Vincent van Gogh | Orchard in Blossom

Vincent van Gogh | Peach Trees in Blossom, April 1888 | Courtauld Gallery, London

This is van Gogh’s last view of a plain outside Arles that he often painted since settling in the south of France in 1888.

He wrote to the painter Paul Signac "everything is small there ... even the mountains, as in certain Japanese landscapes, which is the reason why the subject attracted me".

The snow-capped peak on the right (a deliberate echo of Mount Fuji in Japan) and blossoming trees create a peaceful atmosphere.

But the bent figure at left emphasises this is a man-made landscape. | © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

Vincent van Gogh | Peach Trees in Blossom, April 1888 | Courtauld Gallery, London

Questa è l'ultima veduta di van Gogh di una pianura fuori Arles che dipinse spesso da quando si stabilì nel sud della Francia nel 1888.

Sir Peter Lely | Baroque painter

Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 - 7 December 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.

Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch parents in Soest in Westphalia, where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of the Elector of Brandenburg.

Lely studied painting in Haarlem, where he may have been apprenticed to Pieter de Grebber.

He became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem in 1637.

He is reputed to have adopted the surname "Lely" (also occasionally spelled Lilly) from a heraldic lily on the gable of the house where his father was born in The Hague.

Vincent van Gogh | Houses at Auvers, 1890

"Houses at Auvers" is an oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, located at the Toledo Museum of Art.

It was created towards the end of May or beginning of June 1890, shortly after he had moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small town northwest of Paris, France.

His move was prompted by his dissatisfaction with the boredom and monotony of asylum life at Saint-Rémy, as well as by his emergence as an artist of some renown following Albert Aurier's celebrated January 1890, Mercure de France, review of his work.

In his final two months at Saint-Rémy, van Gogh painted from memory a number of canvases he called, "reminisces of the North", harking back to his Dutch roots.

The influence of this return to the North continued at Auvers, notably in The Church at Auvers.

He did not, however, repeat his studies of peasant life of the sort he had made in his Nuenen period. His paintings of dwellings at Auvers encompassed a range of social domains. | Source: © Wikipedia

Vincent van Gogh | Houses at Auvers, 1890 | Toledo Museum of Art

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Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch graphic artist, 1898-1972) | Drawing hands, January, 1948 | Gemeentemuseum Den Haag The Hague the Netherlands

Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925)

Pieter Florentius Nicolaas Jacobus Arntzenius was a Dutch painter, water-colourist, illustrator and printmaker.

He is considered a representative of the younger generation of the Hague School.

Arntzenius was born in Surabaya on the island of Java where his father served in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army.

In 1875, at the age of 11, he was sent to the Netherlands to Amsterdam to live with his aunt and uncle in order to complete his education.

In 1882 he became a student of Frederik Nachtweh, under Nachtweh's supervision he gained admission to the Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten. During his time at the Rijksacademie, from 1883-1888, his teachers included August Allebé and Barend Wijnveld, and amongst his fellow students were Isaac Israëls, George Breitner, Willem Witsen and Jan Veth.

Frans Stracké | The Two Mothers, 1893 | Rijksmuseum

Franz Stracké created this sculpture in terracotta in 1893. The title "Two Mothers" refers to the woman and the dog, positioned at her feet looking upwards, whose puppies she is carrying. This work by Franz Stracké is exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

This sweet scene reflects increasing interest in the lives of fishermen. The statue shows a young woman holding her child, with her dog’s puppies gathered in her apron. Yet life is not a bed of roses for this barefoot fisherman’s wife. She has only two fish in her pouch, and the net that she drags behind her is empty. | Rijksmuseum

Frans Stracké | The Two Mothers, 1893 (detail) | Rijksmuseum

Vincent van Gogh | The Olive Trees series

Vincent van Gogh painted at least 15 paintings of olive trees, mostly in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1889. At his own request, he lived at an asylum there from May 1889 through May 1890 painting the gardens of the asylum and, when he had permission to venture outside its walls, nearby olive trees, cypresses and wheat fields.

One painting, "Olive Trees in a Mountainous Landscape", was a complement to "The Starry Night".

The olive tree paintings had special significance for van Gogh.

Vincent van Gogh | Couple Walking among Olive Trees in a Mountainous Landscape with Crescent Moon 1890 | Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo

Vincent van Gogh | Le pont de Trinquetaille, 1888

The fifteen months that Van Gogh spent at Arles in 1888-1889 represent a pivotal moment in his career, "the zenith, the climax, the greatest flowering of Van Gogh's decade of artistic activity", according to Ronald Pickvance.

Freed from the pressures of urban life and inspired by the brilliant Provençal light, the artist integrated the results of months of experimentation and produced one modern masterpiece after another. With its bold composition and expressive palette, "Le pont de Trinquetaille" epitomizes his mature style.