Mark Keathley, 1963 | Nature painter

Mark Keathley's passion is to offer inspiration for the soul through his medium of art so the viewer is compelled to ponder the deeper issues of the heart.

What is life about?

How do I want to live? Am I loved?

"Capturing the power of light, the beauty which surrounds us, and magical or memorable moments on canvas offers us a chance to rise above the mundane, escape from the business, and meditate on what is really important" - Mark Keathley.

Dino Buzzati | Inviti superflui, 1949 / Unnecessary invitations

Vorrei che tu venissi da me in una sera d’inverno e, stretti insieme dietro i vetri, guardando la solitudine delle strade buie e gelate, ricordassimo gli inverni delle favole, dove si visse insieme senza saperlo.

Per gli stessi sentieri fatati passammo infatti tu ed io, con passi timidi, insieme andammo attraverso le foreste piene di lupi, e i medesimi genii ci spiavano dai ciuffi di muschio sospesi alle torri, tra svolazzare di corvi.

Insieme, senza saperlo, di là forse guardammo entrambi verso la vita misteriosa, che ci aspettava. Ivi palpitarono in noi per la prima volta pazzi e teneri desideri. "Ti ricordi?" ci diremo l’un l’altro, stringendoci dolcemente, nella calda stanza, e tu mi sorriderai fiduciosa mentre fuori daran tetro suono le lamiere scosse dal vento.

Tim Shorten

Ferdinand Hodler | Art Nouveau painter

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes and genre paintings in a realistic style.

Later, he adopted a personal form of Symbolism which he called "Parallelism".

Hodler was born in Bern, the eldest of six children. His father, Jean Hodler, made a meager living as a carpenter; his mother, Marguerite (née Neukomm), was from a peasant family.

Gaetano Esposito | Genre painter

Gaetano Esposito (1858-1911) was an Italian painter born in Salerno.

He first studied under Gaetano D'Agostino, but later enrolled at the Royal Institute of Fine Arts of Naples, where he studied under Filippo Palizzi, Domenico Morelli and Stanislao Lista.

In these studies, he was funded by a stipend from the government of Salerno.

He was influenced by Antonio Mancini, a lifelong supporter, especially in his genre depictions of the activities of the lower classes of Naples.

Saffo | Passione d'amore

Quei parmi in cielo fra gli Dei, se accanto

ti siede, e vede il tuo bel riso, e sente

i dolci detti e l'amoroso canto!

Saffo - Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

Osman Hamdi Bey | Orientalist painter

Osman Hamdi Bey, [Constantinople, 1842-1910], Ottoman statesman, painter and art expert who put forth legislation aimed at regulating finds made by various archaeological enterprises in the Ottoman Empire and preventing the antiquities from being smuggled abroad.

As a painter, he became famous while he was alive. He worked on compositions with figures and portraits, and he was the first Turkish artist who painted figures.

In his paintings, there are many architectural and decorative details. He frequently appears as the main character; he used photos taken of him in different outfits and poses for his drawings.

Today, many domestic and foreign museum collections include his paintings as well.

The Tortoise Trainer - Pera Museum, İstanbul

Claude Monet | Inondation à Giverny, 1886

Claude Monet | Inondation à Giverny, 1886

In Inondation à Giverny Monet has created a vibrant landscape that pulses with dynamism. With the patchwork of colors that makes up the rolling hills of the landscape in the distance, coupled with the expansive stretch of water that carries the fragmented reflections of Giverny’s church and neighboring houses on its mirror-like surface, Monet has captured the effects of the natural light as it illuminated the region, and the atmospheric quality of the landscape as a whole, with remarkable results.

Jane Sutherland (1853-1928) | Impressionist painter

Jane Sutherland was an Australian landscape painter who was part of the pioneering plein-air movement in Australia, and a member of the Heidelberg School. Her advocacy to advance the professional standing of female artists during the late nineteenth century was also a notable achievement.

Jane Sutherland was born in New York to Scottish parents; the family emigrated to Sydney in 1864 and moved to Melbourne in 1870.