Eugene de Blaas | Academic /Genre painter

Eugene de Blaas also known as Eugenio De Blaas or Eugen von Blaas, was born on July 24th in the Italian village of Albano, near Rome in 1843, to Austrian parents.

His career was enriched by a talented and artistic family.

His father, Carl von Blaas (1815-1894), was one of the most notable portrait painters of Roman society, a successful history portrait and fresco painter of the late Biedermeier period.

Modigliani, the Secret of empty eyes in his portraits

"When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes" - Amedeo Modigliani (Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris, 1884-1920) once said.

Of all the striking characteristics seen in Modigliani’s portraits, be they the elongated visages or the disfigured features, the mysterious, hazy eyes of the sitters capture the true essence of the painter’s style.

In fact, while he would outline the eyes, he'd rarely paint the pupils, except when he had a close, nurturing relationship with them - enabling a basis for emotional intelligence.

Torna a Surriento!

"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song composed in 1894 by Italian musician Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, the poet and painter Giambattista De Curtis.

The song was copyrighted officially in 1905, and has become one of the most popular of this traditional genre.

Others include:

╰┈➤ "O sole mio",

╰┈➤ "Funiculì funiculà",

╰┈➤ "Santa Lucia".

La Bocca della Verità / The Mouth of Truth, Roma 1485

The Mouth of Truth / Bocca della Verità is an ancient Roman marble disc with a relief carving of a man's face.

According to legend the face's mouth closes if a liar sticks his hand in it.

The massive marble mask weighs about 1300 kg and probably depicts the face of the sea god Oceanus. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are open.

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Vacanze Romane, 1953

Giotto | The allegories of Vices, 1303-1305

In the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, between 1303-1305, Italian painter and architect from Florence Giotto di Bondone (1266/7-1337), painted 14 allegories, in monochrome - seven allegorical representations of virtues and seven allegorical representations of vices.

Danilo Martinis, 1976 | Abstract painter

Born in Milan, Danilo Martinis currently lives and works in Como.

He started drawing by pencil at the age of 5, and never stopped since then.

In September 2009 he started his career as professional artist.

Danilo Martinis has an important background of research and stylistic evolution behind him with an initial interest in Action Painting.

Giotto (1267-1337) | Gothic painter

Giotto di Bondone, better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages.

He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

Giotto's contemporary Giovanni Villani wrote that Giotto was:

"the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature.

And he was given a salary by the Comune of Florence in virtue of his talent and excellence".

The Story behind "Caruso" song

"Caruso" is a song written by Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla (1943-2012) in 1986.

It is dedicated to Enrico Caruso, an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor.

Following Lucio Dalla's death, the song entered the Italian Singles Chart, peaking at number two for two consecutive weeks.

The song simply tells about the pain and longings of a man who is about to die while he is looking into the eyes of a girl who was very dear to him.

The lyrics contain various subtle references to people and places in Caruso's life.

Ferdinando Sapio | Sorrento

Francesca (Fanny) Carlini | Fruttivendolo veneziano

Francesca (Fanny) Carlini (Venezia, 1859-1944), figlia del ritrattista Giulio Carlini (Venezia, 1826-1887), segue con buon successo la strada del padre.

E’ una delle prime donne a diplomarsi all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, intraprendendo poi una carriera che la vedrà vincitrice nel 1884 della Medaglia d’argento del Crystal Palace a Londra.

Rocco Normanno, 1974 | Caravaggio's inspired painter

Rocco Normanno was born in Taurisano, a small town in the province of Lecce.

There, he completed his secondary education at the Professional Institute for Commerce, and, in 2003, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

Normanno currently lives and works in Tuscany.

Rocco Normanno stands out as an artist who freely expresses himself with an autonomous language, but who refers to Caravaggio’s poetics by painting ordinary people, making them become great interpreters of biblical or mythological themes revisited in own way.

Salvatore Quasimodo | Il girasole piega a occidente / Almost a Madrigal

Il girasole piega a occidente

e già precipita il giorno nel suo

occhio in rovina e l'aria dell'estate

s'addensa e già curva le foglie e il fumo

dei cantieri. S'allontana con scorrere

secco di nubi e stridere di fulmini

quest'ultimo gioco del cielo. Ancora,

Vincent van Gogh | Sunflowers, 1888

Tomaso Albinoni | 12 Concerti a cinque (op. 9), 1722

12 Concerti a cinque (op. 9) is a collection of concertos by the Italian baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751), published in 1722.

The most famous piece from Albinoni's Opus 9 is the Concerto in D minor for oboe (Opus 9, Number 2).

It is known for its slow movement.

Leopold Pollak (1806-1880) |A little shepherd playing the oboe at the Claudia Aqueduct on the Roman Campagna", 1857

Vittorio Matteo Corcos | Dreams / Sogni, 1896

Vittorio Matteo Corcos returned in 1886 to Florence, where he painted the prominent and the fashionable portrait of a modern girl, Elena Vecchi, which has become the most emblematic image of the so-called Belle Epoque.

His most notorious portrait, however, was that of his mistress, Elena Vecchi, the daughter of a naval officer who carned his fame as Jack La Bolina, the author of popular adventure stories.

Francesco Lavagna | The Neapolitan still life of the eighteenth century

Francesco Lavagna (Naples, 1684-1724) was an Italian still life painter who worked mainly in Naples.

Little is known about his biographical data and career, but he was first mentioned by B. De Dominici in the 18th century and has since been regarded as an important still life painter of the Neapolitan School.

Antonio Calderara | Abstract / Minimalist painter

- "Contemplation, harmony, proportion, stillness; this is the invisible thread that weave my aspiration" - Antonio Calderara

Self-taught as a child growing up in Milan, and later mentored for a time by a young Lucio Fontana, the earliest influences of Antonio Calderara (1903-1978) were of the figuration and light effects of Piero della Francesca, Seurat and the Milanese Novecento painters.

After abandoning his university studies in engineering in 1925 the young man dedicated himself fully to experimenting with colour and form.

Filippo Baratti | Orientalist painter

Filippo Baratti (1849-1936) was an Italian painter; known primarily for his Orientalist scenes.

Filippo Baratti was born in Trieste, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Little is known of his early years, however in 1868 he was exhibiting at the Esposizione di Belle Arte in Milan.

Baratti then moved to Turin, where he exhibited at the Società Promatirice di Belle Arte 1869-1872.

Angiolo Tommasi | The Emigrants /Gli Emigranti, 1986

Angelo Tommasi is a Naturalistic painter, influenced by Courbet’s realism, and played an active role spreading the technique employed by the Macchiaioli.

The monumental painting The Emigrants shows a common situation in Italy after the unification process.

The burning and dramatic theme of overseas emigration is vividly depicted by the packed crowds at the Port of Livorno, people who have resigned themselves to their fate and the expectation of embarkation. The painting's extraordinary dimensions contribute to an illustration of the theme of Italian emigration on an almost epic scale.

Nicoletta Ceccoli, 1973 | Children's book illustrators

Nicoletta Ceccoli born and still live in her native Republic of San Marino.

She graduated from the Institute of Art in Urbino (Italy) in the section of animation.

Since 1995 Nicoletta has been commissioned as illustrator to create work in the editorial world for several children’s books, magazines, book covers, CDs and posters, advertising.

Agim Sulaj, 1960 | Surreal satirical illustrator

Born in Valona, Agim Sulaj, is an Albanian painter, living in Rimini, Italy since 1990 and having Italian citizenship.

After high school, in 1978 Agim Sulaj entered the Tirana Academy des Baux Artes, and completed his studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Tirana in 1985.

As a painter, he started working in the political and satirical magazine Hosteni, producing illustrations and caricatures.

Selene Salvi, 1976 | Parthenopean painter

Italian painter Selene Salvi was born in Naples in 1976.

After graduating from university with a degree in philosophy, she began her artistic studies in the studio of the realist Neapolitan painter Fulvio De Marinis, through the time-honored ritual of copying the works of the masters.

Raffaello, Rubens, Caravaggio, de Ribera, Ingres, Bouguereau, and the 18th-century Neapolitan school became a solid base from which to launch her own original works and creative impulses.