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.

Johann Strauss | Morning Papers, Op 279 | Viennese waltz

Morgenblätter (Morning Papers), Op. 279, is a Viennese waltz composed by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) in 1863 and first performed on 12 January 1864 at the Sofiensaal in Vienna.

The work's genesis was attributed to the composition of a waltz by Jacques Offenbach later titled "Abendblätter" when Offenbach dedicated his work to the influential Vienna Authors' and Journalists' Association (Presseclub Concordia).

Camille Claudel | La valse, 1889-1905

Torna a Surriento!

"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song composed in 1894 by Italian musician Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, the poet and painter Giambattista De Curtis.

The song was copyrighted officially in 1905, and has become one of the most popular of this traditional genre.

Others include:

╰┈➤ "O sole mio",

╰┈➤ "Funiculì funiculà",

╰┈➤ "Santa Lucia".

La Bocca della Verità / The Mouth of Truth, Roma 1485

The Mouth of Truth / Bocca della Verità is an ancient Roman marble disc with a relief carving of a man's face.

According to legend the face's mouth closes if a liar sticks his hand in it.

The massive marble mask weighs about 1300 kg and probably depicts the face of the sea god Oceanus. The eyes, nostrils and mouth are open.

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Vacanze Romane, 1953

Giotto | The allegories of Vices, 1303-1305

In the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, between 1303-1305, Italian painter and architect from Florence Giotto di Bondone (1266/7-1337), painted 14 allegories, in monochrome - seven allegorical representations of virtues and seven allegorical representations of vices.

Danilo Martinis, 1976 | Abstract painter

Born in Milan, Danilo Martinis currently lives and works in Como.

He started drawing by pencil at the age of 5, and never stopped since then.

In September 2009 he started his career as professional artist.

Danilo Martinis has an important background of research and stylistic evolution behind him with an initial interest in Action Painting.

Richard Wagner | Ride of the Valkyries

The Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt or Ritt der Walküren) is the popular name of the prelude to the first scene of the third and last act of Die Walküre, the second of the four epic music dramas that constitute the operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung), composed by Richard Wagner.

As a separate piece, the "Ride" is often heard in a purely instrumental version, which may be as short as three minutes.

Peter Nicolai Arbo (Norwegian historical painter, 1831-1892) | The Valkyrie

Paul Seignac | Genre painter

During the 19th century, genre scenes were a popular subject throughout Europe.

The French painter Paul Guillaume Seignac (1826-1904) specialized in genre paintings depicting children, rural life and everyday scenes.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, incidental music by German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) written to accompany performances of Shakespeare’s play "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" at the Prussian royal court.

Mendelssohn became familiar with Shakespeare by reading German translations as a boy, and in 1827, at age 17, he was inspired to write a piece capturing the atmosphere of Shakespeare’s comedy.

The piece, a concert overture, quickly became a popular favourite throughout Europe.

Marc Chagall | La branche de gui or Le rêve, 1928

Giotto (1267-1337) | Gothic painter

Giotto di Bondone, better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages.

He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

Giotto's contemporary Giovanni Villani wrote that Giotto was:

"the most sovereign master of painting in his time, who drew all his figures and their postures according to nature.

And he was given a salary by the Comune of Florence in virtue of his talent and excellence".

The Story behind "Caruso" song

"Caruso" is a song written by Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla (1943-2012) in 1986.

It is dedicated to Enrico Caruso, an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor.

Following Lucio Dalla's death, the song entered the Italian Singles Chart, peaking at number two for two consecutive weeks.

The song simply tells about the pain and longings of a man who is about to die while he is looking into the eyes of a girl who was very dear to him.

The lyrics contain various subtle references to people and places in Caruso's life.

Ferdinando Sapio | Sorrento

Leopold Pollak | Genre painter

Leopold Pollak (1806-1880), was an Austrian genre and portrait painter.

Born in Bohemia as the son of a Jewish merchant. Pollak showed an early talent for painting.

In 1819, he enrolled at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied for five years under the Director of the Academy, Joseph Bergler.

He continued his studies in Vienna with Johann Peter Krafft.

Claude Debussy | Danse Sacrée

"Dances for Harp and String Orchestra", in full in the original, "Danses pour harpe chromatique avec accompagnement d'orchestre d'instruments à cordes" (Dances for chromatic harp with string orchestra accompaniment), is a 1904 work by Claude Debussy.

There are two sections: Danse sacrée and Danse profane, and the work is sometimes billed accordingly.

It is a two-movement work, of about ten minutes' duration.

MAuguste Alexandre Hirsch | Calliope enseignant la musique à Orphée, 1865 | Musée d'art et d'archéologie du Périgord

Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel | Academic / genre painter

Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel (1839-1929) was a French painter.

Throughout his career, Lesrel collected awards, medals and official recognitions.

In 1889, at the Salon of the Society of French Artists and at the Universal Exhibition, Lesrel received an honorable mention.

Mozart: "A little night music", 1787

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major), K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).

The German title means "a little night music" and is one of Mozart's most famous works.

The serenade is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, cello, and double bass, but it is often performed by string orchestras.

François-Alfred Delobbe | Genre painter

François-Alfred Delobbe, (13 October 1835, Paris - 10 February 1920, Paris) was a French painter in the Naturalist style.

He was a student of Thomas Couture and William Bouguereau at the École des Beaux-arts, where he had been admitted at the age of sixteen, and had his debut at the Salon in 1861 with a portrait of his mother.

Claude Debussy | Arabesque No. 2. | Allegretto scherzando

The second arabesque in G major is noticeably quicker and more lively in tempo.

It opens with left hand chords and right hand trills.

The piece makes several transpositions and explores a lower register of the piano.

Again notable is a hint of the pentatonic scale.

It closes in a similar fashion to the first arabesque.

Claude Monet | Flower Beds at Vétheuil | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Sidney Richard Percy | Angera Maggiore, 1866

This exquisite painting, completed in 1866, captures the tranquil beauty of Lago Maggiore, located in Northern Italy.

In "Angera, Maggiore", Sidney Richard Percy (British landscape painter of the Victorian era, 1822-1886) portrays a serene moment alongside the shimmering waters of the lake.

The scene is set against a backdrop of majestic mountains and lush, verdant terrains that draw the eye towards the horizon.

Offenbach's Can-can | The scandalous Moulin Rouge's dance

The French Cancan dance is an eight-minute performance facing the audience, during which dancers measuring 5’7” tall lead the dance to a piece of music by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880).

It’s an art that requires Parisian cabaret dancers to have balance, flexibility, acrobatic ability and rhythm.

They have to be able to do the splits and perform impressive moves like the “port d’armes”, the “cathedral” and the “military salute”.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec | At the Moulin Rouge, the Dance, 1889-90 | Philadelphia Museum of Art

Johann Sebastian Bach | The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846

The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846, is a keyboard composition written by German composer and musician of the late Baroque period Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

It is the first prelude and fugue in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer.

An early version of the prelude, BWV 846A, is found in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

Francis Sydney Muschamp (British, 1851-1929) | A musical interlude

Paquita

Paquita is a ballet in two acts and three scenes originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier to music by Édouard Deldevez and Ludwig Minkus.

Paul Foucher received royalties as librettist.

Paquita is the creation of French composer Édouard Deldevez and Paris Opéra Ballet Master Joseph Mazilier.

Sergiy Lyacevitch | Dancing flower

The Dying Swan

The Dying Swan (originally The Swan) is a solo dance choreographed by Mikhail Fokine to Camille Saint-Saëns's Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux as a pièce d'occasion for the ballerina Anna Pavlova, who performed it about 4,000 times.

The short ballet (four minutes) follows the last moments in the life of a swan, and was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905.

The ballet has since influenced modern interpretations of Odette, heroine of Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, and has inspired non-traditional interpretations as well as various adaptations.

Antoon van Welie | Anna Pavlova as the Dying Swan, 1938

Léopold Robert | Romantic genre painter

Louis Léopold Robert (1794-1835) was a Swiss painter.

He was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel) in Switzerland, but left his native place with the engraver Jean Girardet at the age of sixteen for Paris.

He was on the eve of obtaining the grand prix for engraving when the events of 1815 blasted his hopes, for Neuchâtel was restored to Prussia, and Robert was struck off the list of competitors as a foreigner.

Peter Paul Rubens | Old woman and boy with candles, 1616-1617

An old woman gazes ahead, shielding her eyes from the candlelight, while the boy behind her holds his candle, ready to be lit.

The panel is painted in the style of Caravaggio, whose work Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) had seen in Italy.

This style is characterised by its exciting effects of light and unpolished naturalism.

Rubens did not make this painting to be sold; instead he retained possession of it. He probably used it as study material for the pupils in his studio.

Peter Paul Rubens | Old Woman and Boy with Candles, 1616-1617 | Museum Mauritshuis The Hague

Radetzky March

The "Radetzky March", Op. 228, is a march composed by Johann Strauss (Senior) which was first performed on 31 August 1848 in Vienna to celebrate the victory of the Austrian Empire under Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz (the piece's namesake) over the Italian forces at the Battle of Custoza, during the First Italian War of Independence.

Francesca (Fanny) Carlini | Fruttivendolo veneziano

Francesca (Fanny) Carlini (Venezia, 1859-1944), figlia del ritrattista Giulio Carlini (Venezia, 1826-1887), segue con buon successo la strada del padre.

E’ una delle prime donne a diplomarsi all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, intraprendendo poi una carriera che la vedrà vincitrice nel 1884 della Medaglia d’argento del Crystal Palace a Londra.

Augustus Edwin Mulready | From morn til night, 1889

“From morn til night” is an oil on canvas artwork by British genre painter Augustus Edwin Mulready, created in 1889.

The painting is part of the collection of the Christie's London.

Augustus Edwin Mulready (1844-1904) came from a family of artists.

Augustus Edwin Mulready | From morn til night, 1889 | Christie's

JoAnn Peralta | Romantic painter

Fine Artist JoAnn Peralta's fine art paintings have captivated collectors with her keen sense of mood and lush brushwork since 2004.

Each painting invokes a timeless romantic flair towards life and sets a tone of intrigue through her use of lighting and color.

The beauty of light with a contemporary, modernist touch is what Peralta describes as her inspiration.

Her passion for the West, historical and romanticized, are what dominate her vision and scope as it pertains to her hispanic and Italian ancestry and it continues to draw Masters of the American West, Autry Museum patrons and collectors.

Rocco Normanno, 1974 | Caravaggio's inspired painter

Rocco Normanno was born in Taurisano, a small town in the province of Lecce.

There, he completed his secondary education at the Professional Institute for Commerce, and, in 2003, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence.

Normanno currently lives and works in Tuscany.

Rocco Normanno stands out as an artist who freely expresses himself with an autonomous language, but who refers to Caravaggio’s poetics by painting ordinary people, making them become great interpreters of biblical or mythological themes revisited in own way.

Elli Michler | I wish you Time

I don't wish you all sorts of gifts.

I just wish you, what most people don't have.

I wish you the time to be happy and to laugh

and if you use it, you can make something out of it.

I wish you the time for your doings and thinking,

not only for yourself, but also to give away.

Franz Liszt | La Campanella

"La campanella" (Italian for "The little bell") is the subtitle given to the third of Franz Liszt's six Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141 (1851). It is in the key of G-sharp minor.

"La campanella" is a revision of an earlier version from 1838, the Études d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S. 140.

Its melody comes from the final movement of Niccolò Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, where the tune was reinforced by a "little handbell".

Václav Brožík | Academic painter

Václav Brožík (1851-1901) was a Czech painter who worked in the academic style.

Brožík was born on 6 March 1851 in Třemošná, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now the Czech Republic).

He came from a poor family, studying lithography and porcelain painting through apprenticeships.

Louis-Ernest Barrias | Romantic / Art Nouveau sculptor

Louis-Ernest Barrias (1841-1905) was a French sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school.

In 1865 Barrias won the Prix de Rome for study at the French Academy in Rome.

Barrias was involved in the decoration of the Paris Opéra and the Hôtel de la Païva in the Champs-Élysées.

His work was mostly in marble, in a Romantic realist style indebted to Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux.

Mozart | Concerto for Flute and Harp | 1 - Allegro

Mozart wrote the "Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major" in April 1778, during his seven-month sojourn in Paris.

It was commissioned by Adrien-Louis de Bonnières, duc de Guînes (1735-1806), a flutist, for his use and for that of his eldest daughter, Marie-Louise-Philippine (1759-1796), a harpist, who was taking composition lessons from the composer, at the duke's home, the Hôtel de Castries.

Mozart stated in a letter to his father that he thought the duke played the flute "extremely well" and that Marie's playing of the harp was "magnifique".

Louis-Ernest Barrias (1841-1905) | Mozart child with a violin, 1887 | Musée Fabre

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky | At School Doors, 1897

Descending from peasant class, Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky dedicated a significant portion of his work to rural schoolchildren.

His heroes hover indecisively at the classroom door, solve problems at the blackboard, read books or converse with the teacher.

The master's idealistic paintings upheld the notion that education was capable of improving public morality and overcoming the backwardness of the Russian countryside.

This lovingly painted and slightly sentimental canvas was possibly inspired by the personal memories of the artist, who attended Sergei Rachinsky's village school in Tatevo, Smolensk Province.

Ilya Repin | Historical / Genre painter

Ilya Yefimovich Repin / Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин, (1844-1930), Russian painter of historical subjects known for the power and drama of his works.

Born to a poor family near Kharkov, Repin learned his trade from a painter of icons named Bunakov and in 1864 became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg.

Salvatore Quasimodo | Il girasole piega a occidente / Almost a Madrigal

Il girasole piega a occidente

e già precipita il giorno nel suo

occhio in rovina e l'aria dell'estate

s'addensa e già curva le foglie e il fumo

dei cantieri. S'allontana con scorrere

secco di nubi e stridere di fulmini

quest'ultimo gioco del cielo. Ancora,

Vincent van Gogh | Sunflowers, 1888

Charles Hawthorne | Portrait / Genre painter

Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872-1930) was an American painter and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899.

He was born in Lodi, Illinois and his parents returned to Maine, raising him in the state where Charles' father was born.

At age 18, he went to New York, working as an office-boy by day in a stained-glass factory in New York, and studying at night school and with Henry Siddons Mowbray and William Merritt Chase, and abroad in both Holland and Italy.

Anne Sexton | Noi / Us

Ero avvolta nella pelliccia

nera, nella pelliccia bianca

e tu mi svolgevi

e in una luce d’oro

poi m’incoronasti,

mentre fuori dardi di neve

diagonali battevano alla porta.

Joseph Lorusso

Tomaso Albinoni | 12 Concerti a cinque (op. 9), 1722

12 Concerti a cinque (op. 9) is a collection of concertos by the Italian baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751), published in 1722.

The most famous piece from Albinoni's Opus 9 is the Concerto in D minor for oboe (Opus 9, Number 2).

It is known for its slow movement.

Leopold Pollak (1806-1880) |A little shepherd playing the oboe at the Claudia Aqueduct on the Roman Campagna", 1857

Gwenneth Barth-White | Pastel painter

American-born Swiss international artist Gwenneth Barth-White is a Maître Pastelliste of the 150-year-old Société des Pastellistes de France and has served as its Vice President for many years.

She's a Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America, and a Signature Member of the Portrait Society of America, where she has served as faculty.

Her work has been exhibited in Geneva, Gstaad, New York, Toronto, Paris, and in many French and American venues.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox: "Ridi e il mondo riderà con te. Piangi, e piangerai da solo..."

Ridi e il mondo riderà con te.

Piangi, e piangerai da solo.

Poiché il vecchio mondo triste deve prendere

in prestito la sua allegria,

ma ha già abbastanza guai per conto suo.

Canta, e le colline ti risponderanno.

Rene Magritte | La vie heureuse, 1944

Hugues Merle | The Lunatic of Etretat, 1871

"The Lunatic of Etretat" is a painting by French Academic artist Hugues Merle (1822-1881).

It is part of the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, Virginia.

The woman’s face is a mask of suffering while she cradles, not a sleeping baby, but a wooden log!

Is Merle’s "Lunatic" mourning the loss of a child, or mad with longing for one?

Vittorio Matteo Corcos | Dreams, 1896

Vittorio Matteo Corcos returned in 1886 to Florence, where he painted the prominent and the fashionable portrait of a modern girl, Elena Vecchi, which has become the most emblematic image of the so-called Belle Epoque.

His most notorious portrait, however, was that of his mistress, Elena Vecchi, the daughter of a naval officer who carned his fame as Jack La Bolina, the author of popular adventure stories.

Ave Maria (Schubert)

"Ellens dritter Gesang" ("Ellens Gesang III", D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6, 1825), in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Op. 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's 1810 popular narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German.

Giovanni Battista Salvi called Sassoferrato (1609-1685) | The Madonna in prayer | Christie's

Hugues Merle | Genre painter

From National Gallery of Art:

Born in 1823 at Saint-Marcellin (Isère), Hugues Merle studied in Paris with the history painter Léon Cogniet (1794-1880) and devoted himself to a wide range of subjects, from religious themes and historical anecdotes to incidents from contemporary life, particularly of the urban and rural poor.

His greatest popular successes, however, were won by scenes of maternal affection and childhood innocence that he sought to imbue with impish sweetness and sentimentality.

Francesco Lavagna | The Neapolitan still life of the eighteenth century

Francesco Lavagna (Naples, 1684-1724) was an Italian still life painter who worked mainly in Naples.

Little is known about his biographical data and career, but he was first mentioned by B. De Dominici in the 18th century and has since been regarded as an important still life painter of the Neapolitan School.

Antonio Calderara | Abstract / Minimalist painter

- "Contemplation, harmony, proportion, stillness; this is the invisible thread that weave my aspiration" - Antonio Calderara

Self-taught as a child growing up in Milan, and later mentored for a time by a young Lucio Fontana, the earliest influences of Antonio Calderara (1903-1978) were of the figuration and light effects of Piero della Francesca, Seurat and the Milanese Novecento painters.

After abandoning his university studies in engineering in 1925 the young man dedicated himself fully to experimenting with colour and form.

Filippo Baratti | Orientalist painter

Filippo Baratti (1849-1936) was an Italian painter; known primarily for his Orientalist scenes.

Filippo Baratti was born in Trieste, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Little is known of his early years, however in 1868 he was exhibiting at the Esposizione di Belle Arte in Milan.

Baratti then moved to Turin, where he exhibited at the Società Promatirice di Belle Arte 1869-1872.

Angiolo Tommasi | The Emigrants /Gli Emigranti, 1986

Angelo Tommasi is a Naturalistic painter, influenced by Courbet’s realism, and played an active role spreading the technique employed by the Macchiaioli.

The monumental painting The Emigrants shows a common situation in Italy after the unification process.

The burning and dramatic theme of overseas emigration is vividly depicted by the packed crowds at the Port of Livorno, people who have resigned themselves to their fate and the expectation of embarkation. The painting's extraordinary dimensions contribute to an illustration of the theme of Italian emigration on an almost epic scale.