Pedro Álvarez Castelló | Tango Argentino

Pedro Reinaldo Álvarez Castelló (1967-2004) was a Cuban painter who rose to prominence during Cuba's Special Period.

Alvarez was a native of Havana, Cuba.

He studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" from 1980-1985 and the Instituto Superior Pedagogico Enrique Jose Varona from 1986-1991.

He was a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

He married a Cuban woman and had a child.

hen he wasn't travelling to promote his work, he divided his time between Malaga, Spain and Havana.

Arkady Ostritsky / Аркадий Острицкий, 1948

Arkady Ostritsky was born in Chisinau, Moldova.

He was recognized very early as gifted in drawing and painting and by the age of 20 was accepted in Moldova's most distinguished Art Academy - the Repin Art Academy.

He graduated with distinction, earned many awards, and became one of his country's most important painters.

John George Brown | Genre painter

From Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum:

John George Brown (November 11, 1831 – February 8, 1913), the son of an impoverished lawyer, was born near Durham, England.

At fourteen he began a seven-year apprenticeship as a glass-cutter in Newcastle-on-Tyne, studying at night from 1849-1852 with William Bell Scott at the School of Design.

From 1852-53 he worked at the Holyrood Glass Works, Edinburgh, studying evenings at the Trustees Academy with Robert Scott Lauder.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti | Lovesight / Visione d'Amore

Lovesight

When do I see thee most, beloved one?

When in the light the spirits of mine eyes

Before thy face, their altar, solemnize

The worship of that Love through thee made known?

Or when in the dusk hours (we two alone)

Close-kissed and eloquent of still replies

Thy twilight-hidden glimmering visage lies,

And my soul only sees thy soul its own?

Niccolò Paganini: "La felicità non esiste ma la si canta!"

▻ "The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master".

▻ "Paganini non ripete!"

▻ "Paganini does not repeat!"

▻ "My secret, if I can call it secret, will indicate the violinists the way to penetrate the instrument much better than what has been done until now and it can demonstrate them, that violin is much more full of opportunities than what is commonly believed.

This discovery is not due to chance, but it is due to a deep study and applying it will no longer be necessary to practice four or five hours a day, it will remove the current scholar method, which studies to make the instrument difficult instead of teaching it".

Barney Seale | A head of Niccolo Paganini, 1782-1840