Lorenzo Lotto | The Recanati Polyptych, 1506-1508

The Recanati Polyptych is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, executed in 1506-1508 and housed in the Civic Museum of Villa Colloredo Mels, Recanati, Italy.

The work is dated and signed Laurent[ius] Lotus MDVIII.

Lotto began to work on the piece in 1506 as a devotional for the church of San Domenico in Recanati.

André Rieu | Strauss party

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (1 October, 1949) is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.

André Rieu has legions of fans worldwide and his performances have become major events in the calendar that are always guaranteed to sell out.

André Rieu tours Europe and the USA constantly and has also toured Australia and the Far East regularly.

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.

Queen Nefertiti's Long Lost Tomb

QV66 is the tomb of Nefertari, the Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II, in Egypt's Valley of the Queens.

It was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli (the director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin) in 1904.

Nefertari, which means "beautiful companion", was Ramesses II's favorite wife; he went out of his way to make this obvious, referring to her as "the one for whom the sun shines" in his writings, built the Temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel to idolize her as a deity, and commissioned portraiture wall paintings.

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.