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).

Eduardo Naranjo, 1944

Eduardo Naranjo, uno dei più grandi pittori Spagnoli, è nato a Monastero (Badajoz).

Incontra nel 1957 il suo maestro Eduardo Acosta e si iscrive alla Scuola di Arti e Mestieri, dove studia fino al 1960.

Nello stesso anno entrò alla Scuola di Belle Arti di Santa Elisabetta d'Ungheria.

Nel 1961 si trasferisce a studiare alla Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando di Madrid, ed è lì che la sua formazione termina con la pittura.

Ambrogio Alciati | The kiss, 1917

The Italian Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) was a well-known portrait painter at the beginning of the 20th century, who mainly found his clients among the wealthy Milanese bourgeoisie.

He owed his popularity to his talent to get through to the character of those portrayed.

This gift led in his free work - especially female figures and genre pieces - to the expression of deeply felt human emotions such as passion and emotion.

Antonio Ambrogio Alciati | Convegno, 1918 | Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania

Nato a Vercelli nel 1878, Antonio Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) si trasferisce con la madre e la sorella nel 1879 a Milano per frequentare l’Accademia di Brera, dove riceve gli insegnamenti di Vespasiano Bignami, Giuseppe Mentessi e Cesare Tallone.

Quest’ultimo lo aiuta a perfezionarsi nel ritratto, introducendolo fra la ricca borghesia milanese.

Tra il 1902 e il 1910 esegue una serie di quadri d’ispirazione romantica e familiare, ma si dedica anche alla decorazione di chiese e ville lombarde, mentre nel secondo decennio del secolo il suo stile si evolve abbandonando le tonalità sfumate e la gamma spenta che rasenta il monocromo, per acquistare gradatamente un maggior vigore costruttivo e un vivace cromatismo.

Odilon Redon - Still Life

George Henry Boughton | A spring idyll, 1901

George Henry Boughton RA (1833-1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer.

Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The family emigrated to the United States in 1835, and he grew up in Albany, New York where he started his career as a self-taught artist. At this early stage, he was influenced by the artists of the Hudson River School.

Emma Ekwall [1838-1925]

Emma Ekwall-Scheutz was the first Swedish woman - painter, received the Royal Medal. She was born on January 18, 1838. After graduating from the Academy of Painting, where she studied from 1865-1870, lived for a time in Munich and Leipzig. She painted mostly portraits of their children, floral still lifes and genre scenes. She died in 1925 in Stockholm.