Gaetano Bellei | Academic / Genre painter

The Italian master Gaetano Bellei was born in Modena in 1857, died in the same city in March 1922.

A student of Adeodato Malatesta and companion of John Muzzioli.

Twenty-four he won the Retired Potetti that allowed him to travel to Rome for some time learning about yourself.

Winslow Homer | Summer Night / Notte d'estate, 1890

Winslow Homer started his career as a graphic reporter during the American Civil War, before going on to paint scenes of army life and the rural world with the Naturalist precision which then prevailed in American painting.

After a stay in Paris, Homer used an Impressionist palette for a while then developed a personal style midway between Realism and Symbolism.

Summer Night perfectly expresses this synthesis and may be considered one of the first masterpieces of American art still in search of its identity.

Winslow Homer | Summer Night / Notte d'estate, 1890 | Musée d'Orsay

Berit Kruger-Johnsen | Romantic Surrealist painter

Growing up in Oslo, Norway, nature has always played a major part in Berit Kruger-Johnsen's life.

She studied for a degree in biology and upon completion was accepted into the only graphic design school in Oslo at that time.

The only artist in my family was my grandfather, who never met. It was crazy during the Depression era and was institutionalized. I think it would be fair to say that whenever an artist or not entitled connotations in my family.

Lord Frederic Leighton | Cymon and Iphigenia, 1884

Cymon and Iphigenia is an oil on canvas painting by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA.

The painting does not bear a date but was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1884.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, purchased it at a Christie's auction in London in 1976.

John Frederick Lewis | Orientalist painter

John Frederick Lewis RA (London, 1804-1876) was an British painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in exquisitely detailed watercolour or oils.

Lewis lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and (after his return to England) painted highly detailed works showing both realistic Genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper class Egyptian interiors with no traces of Western cultural influence yet apparent.