Victor Hugo | Painting

Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) was not only one of France's greatest poet, novelist and dramatist, but also a prolific artist, painter, watercolourist, draughtsman and caricaturist.

Victor Hugo produced more than 4000 drawings. Originally pursued as a casual hobby, drawing became more important to Hugo shortly before his exile, when he made the decision to stop writing in order to devote himself to politics. Drawing became his exclusive creative outlet during the period 1848-1851.

Henry John Stock | Pre-Raphaelite painter

Born in Soho, London, Henry John Stock (1853-1930) made a somewhat unusual start as an artist by going blind in childhood but recovered his sight on going to live at Beaulieu in the New Forest. Fully recovered, he studied at the St. Martin’s School of Art and at the Royal Academy Schools and was befriended by the engraver W. J. Linton, who, perhaps significantly, had engraved the illustrations to Gilchrist’s Life of William Blake🎨, 1863.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1874-1910 and also at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors, becoming a member in 1881, as well as at commercial galleries such as the Fine Arts Society.

Jean Mannheim | Impressionist painter

Jean Mannheim (November 18, 1863 - September 6, 1945) was a German-born American artist and educator, known for his California Impressionist paintings. He was active in Decatur, Illinois and Pasadena, California.

Jean Mannheim (1861-1945) grew up in Kreuznach, Germany.

At age seventeen, he left home and began to journey throughout Germany making a living by binding books and painting portraits on the side. Shortly after being drafted into the German army, Mannheim defected and traveled to Paris to learn English and began his art studies.

From 1884-1908, Mannheim settled in the US, calling both Decatur, Illinois and Denver, Colorado home at times, while continuing to travel back to Paris for his art studies at respected Paris schools, including the Academie Julian.

During this time he married Eunice Drennan and the couple had two daughters, who were often portrayed in his work over the years.

Sculptures in Notre-Dame de Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris🎨 - Stone, copper and bronze statues, including statues of the twelve Apostles that surrounded the base of the spire, had been removed from the site days prior to the 2019 fire as part of the renovations.

Adam - West facade

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun | Rococo painter

Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun (1755-1842) was one of the most successful portraitists of 18th century France, gaining renowned in particular for her self-portraits and depictions of courtly women, Queen Marie Antoinette most famously.

Born in Paris as the eldest child of the portraitist Louis Vigée (1715-1767) and Jeanne Maissin, Vigée Le Brun was trained by her father from an early age.

She succeeded in gaining entrance to the Académie de Saint-Luc at the age of just nineteen, a remarkable accomplishment for a woman at the time.

Giuseppe Canella | Vedutista / Cityscape painter

Giuseppe Canella (28 July 1788 - 11 September 1847), also referred to as Giuseppe Canella the Elder, was an Italian painter🎨.

Initially trained by his father Giovanni, an architect, fresco painter and set designer, Giuseppe Canella started out producing stage sets and decorating stately homes in Verona and Mantua.

His brother, Carlo Canella🎨, was also a painter. It may have been under the influence of Pietro Ronzoni, a landscape painter of international renown active in Verona, that he took up landscape painting.

The first views were not produced until 1815, after a short stay in Venice. After making his debut at the Fine Art Exposition at the Brera Academy of 1818, he made a long journey through Spain, the Netherlands and France for study purposes.

Notre-Dame de Paris, 1345 | A cathedral of Art and history

Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France.

The cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.

The innovative use of the rib vault and flying buttress, the enormous and colorful rose windows, and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration all set it apart from earlier Romanesque architecture.

George Lawrence Bulleid | Victorian-Era painter

British painter🎨 George Lawrence Bulleid (1858-1933) was born in Glastonbury, Somerset in 1858, the son of a local solicitor and Councillor.

Bulleid joined the family firm but in 1881 but soon left to study at the Marylebone and West London School of Art under the instruction of the Principal, George Simpson.

As with so many Victorian artists of the time, he had a strong affection for classicism and antiquity, his early work would typically be of dark and sombre canvases with groups of figures arranged within an architectural structure, or contemplative individuals at moments of decision or classical melancholy.

Mattia Preti | Baroque Era painter

Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 - 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist🎨 who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.

Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called Il Cavalier Calabrese (the Calabrian Knight) after appointment as a Knight of the Order of St. John (Knights of Malta) in 1660.

His early apprenticeship is said to have been with the "Caravaggist" Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, which may account for his lifelong interest in the style of Caravaggio🎨.