Francesco Guardi | Baroque Era / Veduta painter

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), one of the outstanding Venetian landscape painters of the Rococo period.

Francesco and his brother Nicolò (1715-86) were trained under their elder brother, Giovanni Antonio Guardi. Their sister Cecilia married Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. By 1731 the brothers are recorded as collaborating in a bottega, half-studio and half-shop.

Pier Toffoletti, 1957 | Figurative painter

Italian painter Pier Toffoletti was born in the village of Torreano near Cividale in Northern Italy, surrounded by the art and antiquities of ancient Rome. Now he lives and works in Udine. Since he was a young boy, painting has been a passion and he drew inspiration from the tiles and frescos which were a part of his daily life.

In 1976 Pier earned a "Diploma di Maestro in Arte Applicata" (Certificate of Master in Applied Arts). While developing his unique medium and style he worked as Creative Director for his advertising agency, using his talented eye for developing and directing television commercials. Pier also worked with the Italian public broadcasting network (RAI) on a number of animation projects.

Frank Cadogan Cowper | The last of the Pre-Raphaelites

From: Christie's

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Frank Cadogan Cowper was born in 1877 at Wicken in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was rector. He studied art at the St John's Wood Art School and then spent five years in the Royal Academy Schools (1897-1902), before entering the Cotswold studio of Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911).

After six months working with this American muralist who, like his friend John Singer Sargent, had taken up residence in England, Cowper completed his artistic education by studying for a while in Italy.

Tamara de Lempicka's 120th Birthday

'Among a hundred paintings, you could recognize mine,

my goal was:

Do not copy. Create a new style...

colors light and bright,

return to elegance in my models'..

Tamara De Lempicka

Salvatore Quasimodo | Ora che sale il giorno / Now that the day rises..

Edvard Munch⏭ | Young woman on the veranda, 1924

Finita è la notte e la luna

si scioglie lenta nel sereno,

tramonta nei canali.

The night is over and the moon

melts slowly in cloudless sky,

sets into the canals.

Dan Beck, 1955 | The Dreamers | VideoArt

For American painter Dan Beck🎨, painting is "a balancing act between opposite ideas - direct observation and instinct, control and spontaneity, even between the literal and the symbolic.

It seems to me that although a painter is deeply involved with his own private investigation, his real aim is to communicate something that only the person looking at the painting really understands".

Dan Beck, 1955 | Figurative painter

Equally adept at figurative, still-life and landscape, Dan Beck is an award winning artist and sought after teacher.

His paintings have found collectors in both the private and corporate world on a national level as well as from such diverse places as Canada, Japan and the Middle East. Dan's work has also been featured in "Southwest Art", "Art of the West" magazines and "Art Talk".

Jaume Plensa, 1955 | Conceptual sculptor

Jaume Plensa is a Spanish artist and sculptor.

Plensa's works include the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois, which opened in July 2004.

The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet (15 m) tall, and they use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to display digital videos on the inward faces.

In the summer of 2007 he participated in the Chicago Public Art exhibit, Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet.

Another Plensa piece is Blake in Gateshead in North East England, a laser beam that on special occasions shines high into the night sky over Gateshead's Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

Felice Pedretti, 1961 | Metaphysical / Symbolist painter

Felice Pedretti was born in South Africa to Italian parents. In 1977, after having attended an English school, he came to Italy where he had the privilege of meeting artist and restorer Luigi Ferrero, who aroused in him a deep interest in ancient art.

«What I’m teaching you are ancient gestures and the result of centuries of experience and love for art», are his Teacher’s words that have remained impressed in his mind.

Elena Filatov, 1968 | Abstract painter

Kazakhstani painter Elena Filatov studied art and music in Omsk/Siberia and Moscow and worked as a graphic designer in Chabarovsk/Asia and Portland/USA.
Elena Filatov has been living in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, since 1995. An independent designer and illustrator she is trained in the following art techniques: oil, pastel, gouache, aquarelle, lead and coal pencil and collages.