José Jiménez Aranda (1837-1903) Genre painter

Luis Jiménez Aranda was a Spanish🎨-born French painter🎨 of genre scenes🎨; many in costumbrista style. His brothers, José and Manuel also became painters.

His first art lessons came from his older brother, José, followed by classes at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría under the direction of Eduardo Cano and Antonio Cabral Bejarano.

In 1868, thanks to a four year stipend from a wealthy patron, he went to Rome to see the Old Masters and complete his studies with Marià Fortuny🎨.

Francisque Duret (1804-1865) | Academic sculptor

Francisque Joseph Duret was a French sculptor🎨, son and pupil of François-Joseph Duret (1732-1816).

Before becoming a sculptor, Francisque Duret had shown interest in pursuing a career in theater.

He studied for a brief time at the Conservatoire and his friend Charles Blanc (1813-1882), in an article which he dedicated in 1866, attested to the quality of observing human behavior which Duret had acquired outside his studies of drama: "His continual studies of the pantomime led him to pin down the language of gesture and the meaning of each disposition".

Kitty Meijering, 1974 | Ballet dancers

Kitty Meijering studied at the Amsterdam University. At this University she followed a visual arts education, which she completed in 1998.

At this moment dance and specifically ballet is the main theme Kitty dedicates her time to.

This stunning new serie shows paintings of dancers in full movement and emotion. The dancers defined in warm colours seems to dance right of the paintings!

Mark Olich, 1974 | Ballet dancers photographer

"For me, ballet is movement and music, and if there is movement in the frame, if music is heard, it's a good shoot, it rarely happens"

- Mark Olich.

Mark Olich is a Russian photographer🎨 whose works are entirely focused on the worlds of theatre and dance.

Gustave Flaubert | Quotes / Aforismi

James Tissot (1836-1902)🎨 | Young Lady in a Boat

"The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe".

"L'arte di scrivere è l'arte di scoprire ciò in cui credi".
"Fate attenzione alla tristezza. È un vizio".

"Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory".
"I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings".

"Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times".
"La nostra ignoranza della storia ci porta a calunniare i nostri tempi".

Henri Chapu (1833-1891) | Allegorical sculptor

Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu was a French sculptor🎨 in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his work.

Born in Le Mée-sur-Seine into modest circumstances, Chapu moved to Paris with his family and in 1847 entered the Petit École with the intention of studying drawing and becoming an interior decorator.

Lynn Sanguedolce, 1959 | Figurative painter

American painter🎨 Lynn R. Sanguedolce is an award-winning🎨 artist who has been represented by prestigious galleries across the country. A professional artist for over thirty years, her work may be found in collections throughout the United States and abroad.

The inspiration for Lynn's work stems from her appreciation of the beauty of nature and the human form. Portraiture and figurative painting are particularly rewarding to Lynn, since they allow her to translate the essence of a subject's personality into a piece of fine art.

Vassilis Solidakis, 1948 | Figurative Expressionist painter

Βασίλης Σολιδάκης was born in Sitia of the Island of Crete, Greece. He boasts to be an 'Eteocris', who is considered to be the indigenous people of Crete with roots in the Minoan period.

Solidakis received training in painting since 1968 and continued his studies in the period 1973-1985 with Dimitris Perdikidis in Madrid, Spain.

He had his first solo exhibition in 1978 in Athens. More one-man and group shows followed in Greece and abroad.