William Shakespeare | The Sonnets, 1609

Italian translation ➦ William Shakespeare ~ I Sonetti, 1609

Sonnet V

Those hours, that with gentle work did frame

The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,

Will play the tyrants to the very same

And that unfair which fairly doth excel:

For never-resting time leads summer on

To hideous winter and confounds him there;

Sap cheque'd with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,

Beauty o'ersnow'd and bareness every where:

Then, were not summer's distillation left,

A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,

Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,

Nor it nor no remembrance what it was:

But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet,

Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

Tom Lovell | Western painter and illustrator

Tom Lovell (1909-1997) was a founding member of the National Academy of Western Art. He received many honors for his illustrations and paintings. He was winner of the prestigious Prix de West award twice for his paintings. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators in 1974. In 1992, Lovell received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Robert Lougheed Memorial Award for Traditional Painter of Western History.

Robert Hagan, 1947 | Western painting

Robert Hagan raised in the lush, languorous sub-tropical northern New South Wales, Australia and educated at Newcastle University, he communicates in a typical offhanded Aussie manner.

Widely traveled with studios in Suffolk, England, San Diego, USA, Southport, Australia and Pattaya, Thailand.

Lorenzo Bartolini | Neoclassical sculptor

Lorenzo Bartolini (7 January 1777 - 20 January 1850) has been recognised as one of the great sculptors of Europe.

His style is quite different from the traditional Neo-Classical style of Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, because it is not based on the antique or on standard Academic principles.

He was a controversial and polemical artist.

His fascinating life has all the drama of a novel by Stendhal.

Giambologna | Hercules and the Centaur Nessus, 1599

The marble group of Hercules and the Centaur Nessus, was completed in 1599 by Flemish sculptor Giambologna, born Jean Boulogne (1529-1608). The sculpture was carved, impressively, from a single block of marble by Giambologna and it sits in the open-air gallery Loggia dei Lanzi on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, among the square's other famous marble occupants.

Showing an advanced understanding of anatomy - visible in Hercules' rib cage, showing through his taut skin and the veined legs of the centaur, poised in battle - Giambologna's statue is a powerful evocation of the strength of mortal man.

Lorenzo Bartolini | The Nymph Arnina, 1825

For the first time ever, the original marble The Nymph Arnina by Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850), was exposed to the public for the first time on 18 November until February 8th 2015, accompanied by his beautiful plaster cast, owned by the Academy Gallery, returned after being deposited for a few decades at the Civic Museum of Prato, and together with some documents aimed to evoke the complex history of the work that Bartolini, in this version, shows the dedication to Giovanni degli Alessandri, leading figure in the cultural life of the early nineteenth century Florentine.

Pio Fedi | The Rape of Polyxena, 1865

The Rape of Polyxena is a marble statue located in the Loggia dei Lanzi, the open-air museum in Florence, Italy’s Piazza della Signoria.

It was sculpted in 1868 by Italian sculptor who worked chiefly in the Romantic style, Pio Fedi (1815-1892), but it was placed alongside several sculptures from the Renaissance.

The Rape of Polyxena embodies Hellenistic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassicist mannerisms regarding its style and theme.

Giambologna ~ The Rape of Sabine, 1579-83 | Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence

The manneristic celebrated group Rape of the Sabines by the Flemish artist Jean Boulogne, better known as Giambologna (1529-1608), is part of the statuary under the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence’s Piazza Signoria.
The massive statue is 4.10 meters high (statues became much bigger after Michelangelo’s David) and depicts a young man lifting a girl up over his shoulder, as an older man is crouched at his feet in complete dismay. For this reason, the statue is also known as the "Three ages of Man". At the base of the statue there is a bronze plaque that depicts scenes of the abduction of the Sabine women in bas-reliefs.

Giambologna | The Appennine Colossus, 1579-1580

Shrouded within the park of Villa Demidoff, in Medici Villas (Unesco World Heritage List, 2013), Pratolino, Vaglia, Tuscany, just 7 miles north of Florence, Italy, there sits a gigantic 16th century sculpture - 14-meter-tall masterpiece statue - known as Colosso dell'Appennino, or the Appennine Colossus. The brooding structure was first erected in 1580 by Flemish sculptor Giambologna, pseudonym of Jean de Boulogne (Douai, 1529 - Florence, 1608).

Antonio Canova | Psyché et l'Amour, 1788-1793

"Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss" is a sculpture by Antonio Canova first commissioned in 1787 by Colonel John Campbell. It is regarded as a masterpiece of Neoclassical sculpture, but shows the mythological lovers at a moment of great emotion, characteristic of the emerging movement of Romanticism.

It represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss. The story of Cupid and Psyche is taken from Lucius Apuleius' Latin novel The Golden Ass and was popular in art.

- Joachim Murat acquired the first or prime version (pictured) in 1800. After his death the statue entered the Louvre Museum in Paris, France in 1824;

Antonio Canova | Drawing

Antonio Canova - Autoritratto, 1792

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) was the leading proponent of Neoclassicism and Italy's last internationally famous artist.
The sculptor Antonio Canova, born in the village of Possagno in 1757, rose to celebrity from humble origins. For biographical notes -in english and italian- and works by Canova see Antonio Canova ~ Neoclassical sculptor.

Madre Teresa/ Brita Seifert ~ Tieni sempre presente /Always keep in mind

Tieni sempre presente che la pelle fa le rughe,
i capelli diventano bianchi,
i giorni si trasformano in anni.
Però ciò che é importante non cambia;
la tua forza e la tua convinzione non hanno età.
Il tuo spirito e` la colla di qualsiasi tela di ragno.
Dietro ogni linea di arrivo c`e` una linea di partenza.
Dietro ogni successo c`e` un`altra delusione.

Bahram Dabiri, 1950 | Cubist/Surrealist/Romantic painter

Bahram Dabiri [بهرام دبیری] was born in the city of Shiraz, Iran in the year of the Tiger, 1950, under the sign of Sagittarius, whose symbol, the Centaur with bow and arrow figure greatly in his works. Looking at the reliefs and sculptures on the walls of nearby Persopolis and the splendid inscription of the Naqsheh Rustam Monument, are amongst the artist’s treasured childhood memories.
At the age of twelve, without encouragement or tutelage but strictly on his own, Dabiri started his career in what he likes to call “The Paintings”.

Leonardo da Vinci | Conclusione infra il Poeta ed il Pittore

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 24

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Poiché noi abbiamo concluso la poesia essere in sommo grado di comprensione ai ciechi, e che la pittura fa il medesimo ai sordi, noi diremo tanto di piú valere la pittura che la poesia, quanto la pittura serve a miglior senso e piú nobile che la poesia, la qual nobiltà è provata esser tripla alla nobiltà di tre altri sensi; perché è stato eletto di volere piuttosto perdere l'udito ed odorato e tatto, che il senso del vedere; perché chi perde il vedere, perde la veduta e bellezza dell'universo, e resta a similitudine di uno che sia chiuso in vita in una sepoltura, nella quale abbia moto e vita.

Leonardo da Vinci | Arguizione del Poeta contro il Pittore

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 22

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Tu dici, o pittore, che la tua arte è adorata, ma non imputare a te tal virtú, ma alla cosa di che tal pittura è rappresentatrice.

Qui il pittore risponde: O tu, poeta, che ti fai ancora tu imitatore, perché non rappresenti tu colle tue parole cose che le lettere tue contenitrici di tali parole ancora esse sieno adorate?

Ma la natura ha piú favorito il pittore che il poeta, e meritamente le opere del favorito debbono essere piú onorate, che quelle di chi non è in favore.

Leonardo da Vinci | Risposta del re Mattia ad un poeta che gareggiava con un pittore

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 23

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Portando il dí del natale del re Mattia un poeta un'opera fattagli in laude del giorno ch'esso re era nato a benefizio del mondo, ed un pittore presentandogli un ritratto della sua innamorata, subito il re rinchiuse il libro del poeta, e voltossi alla pittura, ed a quella fermò la vista con grande ammirazione.

Allora il poeta forte isdegnato disse: O re, leggi, leggi, e sentirai cosa di maggior sostanza che una muta pittura.

Leonardo da Vinci | Disputa del poeta col pittore..

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 21

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Dice il poeta che la sua scienza è invenzione e misura; e questo è il semplice corpo di poesia, invenzione di materia, e misura ne' versi, e che essa si veste poi di tutte le scienze.

Al quale risponde il pittore avere i medesimi obblighi nella scienza della pittura, cioè invenzione e misura; invenzione nella materia, ch'egli deve fingere, e misura nelle cose dipinte, acciocché non sieno sproporzionate; ma ch'ei non si veste tali tre scienze, anzi, che le altre in gran parte si vestono della pittura, come l'astrologia, che nulla fa senza la prospettiva, la quale è principal membro di essa pittura, cioè l'astrologia matematica, non dico della fallace giudiciale, perdonimi chi per mezzo degli sciocchi ne vive.

Leonardo da Vinci | Dell'occhio...

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 20

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

L'occhio, dal quale la bellezza dell'universo è specchiata dai contemplanti, e di tanta eccellenza, che chi consente alla sua perdita, si priva della rappresentazione di tutte le opere della natura, per la veduta delle quali l'anima sta contenta nelle umane carceri, mediante gli occhi, per i quali essa anima si rappresenta tutte le varie cose di natura.

Ma chi li perde lascia essa anima in una oscura prigione, dove si perde ogni speranza di rivedere il sole, luce di tutto il mondo.

E quanti son quelli a cui le tenebre notturne sono in sommo odio, ancora ch'elle sieno di breve vita!

Elena Kukanova, 1979 | Figurative painter

Russian painter Elena Kukanova /Елена Куканова was born in Moscow.

She studied at the Art School and Lyceum of Moscow from 1988-1998.

For the next six years Kukanova attended the Art Academy of Moscow where the focus was entirely on portraits. Her father is a Colonel in the Russian Army.

She grew up in an environment where she was exposed to the military world of Russia.

She loves the theatre and currently works in one of Moscow`s theatres as a costume and scenery designer.

William Shakespeare | Sonetto V

In original english➦ William Shakespeare | Sonnets, 1609

V

L’ore cortesi che squisite danno

le forme al tuo bel viso, onde ogni sguardo

è avvinto, quel potere empio s’avranno:

fare meschino quel ch’era gagliardo.

Richard (Riccardo) Aurili (1834-1914)

Olga Akasi, 1970 | Symbolist painter

Ольга Акаси was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Lives and works in Kiev.

"Ukrainian artist, the unique in the Ukraine, who works in the technology of old masters, without being neither the restorer, nor the museum worker.

Akasi is an artist of the new generation with an original manner and theme characteristic for all her works. However, she never follows methods of actual art specializing in criticizing the public taste or perception standards".

John Atkinson Grimshaw | Moonlight painter

John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) was an British Victorian artist who became famous for his sombre views of the dockyards and his nocturnal scenes of urban lanes with leafless trees silhouetted against the moonlight sky.
During his later life, he became a close friend of James McNeill Whistler who admired his work and admitted: "I considered myself the inventor of nocturnes until I saw Grimmy’s moonlight picture".
For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Grimshaw see Atkinson Grimshaw | Victorian-era painter.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come la pittura avanza tutte le opere umane..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /15

L'occhio, che si dice finestra dell'anima, è la principale via donde il comune senso può piú copiosamente e magnificamente considerare le infinite opere di natura e l'orecchio è il secondo, il quale si fa nobile per le cose racconte, le quali ha veduto l'occhio. Se voi istoriografi, o poeti, o altri matematici, non aveste con l'occhio visto le cose, male le potreste voi riferire per le scritture.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come la scienza dell'astrologia nasce dall'occhio..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /13

Nessuna parte è nell'astrologia che non sia ufficio delle linee visuali e della prospettiva, figliuola della pittura; perché il pittore è quello che per necessità della sua arte ha partorito essa prospettiva, e non si può fare per sé senza linee, dentro alle quali linee s'inchiudono tutte le varie figure de' corpi generati dalla natura, e senza le quali l'arte del geometra è orba.

Édouard Cortès | Le Poète Parisien de la Peinture

Édouard Cortès (1882-1969) è conosciuto come "Le Poète Parisien de la Peinture" od "Il poeta parigino della pittura" per la varietà dei suoi paesaggi urbani parigini, rappresentati in diverse condizioni atmosferiche e notturne.

Edouard Léon Cortès è stato un pittore francese di origini francesi e spagnole, figlio di Antonio Cortés y Aguilar (1827-1908), rinomato pittore della corte spagnola, e nipote di André Cortès, artigiano.

Ferdinando Vichi | Romantic sculptor of La Belle Époque

Ferdinando Vichi was born in Florence in 1875 and died there in 1941.

He was well-known and much appreciated sculptor who produced numerous works of art, including busts and tomb-stones.

Ferdinando Vichi was a central figure in the production of Florentine sculpture at the end of the 19th century.

Ferdinando Vichi | Group of Putti Musicians, 1875-1899

Like many other late nineteenth-century sculptors, Ferdinando Vichi (1875-1945) often took inspiration from Romantic and Tender subjects.

His compositions are varied in subject matter, ranging from Romantic busts, women and children to orientalist themes and Renaissance-inspired models.

Pio Fedi | Love story of Dionora and Ippolito

Pio Fedi - Dionora de Bardi and Ippolito Buondelmonti

In the present sculpture, Pio Fedi (1816-1892) presents us with an image of the courtship of Dianora. Ippolito's gently persuasive gesture conveys his intense and immediate affection for Dianora, whilst her apparent reticence highlights the agonistic relationship between their two families and the difficulties associated with their union. Pio Fedi's training as a goldsmith and engraver is evident in the virtuoso carving of the rich fabrics and differing surfaces. The intricacy of the carving, together with the small scale of the group, lends to it a precious, jewel-like quality. The signature compares closely with that of Pio Fedi's Il sospetto in the Ashmoleon, also dated 1872, and which, according to Nicholas Penny, may have been sculpted as a special piece by Pio Fedi himself.

Antoine Bouvard | A Venetian Scene

Antoine Bouvard Senior, also known as Marc Aldine (1870-1956) painted Venetian scenes and exhibited his works in Paris and Venice.

He was born at St. Jean-de-Bournay in L'Isere in 1870.

He trained as an architect and studied art and architecture under Constant-Dufeus, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He became the Director of Architectural Services for the Seine, and was responsible for the construction of the Bourse du Travail and the Boulevard Morland in Paris.

Ron Monsma

Whether I am painting a still life or figure (or landscape) light plays an important role.

I work in the Baroque tradition where light reveals and distills form and all its nuances.

This is stage lighting where illumination exposes a mood, a setting or situation or some event about which we are not quite certain.

It is light that invites the viewer to make discoveries in the shadows” - Ron Monsma, Associate Professor of Fine Arts.

Ferdinando Vichi | Masquerade, 1900

Italian Sculptor Ferdinando Vichi (1875-1945) was one of the talented band of Tuscan sculptors associated with the Bazzanti gallery in Florence.

His work in marble and alabaster demonstrates his high technical ability.

Lorenzo Bartolini | Dircé, 1834

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique (1780-1867)

Portrait of Lorenzo Bartolini, Musée du Louvre

Dircé (/ˈdɜrsiː/; Ancient Greek: Δίρκη, pronounced Dirke, modern Greek pronunciation Dirki, meaning "double" or "cleft") was the wife of Lycus in Greek mythology, and aunt to Antiope whom Zeus impregnated.

Antiope fled in shame to King Epopeus of Sicyon, but was brought back by Lycus through force, giving birth to the twins Amphion and Zethus on the way.

Edward McCartan | Figurative/Art Déco style sculptor

Edward Francis McCartan (August 16, 1879 - September 20, 1947) was an American sculptor, best known for his decorative bronzes done in an elegant style popular in the 1920s.

Born in Albany, New York, he studied at the Pratt Institute, with Herbert Adams. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York with George Grey Barnard and Hermon Atkins MacNeil, and then in Paris for three years under Jean Antoine Injalbert before his return to the United States in 1910.

Edward McCartan | Dream Lady, 1922, Lincoln Park

Eugene Field

"Dream Lady", also known as the Eugene Field Memorial, is a bronze sculpture by Edward Francis McCartan (August 16, 1879 - September 20, 1947).
It is located in Lincoln Park, Chicago.
Eugene Field (1850-1895) was an author and journalist, and wrote a humor column, "Sharps and Flats", for the Chicago Daily News. He was also well known as an author of poems for children.
The memorial cost $35,000, and was funded by public school children, citizens of Chicago and the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund. It was dedicated on October 9, 1922.
Erected in 1922 by school children and citizens aided by the Benj. F. Ferguson Fund unsigned | From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia.

Edward McCartan | Isoult, 1926

Edward Francis McCartan (August 16, 1879 - September 20, 1947) sculptor, was born in Albany, New York, the son of Michael McCartan, an Irish immigrant merchant of limited means, and Anna Hyland. McCartan began to draw instinctively at age five or six and by age ten had modeled a lion in clay. In his teens he entered Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and studied with Herbert Adams.

Donatello | The bronze David, 1440

David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero by the Italian early Renaissance* sculptor Donatello*, an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408-09)*, and a far more famous bronze figure and dates to the 1430s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.

Benvenuto Cellini | Saliera or Salt Cellar, 1540-1543

The Cellini Salt Cellar (in Vienna called the Saliera, Italian for salt cellar) is a part-enamelled gold table sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini. It was completed in 1543 for Francis I of France, from models that had been prepared many years earlier for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este. The Cellini Salt Cellar depicts a male figure representing the sea and a female figure that represents the earth. A small vessel meant to hold salt is placed next to the male figure. A temple-shaped box for pepper is placed next to the female figure.

Francesco Primaticcio | Ulysses and Penelope, 1563

Francesco Primaticcio, also called Bologna, Le Primatice, or Primadizzi (born April 30, 1504, Bologna, Emilia [Italy]-died 1570, Paris, France), Italian Mannerist painter, architect, sculptor and leader of the first school of Fontainebleau.

Primaticcio was first trained as an artist in Bologna, under Innocenzo da Imola and later Bagnacavallo.

He also studied with Giulio Romano and assisted him in his work on the decorations of the Palazzo del Te in Mantua.

Daniele da Volterra | Unfinished portrait of Michelangelo, 1544

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)🎨

Artist: Daniele da Volterra (Daniele Ricciarelli🎨) (Italian painter🎨, Volterra 1509–1566 Rome)

Date: probably ca. 1544

Medium: Oil on wood

Dimensions: 34 3/4 x 25 1/4 in. (88.3 x 64.1 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of Clarence Dillon, 1977

Accession Number: 1977.384.1

Daniele da Volterra | Mannerist style painter / sculptor

Daniele da Volterra - Presentation of the Virgin

Daniele Ricciarelli da Volterra (1509-1566) was born in Volterra, a town in Tuscany, the painter and sculpture became known as Daniele da Volterra. He was a mannerist artist best remembered for his work in connection to Michelangelo (1475-1564).

Before befriending Michelangelo, Volterra studied in Siena with Giovanna Antonio Bazzi, called Il Sodoma (1477-1549) and Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1537), and then with Piero Buonaccorsi, called Perin del Vaga (1501-1547). During this time he helped to complete works in the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome, as well as in the Trinitá dei Monti and the San Marcello al Corso.

Volterra’s commission for the Orsini Chapel in the Trinitá dei Monti, were frescos he did based on drawings by Michelangelo.

Pierre-Gérard Langlois | Abstract painter

Born in 1940 and died young, at fifty four years, in 1994, Pierre-Gérard Langlois was an French painter and lithographer. He signed some of his work the pseudonym G. Duroc.
He graduated from the Modern Arts School of Paris, then he attended the Academy of Beaux-Arts at Rouen and followed courses at the Ecole du Louvre. He had his first personal exhibition in 1965, in Paris at the Champs Elysées Théatre.

Rembrandt | Musical Company, 1626

The subject of this painting is a mystery: is it an exhortation to praise God through singing and string music, or a scene of seduction with the old woman as a procuress?

In any case, in this early work Rembrandt used elements from his own surroundings: his mother modelled for the old woman, and Rembrandt’s own features can be recognized in the young man. | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rembrandt | Musical Company, 1626 | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

On the face of it, the theme of Music Allegory is straightforward enough: a music party in an interior, a common subject in Dutch art, though one to which Rembrandt himself would never return.

Three figures - a seated young woman singing, a man playing a bass gamba and a standing youth playing the harp - make music while an older woman listens on.