Caravaggio | The Lute Player / Suonatore di Liuto, 1595-1596

The Lute Player is an early work by Caravaggio, who sought above all to convey the reality and solidity of the surrounding world. We can already see the elements of the artist's style which were to have such a widespread influence on other artists.

The figure of a young boy dressed in a white shirt stands out clearly against the dark background.

The sharp sidelighting and the falling shadows give the objects an almost tangible volume and weight.

Caravaggio was interested in the uniqueness of the surrounding world, and there are markedly individual features not only in the youth's face but also in the objects which make up the still life: the damaged pear, the crack in the lute, the crumpled pages of the music.

The melody written on those pages is that of a then fashionable song by Jacques Arcadelt, "You know that I love you".

Caravaggio | The Lute Player | The Hermitage version, 1595-1596

Guido Reni(?) | Portrait of Beatrice Cenci, 1599

Author: Guido Reni (Italian Baroque painter, 1575-1642)

Medium: Oil canvas

Dimensions: 64,5 x 49 cm

Current location: Palazzo Barberini, Rome

A long historical tradition has identified Beatrice Cenci in this portrait.

The young parricide, who was processed and beheaded in Rome in 1599, is immortalized in prison by Guido Reni a few instants before being killed.

Berthe Morisot (French, 1841-1895)

Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (January 14, 1841 - March 2, 1895) was a painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.

She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

Peter Paul Rubens | Study of Two Heads, 1609

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish Baroque Era painter, 1577-1640)

Title: Study of Two Heads

Date: ca. 1609

Medium: oil on panel

Dimensions: Height: 69.9 cm (27.5 in); Width: 52.1 cm (20.5 in)

Current location: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Rubens painted studies of heads after live models and artistic sources, creating a cast of characters that served in turn as models for figures in religious and mythological works.

Sergio Cerchi, 1957

Sergio Cerchi è nato a Firenze, città' in cui tuttora vive e lavora. Le figure e le geometrie compongono la sua visione del reale, contrassegnata da una spinta etica che esprime valori non solo artistici, ma filosofici, storici e psicosociali.

Dai primi lavori pittorici con paesaggi e vedute, si è evoluto verso evocazioni "cubiste" e rielaborazioni del proprio vissuto, che hanno radicalmente mutato l' impianto materico e coloristico.

Soggetti e sfondi si moltiplicano nella sua pittura come su di un pentagramma musicale, sfumando orizzonti piani e volumi, in cui figure e particolari emergono leggibili e composti in modo affatto originale.

Cromie di colori ad olio, dalle calde tonalità' di rossi carminio, mescolati a sfumature ocra, a verdi antichi e blu con sapienti ombreggiature di grigi luminosi, danno corpo ad elementi petrosi, scultorei, emblematici delle materie e sostanze dei più grandi maestri dell'arte dai Primitivi al Rinascimento, di cui si nutre appunto la poetica e la pittura di Sergio Cerchi.

Édouard Manet | The Grand Canal, Venice (Blue Venice) 1874

French painter Édouard Manet (1832-1883) visited the Grand Canal Venice in September 1875 with his friend and fellow painter from outside the Impressionist circle James Tissot, who had settled in London after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.

Although the watery splendour of Venice has inspired many great artists, Manet found it hard to settle, but in spite of this he managed to paint one of his most dashingly Impressionist art works.

Claude Monet | Palm trees at Bordighera, 1884 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monet first visited Italy’s southern coast with Renoir in December 1883. Shortly thereafter, he returned alone to paint, writing his dealer that working "à deux" was constraining.

This scene and The Valley of the Nervia reflect Monet’s excitement at the new motifs offered by the region’s palm trees and mountains. For this view, he ventured from his hotel in Bordighera and looked across the Bay of Ventimiglia toward the Alps on the French border.

The dazzling colors challenged him to "dare to use all the tones of pink and blue", although what he truly needed was a "palette of diamonds and jewels". | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art