Fred Appleyard (1874-1963)

Fred Appleyard was a British artist known for his landscape paintings, portraits, classical subjects and allegorical compositions.

He had 41 works exhibited during his lifetime by the Royal Academy and painted the mural Spring Driving Out Winter in the Academy Restaurant.

Appleyard was born in Middlesbrough, England on 9 September 1874, the son of Isaac Appleyard, an iron merchant. His uncle was the sculptor John Wormald Appleyard.

Masterpieces of the Pinacoteca di Brera

The collection of the Pinacoteca di Brera includes some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian and foreign art from the 13th to the 20th century.

The works are displayed on the first floor of the building, where the Academy of Fine Arts is also located.

The Pinacoteca museum, which opened in 1809 thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, was born as a collection of the finest works of art and was dedicated to the education of students.

The collection included Italian art masterpieces taken from churches and monasteries that were suppressed at the time when Milan was the capital city of the Kingdom of Italy. | Source: © Pinacoteca di Brera

Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757-1822) | Napoleone come Marte pacificatore / Napoleon as Mars the peacemaker, 1811 (detail) | Pinacoteca di Brera

Vincent van Gogh | The Laundry Boat on the Seine at Asnières, 1887

The Laundry Boat on the Seine at Asnières exemplifies some of the radical directions emerging from the paintings Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) completed in Paris.

In March 1886, Van Gogh left his native Netherlands to reunite with his brother, Theo, in the French capital.

Soon after, he began meeting with several leading avant-garde artists whose works embodied strong reactions against the Impressionist tendencies that dominated the Parisian art world.

In 1887, Van Gogh took up residence in Asnières, a northwestern suburb of Paris, and his encounters with Signac and Gauguin proved catalytic for the painter's developing practice.

Vincent van Gogh | The Laundry Boat on the Seine at Asnières, 1887 | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Gauguin shared Van Gogh's enthusiasm for 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints and emulated their large planes of color in his burgeoning Synthetism and Cloisonnism techniques.

The compositional diagonals and strong contours in this painting recall both the distinctive divisions of the picture plane in Japanese landscapes and Gauguin’s simplified adaptation of these features.

The scene's striking chromatic contrasts and thickly layered brushstrokes also point to Van Gogh's interest in the experiments with complementary colors Seurat and Signac were making in these years.

The restaurant and park scenes and the views of the Seine that Van Gogh completed while living in Asnières began to demonstrate the indelible influence of Synthetism, Divisionism, and Pointillism even as a unique Post-Impressionist style was emerging in his paintings. | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Vincent van Gogh | Self-portrait as a painter, 1887-88

The Laundry Boat on the Seine at Asnières esemplifica alcune delle direzioni radicali emerse dai dipinti completati da Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) a Parigi.

Nel marzo 1886, Van Gogh lasciò la natia Olanda per riunirsi al fratello Theo nella capitale francese.

Poco dopo, iniziò a incontrare diversi importanti artisti d'avanguardia le cui opere incarnavano forti reazioni contro le tendenze impressioniste che dominavano il mondo dell'arte parigino.

Nel 1887, Van Gogh si stabilì ad Asnières, un sobborgo nord-occidentale di Parigi, ed i suoi incontri con Signac e Gauguin si rivelarono catalizzatori per la pratica in via di sviluppo del pittore.

Gauguin condivideva l'entusiasmo di Van Gogh per le stampe xilografiche giapponesi del XIX secolo e ne emulò i grandi piani di colore nelle sue fiorenti tecniche di Sintetismo e Cloisonnisme.

Le diagonali compositive e i forti contorni in questo dipinto richiamano sia le divisioni distintive del piano pittorico nei paesaggi giapponesi sia l'adattamento semplificato di queste caratteristiche da parte di Gauguin.

I contrasti cromatici sorprendenti della scena e le pennellate spesse e stratificate indicano anche l'interesse di Van Gogh per gli esperimenti con colori complementari che Seurat e Signac stavano facendo in quegli anni.

Le scene del ristorante e del parco e le vedute della Senna che Van Gogh completò mentre viveva ad Asnières iniziarono a dimostrare l'influenza indelebile del sintetismo, del divisionismo e del puntinismo, anche se uno stile Post-impressionista unico stava emergendo nei suoi dipinti. | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

More Asnières paintings by Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh | The restaurant Rispal in Asnières, 1887 | Museo Nelson-Atkins

Vincent van Gogh | Bridges across the Seine at Asnieres, 1887 | Collezione Bührle

Vincent van Gogh | Fishing in spring the Pont de Clichy (Asnieres), 1887 | Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent van Gogh | River Bank in Springtime, 1887 | Dallas Museum of Art

Vincent van Gogh | Restaurant de la Sirène at Asnières, 1887 | Musée d'Orsay

Vincent van Gogh | Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières), 1887 | Art Institute of Chicago

Henri Lebasque | Afternoon Tea on the Terrace in Sainte-Maxime, 1914

Henri Lebasque (1865-1937) first visited the French Riveria in 1906 at the suggestion of his friend Henri Manguin.

In 1924, Lebasque relocated to the region to permanently take advantage of its unparalleled light.

In the intervening years, the artist who would earn the sobriquet "Painter of Joy and Light" returned often.

In 1914, he brought his family to the town of Sainte-Maxime, about halfway between Cannes and St. Tropez.

Here, he would undertake an idyllic series of family portraits set on the terrace of their waterfront house.

Henri Lebasque | Afternoon Tea on the Terrace in Sainte-Maxime, 1914 | Christie's

Great paintings from the Clark Art Institute

Adrien Moreau | Contemplation, 1873

The solitary woman in Moreau's painting gazes down toward a duck pond.

Her contemplative expression -and the painting's title- suggest that she has chosen this isolated spot to be alone with her thoughts.

The woman's fashionable city clothes have been painted with a degree of detail that contrasts with the more textured brushstrokes used to describe the surrounding landscape. | Source: © Clark Art Institute

Adrien Moreau (French, 1843-1906) | Contemplation, 1873 | Clark Art Institute

Maria Martinetti | Orientalist painter

Maria Martinetti (1864-1921) was an Italian painter. She was a student of Gustavo Simoni.

She lived and exhibited in Italy and France.

In 1890 she moved to the United States.

She is known for her genre paintings.

Claude Monet | Woman in the Garden, Sainte-Adresse, 1867

This is a very early Impressionist work by the group's leader, Claude Monet.

The sunlight which floods the paintings of the Impressionists - who did most of their painting out of doors, directly from nature - here plays the central role.

Monet spent his childhood in Le Havre, which he periodically visited.

The Le Coteaux estate at Sainte-Adresse near Le Havre belonged to Monet's cousin, Paul-Eugene Lecadre.

Settling here in the summer of 1867, the artist painted several landscapes in the garden of the estate, of which "Woman in the Garden" is of central importance.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) | Woman in the Garden, Sainte-Adresse France, 1867 | Source: © State Hermitage Museum

10 Masterpieces of the Musée d’Orsay

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876

This painting is doubtless Renoir's most important work of the mid 1870's and was shown at the Impressionist exhibition in 1877.

Though some of his friends appear in the picture, Renoir's main aim was to convey the vivacious and joyful atmosphere of this popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre.

The study of the moving crowd, bathed in natural and artificial light, is handled using vibrant, brightly coloured brushstrokes.

The somewhat blurred impression of the scene prompted negative reactions from contemporary critics.

This portrayal of popular Parisian life, with its innovative style and imposing format, a sign of Renoir's artistic ambition, is one of the masterpieces of early Impressionism. | © Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919) | Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876 | Musée d'Orsay, Paris

5 Masterpieces at the Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery entirely occupies the first and second floors of the large building constructed between 1560-1580 and designed by Giorgio Vasari.

It is famous worldwide for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period).

The collections of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period include some absolute masterpieces: Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, in addition to many precious works by European painters (mainly German, Dutch and Flemish).

Moreover, the Gallery boasts an invaluable collection of ancient statues and busts from the Medici family, which adorns the corridors and consists of ancient Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures.

Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) | Tribuna of the Uffizi, 1772-1777 | Royal Collection (UK)

Camille Pissarro | La charcutiére, 1883

Like 'The Little Country Maid', this painting was executed while the artist lived near Pontoise, north-west of Paris.

During the 1880s he became interested in painting rural market scenes, several of which were based on the markets at Pontoise and its neighbouring villages.

Such subjects allowed Pissarro to combine the study of the human figure with depictions of outdoor scenes of everyday rural life.

Although he wrote to his son Lucien that he wished the painting to have a 'certain naive freshness', hence the light and informal brushstrokes, the central figure of the 'charcutière' was painted from the model and the pose carefully studied.

Camille Pissarro | La charcutiére, 1883 | Tate Gallery

Juliette Wytsman | Impressionist painter

Juliette Wytsman (1866-1925) was a Belgian impressionist painter.

She was married to painter Rodolphe Wytsman.

Her paintings are in the collections of several museums in Belgium.

Wytsman was born as Juliette Trullemans on 14 July 1866 in Brussels, in Belgium.

She first studied under Henri Hendrickx at the Bischoffsheim Institute in Brussels.

5 Important artworks at the Tate Gallery

Tate is a family of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall, known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate St Ives and Tate Liverpool + RIBA North.

When Tate first opened its doors to the public in 1897 it had just one site, displaying a small collection of British artworks.

Today we have four major sites and the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art, which includes nearly 70,000 artworks.

Henri Matisse | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate

Matisse painted this work while renting a house near Nice in the South of France.

The relaxed, relatively naturalistic style is typical of his work of the early 1920s.

It was bought by the Contemporary Art Society in 1926 with the intention of presenting it to the Tate Gallery.

Matisse wrote that the painting ‘will represent me as well as possible - moreover, I think that it will not frighten the acquisitions committee of the Modern Museum in London'.

In fact, the Tate initially turned it down, but accepted it in 1938.| Source: © Tate

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate Collection

Salon des Indépendants, Paris 1884

Since 1884, the Salon des Indépendants has played a key role in the history of world art.

Salon des Indépendants, annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, held in Paris since 1884.

In the course of revolutionary developments in painting in late 19th-century France, both artists and the public became increasingly unhappy with the rigid and exclusive policies of the official Salon, an exhibition held sporadically between 1667-1737 and annually thereafter by the Académie Royale de Peinture, which had maintained almost total control over the teaching and exhibition of art since about 1661.

Edgar Degas | Repasseuses | Musée d'Orsay

5 Masterpieces at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Woman with a Parasol in a Garden, 1875

In Woman with a Parasol in a Garden, Renoir’s language is wholly impressionistic: in a setting lacking a visible horizon, the flowers and shrubs are created with tiny dabs of colour, providing a constant interweaving of textures around the two small figures.

The woman, whose parasol shades her from the sun, stands close to the man as he leans down, perhaps to pick a flower, hinting at an intimate relationship.

Contrary to what one may think, this canvas was not painted in the countryside but in the garden of Renoir’s new studio in Montmartre.

His friend George Rivière recalled: "As soon as Renoir entered the house, he was charmed by the view of this garden, which looked like a beautiful abandoned park".

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Woman with a Parasol in a Garden, 1875 | Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

10 masterpieces at the Museo Nacional del Prado

Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina | Santa Caterina, 1510 | Museo Nacional del Prado

This is one of the Spanish Renaissance’s most emblematic depictions of a female figure and the best known of Yáñez de la Almedina’s works.

Both considerations are due to the visibility this work has received at the Museo del Prado, where it has been one of the essential icons in its galleries of 16th-century Spanish painting ever since it arrived in 1946.

According to Jacopo de la Vorágine’s The Golden Legend, Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a young, wise and virtuous princess who loved the Lord.

Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina (1489-1536) | Santa Caterina, 1510 | Museo Nacional del Prado

Paolo Sala | Veduta painter

Paolo Sala (1859-1924) was an Italian painter, mainly of vedute and genre scenes.

He often painted dal vero, that is, en plein air.

He was also known for his ability to paint animals in rural scenes.

He founded the Lombard Association of Watercolor painters in 1911.

Hermann Hesse | In the Fog / Nella Nebbia / Im Nebel

Strano vagare nella nebbia!

È solo ogni cespuglio ed ogni pietra,

né gli alberi si scorgono tra loro,

ognuno è solo.

Pieno di amici mi appariva il mondo

quando era la mia vita ancora chiara;

adesso che la nebbia cala

non ne vedo più alcuno.

Julius Von Leypold | Wanderer in the Storm, 1835 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gustave Caillebotte | Les Jardiniers, 1877

Exhibited publicly only once in the past century and a half, Gustave Caillebotte’s (1848-1894) Les Jardiniers is a celebrated early example of the artist’s garden compositions, which was rediscovered in the 1990s, having remained in the same family collection for over a hundred years.

Painted in 1877, the scene depicts the well-appointed kitchen garden at the Caillebotte family’s country home in the village of Yerres, about 20 kilometers southwest of Paris.

The artist was a teenager when his parents acquired the property as a summer residence, drawn by the grand, Neo-Classical style house and extensive grounds that stretched down to the banks of the nearby river Yerres.

Gustave Caillebotte | Les jardiniers, 1875 | Christie's

Eleonora Duse a Gabriele D’Annunzio: "Eccoti l’anima mia"

Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) incontra per la prima volta Gabriele D'Annunzio (Scrittore, poeta, drammaturgo, militare, politico, giornalista, 1863-1938) nel 1882, a Roma: quest'ultimo è un giovane affascinante, venuto da poco dagli Abruzzi, ma già potendo vantare la pubblicazione di tre sue opere.

Compare davanti alla Duse e le propone, tout court, di andare a letto con lui.

Eleonora lo congeda con sdegno, ma forse anche con un segreto compiacimento (in quel giorno lo descrive: Già famoso e molto attraente, con i capelli biondi e qualcosa di ardente nella sua persona).

Vittorio Matteo Corcos | Portrait of actress Eleonora Duse | Christie's

Luigi Nono | Genre painter

Luigi Nono (1850-1918) was an Venetian painter.

A young Nono entered the Accademia of Venice, then under the leadership of Pompeo Marino Molmenti. But by at the age of twenty years, he went to Polcenigo in the Friulian countryside, and he began to refine his style of landscape paintings, including Sull' Avemaria, Le sorgenti del Gorgazzo, Ritorno dai campi and Verso sera.

He later returned to painting genre subjects of everyday life, and these paintings would prove to be his most influential.