Vincent van Gogh | Montmartre series

The Montmartre paintings are a group of works that Vincent van Gogh created in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre while living there, at 54 Rue Lepic, with his brother Theo.

Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières in the northwest suburbs.

Of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from the Netherlands and Brussels.

Richard Telford, 1950 | Cityscape painter

Richard Telford was born in Dorchester and spent his childhood in this most picturesque part of England.

He developed a keen interest in painting professionally from an early age when his talent was recognized by a local gallery.

For a while, after graduating from art college, he took up a career as a graphic designer, which in time he abandoned in order to further his ambition of painting full time.

Mark Twain: "Fate attenzione a leggere libri sulla salute. Si può morire di un errore di stampa!"

Citazioni sui Libri

• "Ho degli amici - i libri, la cui società è per me deliziosissima; sono uomini di tutti i paesi e di tutti i secoli; distinti in guerra, in pace e nelle lettere, facili a mantenersi, pronti sempre ai miei cenni, li chiamo e li congedo quando più mi aggrada… essi non van mai soggetti ad alcun capriccio, ma rispondono a tutte le mie domande".

Francesco Petrarca

• "I libri pesano tanto: eppure, chi se ne ciba e se li mette in corpo, vive tra le nuvole".

Luigi Pirandello

Giuseppe Arcimboldo | The Librarian, 1566 | Skokloster Castle, Sweden

Félicie Schneider | Genre painter

Félicie Schneider or Felicie Fournier (1831-1888) was a French portrait painter.

Schneider was born in Saint-Cloud and first learned to paint from her father, Amable Nicolas Fournier, and later went to the school run by Leon Cogniet.

She showed works at the Paris Salon from 1849.

Her work "The Last Survivors of a Family" was included in the book Women Painters of the World.

Louise Moillon | Baroque painter

Louise Moillon (1610-1696) was a French still life painter in the Baroque era.

It is recorded that she became known as one of the best still life painters of her time, as her work was purchased by King Charles I of England, as well as French nobility.

Louise Moillon is also known for her Flemish style that is present in her artwork.

Moillon created about 40 artworks during her lifetime which are held in museums and private collections.

Joseph-Marie-Augustin-Gabriel Ferrier (1847-1914)

Gabriel-Joseph-Marie-Augustin Ferrier è stato un è stato un ritrattista ed orientalista Francese.

Gabriel Joseph Marie Augustin Ferrier nacque nel sud della Francia, a Nîmes.

Suo padre era farmacista e rispettò la vocazione artistica di suo figlio lasciandolo partire per Parigi, dove il giovane Ferrier si iscrisse all'École des beaux-arts. Ferrier fu quindi allievo di Ernest Hébert e di Isidore Pils.

Henri-Frédéric Amiel: "L'uomo che non ha vita interiore è schiavo di ciò che lo circonda"

• "La vita è breve e non abbiamo mai troppo tempo per allietare i cuori di coloro che stanno percorrendo il viaggio oscuro con noi. Oh, sii veloce ad amare, affrettati ad essere gentile"!

• "Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind"!

Michel Hendrich | Transmission

Jacques-Émile Blanche | Debussy, Degas, Proust, Stravinsky, Frits Thaulow etc..

Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861-1942) was a French artist, largely self-taught, who became a successful portrait painter, working in London and Paris.

Although Blanche received some instruction in painting from Henri Gervex, he may be regarded as self-taught.

He became a very successful portrait painter, with a style derived from 18th-century English painters such as Thomas Gainsborough as well as Édouard Manet and John Singer Sargent.

Jacques-Émile Blanche | Vaslav Nijinsky in 'Danse Siamoise' | Christie's

Artemisia Gentileschi | Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, 1620-25

Until its appearance on the art market in Paris in 2014, this picture was only known from a black-and-white photograph.

It has been hailed as one of the most significant rediscoveries of a work by Artemisia in recent years.

It depicts Mary Magdalene, a follower of Christ, who withdrew to a life of solitary penitence and prayer following his death.

Here the Magdalene, alone in a cave and bathed in light, is in the throes of an ecstatic vision.

Artemisia paints her in a way that suggests a real, physical presence.

Artemisia Gentileschi | Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, 1620-25 (detail) | The National Gallery, London

Hermann Hesse | Sull’Amore / The one who loves is happy!

"Quanto più invecchiavo, quanto più insipide mi parevano le piccole soddisfazioni che la vita mi dava, tanto più chiaramente comprendevo dove andasse cercata la fonte delle gioie della vita.

Imparai che essere amati non è niente, mentre amare è tutto, e sempre più mi parve di capire ciò che da valore e piacere alla nostra esistenza non è altro che la nostra capacità di sentire".

Marc Chagall | The Lovers, 1929

Giacomo Leopardi | Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell’Asia / Night-song of a wandering shepherd of Asia

Il Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell'Asia è una poesia di Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) composta a Recanati tra il 1829-1830.

Il poeta, nelle vesti di un pastore, interroga la luna sulla condizione umana, e sul suo incarico di governare il gregge, che non è a conoscenza del dolore dell'esistenza, in quanto di natura animale; il pastore interroga ancora la luna, senza ricevere risposta; sogna di viaggiare, di volare via dal mondo, ma non può, e così conclude che è tragico l'essere nati.

Che fai tu, luna, in ciel? dimmi, che fai,

silenziosa luna?

Sorgi la sera, e vai,

contemplando i deserti; indi ti posi.

Ancor non sei tu paga

di riandare i sempiterni calli?

Ancor non prendi a schivo, ancor sei vaga

di mirar queste valli?

Marc Chagall | Solitude, 1933 | Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Luisa Roldàn | Baroque sculptor

Luisa Roldàn | The Entombment of Christ, 1700-1701 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Entombment is one of the two "jewel-like sculptures" Luisa Roldán gave to the newly installed King Philip V of Spain in 1701, petitioning him to appoint her sculptor to the royal court.

In the previous decade she had pioneered a genre of sculpture - powerfully conceived and exquisitely modelled and painted figural groups, made on a deliberately intimate scale - of which this is perhaps the finest.

Luisa Roldàn | The Entombment of Christ, 1700-1701 | Metropolitan Museum of Art