Antonietta Varallo, 1954 | Landscape painter

Born in Talsamo (Taranto province, Southern Italy) and a livornese adoptee, Antonietta Varallo approaches painting when she was just fifteen. Varallo, for one year, attended at the Free Academy "Trossi-Uberti" directed by Voltolino Fontani, then the maestro Luciano Torsi has been her guide up to her artistic maturity after eighteen years of teaching.

On 1976 Varallo won the first prize🎨 "Chimera" held in the city of Arezzo (Tuscany).

Nowadays she’s still a honorary professor of the Academy of "Machiavello" in Florence as well as in the Academy "G. Marconi" in Bologna.

Angelo Morbelli | For 80 cents!, 1895

Angelo Morbelli's work, one of the masterpieces of the Burgundy Museum, was purchased in 1912 at the Art Exhibition of the irrigated countryside held in Vercelli, a few years after the Museum opened to the public.

The painting, signed and dated 1895, underwent a long and tormented elaboration, as evidenced by the correspondence between the artist and his colleague Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo: begun in 1893, it was resumed before being exhibited in 1895 at the Venice Biennale.

The canvas assumes an important role for the collection, not only for its belonging to the pictorial current of Divisionism, but above all for the subject strongly connected to the Vercelli area.

Franz Liszt: "Truth is a great flirt"

• Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
• I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other master works as well, stand in no further need of my services.
• I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment… rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.
• I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
• I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
• In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.
• Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
• It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
• It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano, 1840 (detail) by Josef Danhauser ▪ Alte Nationalgalerie ▪

Joanna Zjawinska, 1950 | Figurative painter

Joanna Zjawinska began to paint at the early age of six. She earned her B.A. degree in 1972 from the School of Architecture in Warsaw.

To follow her own dream of being an artist, Joanna then studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts where she perfected her unique style of oil and watercolor painting.

In 1978 she was awarded a masters degree in Graphic Design with honors in painting from the academy which is one of the most prestigious school in Europe.

Bryce Liston, 1965 | Plein air / Figurative painter

Liston’s artistic inspiration comes largely from the late-19th century; he lists John William Waterhouse, John Singer Sargent🎨, Joaquin Sorolla🎨, Anders Zorn and William Bouguereau🎨 among his strongest influences.

“As an artist my career is dedicated to the integrity and quality of representational fine art”, says Liston. “My goal is to regain the traditions of the past along with the standards of craftsmanship and training. By studying the great artists of the past, we artists of today can once again regain a full command of proficiency to create great works of art… art about life”.