diplomi sia in grafica con il professor Tadeusz Jackowski, che in disegno con il professor Jarosław Kozłowski.

Jakub Schikaneder | The Kampa Lovers, 1894

"The Kampa Lovers" is an 1894 painting by the Czech painter and professor Jakub Schikaneder (1855-1924).

Schikaneder is known for his soft paintings of the outdoors, often lonely in mood.

His paintings often feature poor and outcast figures and "combined neo-romantic and naturalist impulses".

Other motifs favoured by Schikaneder were autumn and winter, corners and alleyways in the city of Prague and the banks of the Vltava – often in the early evening light, or cloaked in mist.

Ralph Albert Blakelock | A Waterfall, Moonlight, 1886

This painting was shown at the National Academy of Design exhibition in 1886 and is a fine example of Blakelock's mature painting style.

Although it features elements that are typical of the artist's style -generalized and silhouetted forms, glowing moonlight, and thick paint- it is particularly strong and subtle in comparison.

The foliage that frames the edge of the canvas echoes the irregular contours of the tree so much that the forms seem almost able to interlock.

The brushwork is varied with pigment loosely appled to create a richly colored surface, especially in the boundary between the light sky and the dark leaves. | Source: © Metropolitan Museum of Art