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.

Bernard Blommers | Goodbye father, 1885

Bernardus Johannes (Bernard) Blommers (1845-1914) was a Dutch etcher and painter of the Hague School.

He learned lithography early in his career, and then studied at the Hague Akademie under Johan Philip Koelman until 1868.

His early paintings were mostly genre works depicting fishermen and their wives, heavily influenced by Jozef Israëls.

Pablo Neruda | Your Laughter

Take bread away from me, if you wish,

take air away, but

do not take from me your laughter.

Do not take away the rose,

the lance flower that you pluck,

the water that suddenly

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Dance at Bougival, 1883 | Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Nicoletta Ceccoli, 1973 | Children's book illustrators

Nicoletta Ceccoli born and still live in her native Republic of San Marino.

She graduated from the Institute of Art in Urbino (Italy) in the section of animation.

Since 1995 Nicoletta has been commissioned as illustrator to create work in the editorial world for several children’s books, magazines, book covers, CDs and posters, advertising.

Agim Sulaj, 1960 | Surreal satirical illustrator

Born in Valona, Agim Sulaj, is an Albanian painter, living in Rimini, Italy since 1990 and having Italian citizenship.

After high school, in 1978 Agim Sulaj entered the Tirana Academy des Baux Artes, and completed his studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Tirana in 1985.

As a painter, he started working in the political and satirical magazine Hosteni, producing illustrations and caricatures.

Selene Salvi, 1976 | Parthenopean painter

Italian painter Selene Salvi was born in Naples in 1976.

After graduating from university with a degree in philosophy, she began her artistic studies in the studio of the realist Neapolitan painter Fulvio De Marinis, through the time-honored ritual of copying the works of the masters.

Raffaello, Rubens, Caravaggio, de Ribera, Ingres, Bouguereau, and the 18th-century Neapolitan school became a solid base from which to launch her own original works and creative impulses.