Marie Spartali Stillman | Pre-Raphaelite painter

From Christie's:

Marie Spartali Stillman was both a gifted artist and a major Pre-Raphaelite muse, who features as a model in many of the movement's most memorable works.

Stillman was the youngest daughter of wealthy Greek parents.

Her father, Michael Spartali, had made his money as a cotton merchant and served as Greek consul-general in London between 1866-1882.

The Spartali family were prominent members of the cultured and affluent Anglo-Greek community that came to have an enduring impact on the history of Victorian art; they included Burne-Jones' and Rossetti’s great patron Constantine Ionides and his family, as well as Maria Zambaco, Burne-Jones' model and mistress, and Aglaia Coronio, who sat for Rossetti.

Teodor Axentowicz | Pittore Accademico di genre

Teodor Axentowicz / armeno: Թեոդոր Աքսենտովիչ (1859-1938) è stato un pittore e professore universitario Polacco-Armeno.

Famoso artista del suo tempo, fu anche rettore dell'Accademia di Belle Arti di Cracovia. Come artista, Axentowicz era famoso per i suoi ritratti e le scene sottili della vita di Hutsul, ambientate nei Carpazi.

Axentowicz nacque il 13 maggio 1859 a Brașov, in Ungheria (ora Romania), da una famiglia di origine polacco-armeno. Nel 1893 a Chelsea, Londra, sposò Iza Henrietta Gielgud, zia di Val Gielgud e John Gielgud della dinastia teatrale. Un figlio, Filippo S.A.D. Axentowicz, nasce a Chelsea nel 1893.

Tra il 1879-1882 studiò all'Accademia di Belle Arti di Monaco.

Vincent van Gogh | Snow-Covered Field with a Harrow (after Millet), 1890

From: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

After a long period of psychological crisis, Van Gogh had lost his confidence in himself, as a person and as a painter.

For a long time, he felt useless and did not even dare to go outside.

To build up his self-confidence again, he started copying prints - a common exercise for beginning painters.

This painting is a copy of a print by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875).

Claude Monet | Color Quotes

"The point is to know how to use the colors, the choice of which is, when all’s said and done, a matter of habit".

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment".

"Il colore è la mia ossessione, gioia e tormento per tutto il giorno".

"I haven’t yet managed to capture the color of this landscape; there are moments when I’m appalled at the colors I’m having to use, I’m afraid what I’m doing is just dreadful and yet I really am understating it; the light is simply terrifying".

Paul Gauguin su van Gogh: "Oh! sì, l'ha amato il giallo il buon Vincent.."

da Paul Gauguin - Gli scritti di un selvaggio, 1894

(due anni dopo la morte di Vincent van Gogh)

- "Fu ad Arles, dopo richieste insistenti, che andai a trovare Vincent Van Gogh.

Voleva fondare "L’Atelier du Midi" che io avrei dovuto dirigere.

Questo povero olandese era entusiasta e in preda a una singolare eccitazione.

Leggendo "Tartarin de Tarascon" sognava un mezzogiorno straordinario da dipingere in getti di luce. E sulla tela i suoi gialli violenti inondavano di sole le fattorie e tutta la pianura della Camargue.

...Nella mia stanza gialla alcuni fiori solari e dagli occhi porpora spiccano su di un fondo giallo. Bagnano le radici in una brocca gialla, sopra un tavolo giallo.

In un angolo del quadro la firma: Vincent.

E il sole giallo, attraverso la tenda gialla della mia stanza, inonda di oro questa festa floreale; al mattino dal mio letto, quando mi sveglio, quasi ne sento il profumo.

Paul Gauguin - Van Gogh mentre dipinge girasoli, 1888

John Keats | Fantasia / Fantasy

Lascia sempre vagare la fantasia,

È sempre altrove il piacere:

E si scioglie, solo a toccarlo, dolce,

Come le bolle quando la pioggia picchia;

Lasciala quindi vagare, lei, l'alata.

Vladimir Kush | Diary of Discoveries

Emilie Preyer | Still life painter

Emilie Preyer (1849-1930) was a German painter, known for her still life paintings.

Emilie Preyer was born in 1849 to an established and respected art family in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her father, Johann Wilhelm Preyer, taught at the Düsseldorf Royal Academy of Art and was considered the leading still life painter in Germany in the 19th century.

As women were not allowed to enroll in the Academy, Emilie became her father’s unofficial pupil.

The Düsseldorf Academy hit its peak of success in the mid-1800s, when it was internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious art schools in Europe.

Emilie dedicated herself exclusively to still-life painting and learned her father’s unique and meticulous draftsmanship.