Firmin Baes | A Master of Pastel painting

Firmin Baes (1874-1943) was a Belgian painter.

The son of the decorative painter Henri Baes, Firmin Baes was active as a portrait painter and a painter of still life subjects, figures, landscapes and interiors.

He studied under Léon Frédéric at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels between 1888-1894, and the elder artist’s influence is evident in many of Baes’s early paintings.

Gaetano Bellei | Academic / Genre painter

The Italian master Gaetano Bellei was born in Modena in 1857, died in the same city in March 1922.

A student of Adeodato Malatesta and companion of John Muzzioli.

Twenty-four he won the Retired Potetti that allowed him to travel to Rome for some time learning about yourself.

John Frederick Lewis | Orientalist painter

John Frederick Lewis RA (London, 1804-1876) was an British painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in exquisitely detailed watercolour or oils.

Lewis lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and (after his return to England) painted highly detailed works showing both realistic Genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper class Egyptian interiors with no traces of Western cultural influence yet apparent.

Constant Troyon | The Barbizon school of painters

Constant Troyon (1810-1865), French painter, was born in Sèvres, near Paris, where his father was connected with the famous manufactory of porcelain.

Troyon was an animal painter of the first rank, and was closely associated with the artists who painted around Barbizon.

The technical qualities of his methods of painting are most masterly; his drawing is excellent, and his composition always interesting.

It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his métier, but when he realized his power of painting animals he produced a fairly large number of good pictures in a few years.

Gerard ter Borch | Baroque painter

Gerard Terborch, Terborch also spelled Ter Borch or Terburg (1617-1681), Dutch Baroque painter who developed his own distinctive type of interior genre in which he depicted with grace and fidelity the atmosphere of well-to-do, middle-class life in 17th-century Holland.

Terborch’s father had been an artist and had visited Rome but from 1621 was employed as a tax collector.

Ivan Pili, 1976 | Figurative painter

Ivan Pili, concert musician, composer and visual artist, was born in Cagliari, Italy.

His artistic skills emerged from the earliest age, first on the kindergarten benches and then manifested themselves in his early portraiture works at the age of 9 years.

From 1986-1990 he attended painters in Cagliari asking for his presence in their labs to try to improve the technique of the little boy.

Victor Gilbert | Belle Époque painter

The mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century saw the introduction of art based on daily life, a depiction of everything from the street vendors to the homeless in and around France.

Artists were often deeply embroiled in the social issues of the time and sought to free themselves from the imposing historicism that had stifled art production for decades.

Léon Perrault | Genre / Academic painter

Painter of genre, history, religion and portrait Léon-Jean-Bazile Perrault (1832-1908) stands in peril of not being remembered as distinctively as his successes might merit.

For our part, we may narrow this great artist’s claims at once by rejecting his religious painting, and we may be inclined to go on and deny him the title of historical painter, so that, although we shall have paintings of religious subjects and of historical subjects to consider, we shall in truth be considering them as work of a painter of genre and portrait.

Andrew Hem, 1981 | Pop Surrealist painter

The Cambodian-born artist Andrew Hem was born during his parents’ flight from Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge genocide and his upbringing was influenced by the rural heritage of his ancestors and the urban sensibility of Los Angeles, where his family came to reside.

Being positioned within these cultural dichotomies fostered an aesthetic inspired by graffiti, as well as tribal and supernatural imagery.

Describing his compositions as dreamlike memories inspired by personal experiences, Hem’s ethereal paintings function as a window overlooking the invisible realm of the human spirit.

Georges Maroniez | Genre painter

Georges Philibert Charles Maroniez (1865, Douai - 1933, Paris) was a French painter, specializing in landscapes with figures.

Education and first works

Maroniez was the son of an industrialist who owned a sugar refinery in Montigny-en-Ostrevent.

He displayed artistic talent at an early age, but - although not discouraged - was expected to pursue a more professional career.

Accordingly, he studied law, and afterwards served as a magistrate in, successively, Boulogne-sur-Mer (1891), Avesnes-sur-Helpe (1894) and Cambrai (1897).

Luca Postiglione | Genre painter

Luca Postiglione (Naples, 1876-1936) was an Italian painter, mainly of portraits, historic and genre subjects, in a Realist style.

Luca Postiglione was born in a family of painters. He was the son of the painter Luigi Postiglione.

His uncle, Salvatore Postiglione (1861-1906) was also a painter and his teacher.

Giovanni Panza | Impressionist /Genre painter

Giovanni Panza (1894-1989) was an Italian painter.

Born into a family of poets and painters, he was the nephew of Salvatore Postiglione and Luca Postiglione, sons of the painter Raphael Postiglione, who introduced him to painting.

Salvatore Postiglione | Genre painter

Salvatore Postiglione (1861-1906) was born to father Luigi (1812-1881), who was a painter of sacred subjects.

His brother, also named Luigi Postiglione and his nephew, and Luigi's son, Lucawere also painters. He studied at the Neapolitan Institute of Fine Arts under his uncle, Raffaele and Domenico Morelli.

Igor Venski, 1962 | Impressionist painter

Igor Venski / Игорь Венский was born in Krasnodar, Russia, and he began drawing and painting very early in his youth.

He studied painting at Krasnodar School of Fine Arts.

Igor Venski is adhering to the aesthetic principles and the classical traditions.

Francesco Vinea | Genre painter

Francesco Vinea (Forlì, August 10, 1845 - Florence, October 22, 1902) was an Italian painter, known for his period costume Genre subjects.

He studied first at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, but had to discontinue his studies due to his poverty, and spent some time traveling without home.

He worked for a photographer, also as a designer of illustrated magazines, but returned to Florence and studied under professor Enrico Pollastrini, but only for a year.

Johann Jungblut | Romantic Landscape painter

Johan Jungblut (1860-1912), a Düsseldorf school, painted winter landscapes of rural Netherlands, Germany, and Norway in an old master style.

Jungblut was born in Sarrebourg on the French/German border in April of 1860, although in 1885 he made the German city of Dusseldorf his home.

Johan Jungblut was a solitary figure who lived alone; he made frequent trips to Holland to paint, specialising in Winter scenes infused with tranquil light.

Johann Georg Meyer | Pittore di genere

Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen (1813-1886), noto come Meyer von Bremen, è stato un importante rappresentante della pittura di genere classica Tedesca.

Meyer è considerato un rappresentante della Scuola di pittura di Düsseldorf e fu membro della Colonia di pittori di Willingshausen.

Johann Georg Meyer realizzò circa 1.000 opere.

Meyer ricevette numerosi premi ed onorificenze.

Paul Renard | Impressionist painter

French artist Paul Renard (1871-1920) was studied at Rotterdams Academy of Art.

He spent most of his career painting narrative street scenes of Paris for which he became renowned.

His is a well listed artist and his work can be found in galleries throughout the world.

Carlo Wostry | Belle Époque painter

A painter of historical and genre subjects, Carlo Wostry (1865-1943) was also a sculptor and engraver. He studied in Vienna and also at the Baviere School in Munich, so gaining a varied and comprehensive training as a young man.

His first exhibition was in his hometown of Trieste, Italy and he painted a number of fine portraits there and soon produced a good living from his vocation as an artist.

Greatly influenced by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) the great portrait and genre painter from Ferare, Italy.

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil | Belle Époque painter

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil (Madrid, 1858-1918) also known as Lucas "the younger", was born to the painter Eugenio Lucas Velázquez and Francisca Villaamil.

Until only a few years ago the information we had about his life was almost as vague as what is known about his work.

After initially training in his father’s studio as a boy, he furthered his studies at the Special School of Painting in Madrid and took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts three times.