Paul Van Ginkel, 1960 | Figurative / Abstract painter

Born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada, Van Ginkel moved with his family to Calgary in 1973. In search of change and new stimulation he then moved to Vancouver in 1996, however, returned to Calgary in 2001.

Prior to earning a Master of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University in New York, he was educated at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary.

After working as an illustrator for 6 years, Van Ginkel has been a fine art painter specializing in western themes since 1990.

Some artists who inspire and influence him include John Singer Sargent, Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals. Part of Van Ginkel's growth as an artist has come from extended painting trips to major art centres including New York, Italy, Australia, Mexico and Santa Fe.

In addition to collecting endless and inspiring subject matter as a result of global travel, Van Ginkel also attends reference photo shoots in various parts of the Southwest.

Ippolito Caffi | Solar eclipse in Venice, 6 July 1842

Born at Belluno in the Veneto, Ippolito Caffi🎨 (1809-1866) was a precocious landscape - architectural subjects and seascapes or urban vedute - painter and reporter.

His light-filled paintings are unsurpassed in immortalising the soul of the places and peoples he encountered during his many trips throughout Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Caffi see:

• Ippolito Caffi | Romantic / Visionary Landscape painter🎨

Carlo Canella | Vedutista / Cityscape painter

Carlo Canella (1800, Verona - 1879, Milan) was an Italian painter🎨.

Having received his artistic training from his father Giovanni, a decorator and set designer, Canella took part in the Brera exhibitions on a regular basis as from 1829 with urban views, portraits and genre scenes of a Neo-Flemish character.

He also painted the occasional landscape but came to specialise in perspective views of various Italian cities, especially Milan and Verona, under the influence of his elder brother Giuseppe in the mid-1830s.

Wlastimil Hofman | Symbolist painter

Wlastimil Hofman (1881-1970) was a Polish painter, one of the more popular painters of the interwar and postwar years.

Hofman was born Vlastimil Hofmann in Prague to Ferdynand Hofmann, a Czech, and Teofila Muzyk Terlecka, a Polish woman. In 1889 Vlastimil's family moved to Kraków in Poland, where he attended St Barbara's School and then the Jan III Sobieski high school.

In 1896, he became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where he studied under, i.a., Jacek Malczewski.

Marion Lucka, 1963 | Surrealist painter

German painter Marion Lucka was born in Kaiserhammer near Selb.

Since her childhood she wanted to express herself through her painting.

After finishing secondary school in Bayreuth, she began a vocational training to become a litographer in the resident porcelain industry.