Giacomo Favretto | Genre painter

The Venetian painter Giacomo Favretto (1849-1887) is one of the most important masters of the Italian Nineteenth century, mainly depicting Genre subjects in his native city.

A true “innovator” of the Venetian school during the second half of the century, he both revived and modernised the unique aspects of great Veneto tradition, from Longhi to Tiepolo - that had been abandoned in the first half of the Nineteenth century in favour of paintings of history and landscape.

Born in Venice into a family of humble origin, Favretto enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1864, where he trained under Pompeo Molmenti. He was said to have been discovered in a stationer's shop cutting out silhouettes to make a living. By age 30, he had lost sight from one eye.

Vincenzo Irolli | Genre painter

Vincenzo Irolli (1860-1949) was an Italian painter.

Vincenzo Irolli enrolled at the of Naples Institute of Fine Arts, where his masters included Gioacchino Toma, in 1877 and graduated three years later.

The work he presented regularly at the exhibitions of the Naples Società Promotrice di Belle Arti as from 1879 comprised portraits and Genre scenes.

He became a member of the Circolo Artistico Napoletano in 1890 and worked with Giovanni Migliaro and other local artists on decorations for the Caffè Gambrinus at the end of the decade.

Muriel Dolemieux, 1954

"My life as an artist really began in 1973 when I graduated from “l’Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographique” - National Geographic Sciences Institute in Paris, as an Artist Cartographer. But I always knew I would be an artist.

When I was a kid I never asked myself if I was able to draw, I just did it ... It was in my blood!

Some of my ancestors and parents are famous artists, such as Guillaume Coustou, Nicolas de Largillière, Nicolas and Edouard Gatteaux, Henri Viot my Great-Grand-Father, Simone de Boutray my Grand-Mother, Martine Gayet my Mother..."

Christian Rohlfs | Expressionist painter

German painter Christian Rohlfs (1849-1938) is one of the important representatives of German Expressionism.

Rohlfs was born in Gross Niendorf, Kreis Segeberg in Northern Germany.

He took up painting as a teenager while convalescing from an infection that was eventually to lead to the amputation of a leg in 1874.

He began his formal artistic education in Berlin, before transferring, in 1870, to the Weimar Academy.

Washington Maguetas, 1942 | Impressionist painter

Innocence and beauty and also the impact of different aesthetic and emotional experiences which Washington Maguetas has had in the course of a long artistic career.

Many of his work hark back to a late 19th-century world of elegance and exquisite natural settings.

Brasilian painter Washington Maguetas is a prolific artist of great versatility who has absinfuences together with the spirit of his native land Brazil to produce paintings which reflect the best elements of both traditions.

David Farrant, 1938 | Modern Impressionist painter

Born in London in 1938, David Farrant has built a reputation as one of the country’s finest figurative painters. Like Hopper or Vettriano, David is inspired by everyday scenes of human interaction, and he reproduces these against a living background of muted colors and complex shadows.

His early career was spent teaching art whilst also working very successfully as a portrait painter. He no longer paints portraits preferring to concentrate on his figurative painting.

David works in oil and acrylic; he likes to work on a fairly large format and tries to hint at a story in the composition of the paintings. He gets his inspiration from observing people in everyday situations and the impact of light, especially sunlight, is very apparent in his work.

Mr. and Mrs. Garmash | Romantic painters

Michael and Inessa Garmash are considered two of the finest Romantic Impressionists of our day.
Their incredible talent is only matched by their love and career stories.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Mr. and Mrs. Garmash, see:

• Michael and Inessa Garmash | Romantic Impressionist painters ➦.

Leonardo da Vinci | Perché la pittura non è connumerata nelle scienze..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /30

Perché gli scrittori non hanno avuto notizia della scienza della pittura, non hanno potuto descriverne i gradi e le parti. Ed essa medesima non si dimostra col suo fine nelle parole; essa è restata, mediante l'ignoranza, indietro alle predette scienze, non mancando per questo di sua divinità.

E veramente non senza cagione non l'hanno nobilitata, perché per sé medesima si nobilita senza l'aiuto delle altrui lingue, non altrimenti che si facciano le eccellenti opere di natura.

Raffaello Sanzio ~ I sonetti

Sonetto I

Amor, tu m’envesscasti con doi lumi
de doi beli occhi dov’io me strugo e [s]face,
da bianca neve e da rosa vivace,
da un bel parlar in donnessi costumi.

Tal che tanto ardo, ch[e] né mar né fiumi
spegnar potrian quel foco; ma non mi spiace,
poiché ’l mio ardor tanto di ben mi face,
ch’ardendo onior più d’arder me consu[mi].

Quanto fu dolce el giogo e la catena
de’ toi candidi braci al col mio vòl[ti],
che, sogliendomi, io sento mortal pen[a].

D’altre cose io’ non dico, che fôr m[olti],
ché soperchia docenza a mo[r]te men[a],
e però tacio, a te i pens[e]r rivolti.

Heather Arenas ~ Plein air painter

Art has been a constant for me since I was very little. I studied art through high school but also took 3 years of Latin because my goal was to become an orthopedic surgeon. I took a few classes in college to create balance while I worked on my biology degree. It was not until I was in medical school that I decided I was not cut out for that line of work since it would mean I wouldn't have time to paint!
When I left school, I tried many different careers including veterinary technician, database architect and alpaca rancher and continued drawing and painting tributes to my experiences. Ultimately it didn't matter what I did to pay the bills, I still found time to paint. Although I have painted many different subjects, I particularly love figure painting. Anatomy is still my favorite subject. Now that I am older and more settled, I can paint everyday, sometimes on location and often with a live model to keep my skills sharp.
My goal as an artist is to make beautiful art. I study art and techniques constantly to try to make that happen.

Josep Teixido, 1956 | Abstract palette knife painter

Josep Teixido was born in Calella, Barcelona, and currently resides in Vilassar de Mar, also in the province of Barcelona, Spain. He has exhibited his work for over 25 years in Spain and France.

With warm colours, and his unique palette knife technique, his exotic paintings instantly capture the attention of the viewer, allowing them to dream and take a journey of the senses. Always playing with our perception, Josep subtly oscillates between the figurative and the abstract, while transporting us to gorgeous locations reminiscent of his homeland. 

Oleg Oprisco, 1987 ~ Surrealist photographer

Ukrainian Fine Art photographer Oleg Oprisco is born in 1987.
“Hi, my name is Oleg Oprisco and I live in Kiev, Ukraine. My motto is: “The photo - that feeling,” and every one of my picture tells a story and express my feelings and thoughts”.

Norma Mascellani

La pittrice Italiana Norma Mascellani (1909-2009), allieva di Giorgio Morandi, Alfredo Protti, Guglielmo Pizzirani e Giovanni Romagnoli, è stata una pittrice figurativa -ritratti, nature morte, paesaggi- con qualche risvolto metafisico.
Ha partecipato alla Biennale di Venezia XXII, 1939; XXV, 1950 ed alla Quadriennale di Roma III, 1939; VI, 1951; VII, 1955, e varie personali in Italia o nel 2005 al Parlamento Europeo di Bruxelles.
Ha ottenuto diversi riconoscimenti, sia artistici che per meriti sociali (ha fatto numerose opere di beneficenza), fra cui la "Stella d'oro della bontà" conferitale dal cardinale Giacomo Lercaro nel 1962, il titolo di Cavaliere ricevuto dal Presidente della Repubblica Italiana Giuseppe Saragat 1967, e altri. È morta, centenaria, il 7 dicembre 2009, dopo una breve malattia.

Marci Oleszkiewicz 1979 | Impressionist painter

American painter🎨 Marci Oleszkiewicz-Taylor has been studying art and painting for some time, it wasn't until 2007 when things started to move forward and she began to see what the future might hold for her as an artist.

Upon entering several art competitions Marci was not only accepted in two of the top shows, The Oil Painters of America's national show and the American Impressionist Society's national show, but also received very substantial awards from both.

She received an award🎨 of excellence from the OPA and the best of show award from the AIS. Not long after, she was included in Southwest Art Magazine's 21 under 31 and had her first two man show at Gallery Russia in Scottsdale, AZ.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe | Aforismi sull'Arte

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

• L'opera d'arte può avere un effetto morale, ma richiedere ad un artista uno scopo morale significa fargli rovinare il suo lavoro.
• L'arte è lunga, la vita breve, il giudizio difficile, l'occasione buona passeggera.
• La tecnica, alleata al cattivo gusto, è la più temibile nemica dell'arte.
• Non c’è via più sicura per evadere dal mondo che l’arte, ma non c’è legame più sicuro con esso che l’arte.
• Nell’arte, abbastanza buono è l’ottimo.