Friedrich Von Amerling | Academic painter

Friedrich von Amerling (14 April 1803 - 14 January 1887) was an Austro-Hungarian portrait painter in the court of Franz Josef.

He was born in Vienna and was court painter between 1835-1880. With Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller he is one of the outstanding Austrian portrait painters of the 19th century.

Henri Fantin-Latour | Immortality, 1889

Henri Fantin-Latour | Immortality, 1889 | National Museum Wales

The personification of Immortality holds the palm of victory and scatters flowers onto a tomb inscribed "DELACROIX".

Behind, the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral and the dome of the Panthéon national monument emerge from the Paris skyline.

Fantin-Latour was greatly inspired by the works of Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), whose naturalistic use of colour and form continued to be controversial long after his death.

Raphael - Portraits

Raffaello (1483-1520)🎨, nato Raffaello Sanzio, fu incoronato "Principe dei pittori" da Giorgio Vasari, un biografo di artisti del XVI secolo.

Da suo padre, Raffaello imparò a dipingere; nella sua città natale, Urbino, ha vissuto la vita di corte intellettuale.

Un anno dopo la morte improvvisa di suo padre, Raphael entrò nel laboratorio del principale pittore di Urbino all'età di dodici anni e superò rapidamente il suo maestro.

All'età di 21 anni, Raffaello si era trasferito a Firenze, dove ha abbracciato le opere di Michelangelo e Leonardo da Vinci.

A Firenze, i suoi numerosi dipinti della Madonna col Bambino mostrano il suo caratteristico calore umano, la sua serenità e figure sublimemente perfette.

Massimo Stanzione (1585-1656) | Baroque painter

Massimo Stanzione was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples, where he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the painting scene for several decades. Most of his work, in both oils and fresco (these usually for ceilings), depicted religious subjects.

A papal knight, he is often referred to as Cavalliere Massimo Stanzione, especially in older sources.

Born in Frattamaggiore, Naples in 1585, Massimo Stanzione was influenced by Caravaggio.

What distinguished Massimo’s art from that of Caravaggio's was that he combined the latter's dramatically lit and brutally realistic style with the classical and lyrical manner of Bolognesi painters, earning him the nickname of the Napolitan Guido Reni.

Christmas Cards

Norman Rockwell | Christmas Card | Two sleeping children, 1952

The first recorded Christmas cards were sent by Michael Maier to James I of England and his son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1611.

The next cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and illustrated by John Callcott Horsley in London on 1 May 1843.

The central picture showed three generations of a family raising a toast to the card's recipient: on either side were scenes of charity, with food and clothing being given to the poor.