Gianni Strino, 1953 | Supper at Emmaus

Gianni Strino is considered to be a major representative of the modern Neapolitan aesthetic movement. His most notable qualities as a figure painter lie in his ability to penetrate beyond surfaces, and paint in depths.

Gianni Strino was born in 1953 in Naples, Italy.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Strino see:

• Gianni Strino, 1953 | Figurative painter🎨

Pontormo | Pittore Manierista

Jacopo Carrucci (1494-1557), conosciuto come Jacopo da Pontormo, o semplicemente il Pontormo, è stato un pittore Italiano.

Avviò una sistematica opera di rinnovamento degli schemi compositivi della tradizione, talvolta spregiudicato, cercando di reagire al classicismo pittorico attraverso un'inesauribile vena sperimentale ed anticlassicista.

La sua complessa personalità, introversa e tormentata, ne fa il prototipo dell'artista malinconico e solitario.

Malcolm Liepke, 1953

Malcolm T. Liepke, American painter, was born and raised in Minneapolis.

As a student he hungered for 'classical' training rather than the 'conceptual' ideas being taught.

In a bold move, he left the Art Center College in Los Angeles and went to New York.

Charles William Mitchell | Hypatia of Alexandria, 1885

Charles William Mitchell (1854-1903) was an British Pre-Raphaelite painter from Newcastle.

A contemporary of John William Waterhouse, his work is similar in many ways.

His one famous piece was Hypatia, shown in 1885 and likely inspired by the Charles Kingsley serialized novel Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face. This painting is currently in the Laing Art Gallery.

Charles William Mitchell - Hypatia, 1885

Georg Pauli | Pittore simbolista

Georg Vilhelm Pauli (Jönköping, 2 luglio 1855 – Stoccolma, 28 novembre 1935) è stato un pittore Svedese, noto per i suoi affreschi ed i suoi soggetti maschili.

Egli scrisse inoltre dei libri relativi all'arte.

Il padre August Ferdinand Pauli (1815-1904) era un farmacista e un industriale.

La sua famiglia discendeva dal generale luogotenente Wilhelm Pauli, che a sua volta discendeva da una famiglia italiana che era partita dalla penisola sotto il patrocinio dell'imperatore Rodolfo II, all'inizio della guerra dei trent'anni, e poi era giunta in Svezia, dove venne accettata nella nobiltà nel 1625.

Caravaggio | Madonna of the Rosary / Madonna del Rosario, 1608

The Madonna of the Rosary is a painting finished in 1607 by the Italian🎨 Baroque painter Caravaggio🎨, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is the only painting by Caravaggio that could be called a standard Baroque🎨 altarpiece.

The commissioner of the work is uncertain. As altarpiece it would have been commissioned for a Dominican church, given the presence of Saint Dominic and Saint Peter Martyr of Verona. The donor is included in the painting; at the left, dressed in black with a ruff, seeking protection under the cloak of Saint Dominic and peering out at the viewer.

According to some, the donor was Nicholas (or Nicholas) Radulovic, a rich merchant of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik in Croatia) and the first idea for the composition was a Madonna Enthroned with Saints Nicholas and Vito, then the subject was changed to reflect the wishes of the Dominicans.

Caravaggio | Maddalena in pianto / Magdalene Grieving, 1605-1606

According to some research, "Magdalene grieving" (1605-1606), would be a preliminary study for the character of one of the most famous works of the Lombard master conserved at the Musée du Louvre "The death of the Virgin" (1601-1605).

Commissioned in 1601 for the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, The Death of the Virgin (c. 1601-1606) could not have been finished before 1605-1606.

After being refused by the monks, who found it unworthy of the church, it was replaced by a work on the same subject painted by Carlo Saraceni.

A work of light and shadow

The composition is arranged around the Virgin, the painting's central theme. The compact mass of the assemblage and the posturing of the figures guide the viewer's eye toward the abandoned body. The theatrical drape of blood-red cloth heightens the scene's dramatic effect. The painter makes use of the nuances of light and shadow to model the volumes of the objects, figures, and clothing.