Dante Alighieri | Ladies that have intelligence in love..

Ladies that have intelligence in love,

⁠Of mine own lady I would speak with you;

⁠Not that I hope to count her praises through,

⁠But telling what I may, to ease my mind.

And I declare that when I speak thereof,

Love sheds such perfect sweetness over me

That if my courage failed not, certainly

⁠To him my listeners must be all resign'd.

Paolo and Francesca | Dante Alighieri | Inferno, Canto V

Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,

mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,

che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona.

Amor condusse noi ad una morte.

Caina attende chi a vita ci spense".

Queste parole da lor ci fuor porte.

Auguste Rodin | The Kiss (Paolo and Francesca) detail | Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Douglas Kirkland, 1934 | Hollywood's photographer

Douglas Kirkland is a Canadian photographer based in the United States.

Douglas Kirkland is the legendary photographer who captured Hollywood elite.

Kirkland has been the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism and portraiture, working for the world’s most reputable magazines for more than 50 years.

As a young photographer in 1961 he was assigned to shoot Marilyn Monroe during several hours in a closed studio one night, captured a stunning portfolio of alluring and intimate images that survive to this day as a testament to her beauty and vulnerability.

Douglas Kirkland | Marilyn Monroe, 1961

Edoardo Ettore Forti | Neo-Pompeian painter

Edoardo Ettore Forti (1850-1940) was an Italian painter, active late 19th century - early 20th century.

was an Italian painter, who was prolific in depicting realistic Neo-Pompeian scenes of Ancient Roman life and events. These subjects were popular in the late-Victorian period, as exemplified by the popularity of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

He concentrated on ancient Roman subjects, which were rarely based on actual historical events.

Eugeniusz Żak / Post-Impressionist painter

Eugeniusz Żak (1884-1926), also known as Eugène Zak and Eugene Zak, was a Polish artist, born to a family of Polish Jews in Minsk, Belarus.

As a boy he moved to Warsaw, where he graduated from a non-classical secondary school.

In 1902, he left for Paris to undertake studies, first at the École des Beaux-Arts in the studio of the aged master of academism Jean-Léon Gerôme, and then at Académie Colarossi in the studio of Albert Besnard.

In 1903, he traveled to Italy and toward the end of the year to Munich, where he entered a private school run by the Slovenian Anton Ažbé. His fame grew rapidly.

Madeleine Lemaire | The Empress of Roses

Madame Madeleine Lemaire, née Coll (1845-1928) was a French painter and illustrator specialized in watercolour and oils of still-lives of flowers, especially roses, genre scenes and portraits.

Madeleine Lemaire was a pupil in Paris of the artists Madame Herbelin and of Charles Chaplin.

In 1864, she made her debut in the Paris Salon where she was to exhibit throughout her life, winning awards in 1877 and 1900.

She also exhibited at the Société des Aquarellistes from 1879.