Pablo Picasso | Watercolors

In the spring of 1932, Picasso had retired to the Château de Boisgeloup, his studio-retreat in Normandy, in the company of his new mistress and principal muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter. It was his time spent at Boisgeloup that provided the inspiration for the present work.

In "Nature morte à la tête classique et au bouquet de fleurs", Picasso has subverted the traditional embodied interaction of artist and model - a theme that came to symbolize his own life and work most evocatively - and replaced these lead roles with sculpted avatars.

In place of the artist is a large, bearded neoclassical head, while the model is substituted by a bas-relief sculpture affixed to the wall above a bouquet of flowers, echoing the graceful profile of Marie-Thérèse Walter.

Haunted by the absence of his mistress who had remained in Paris, Picasso re-created her image from memory.

Pablo Picasso | Nature morte à la tête classique et au bouquet de fleurs, 1933 | Sothebys

Robert Campin (1375-1444) | Pittore Fiammingo

L'opera di Robert Campin fu fondamentale per l'origine della pittura fiamminga, alla quale egli aprì l'orizzonte, parallelamente a Jan van Eyck, anche se con un percorso artistico diverso.

Alla sua formazione ebbero concorso da un lato i caratteri dell'arte mosano-renana, dall'altro le conquiste dello stile gotico internazionale affinate dai pittori della corte di Borgogna, allora particolarmente attiva in campo artistico, e portate alla massima altezza da Melchior Broederlam. Campin fece propri e sintetizzò gli stimoli che queste scuole avevano consolidato nel secolo precedente, ma nel contempo rinnovò in senso naturalistico la concezione della pittura: per questo può essere considerato il padre del realismo fiammingo.

Albrecht Altdorfer | Northern Renaissance painter

Albrecht Altdorfer, (born c. 1480 - died Feb. 12, 1538, Regensburg [Germany]), German painter, printmaker, and draftsman who was one of the founders of landscape painting.

Altdorfer spent most of his life in Regensburg, becoming a citizen in 1505 and in later years serving as official architect of the city and a member of its inner council. He was the guiding spirit of the Danube school of painting.

Marc Chagall | From life memories to fantasy

Chagall's early life left him with a "powerful visual memory and a pictorial intelligence", writes Goodman.

After living in France and experiencing the atmosphere of artistic freedom, his "vision soared and he created a new reality, one that drew on both his inner and outer worlds".

But it was the images and memories of his early years in Belarus that would sustain his art for more than 70 years.

Jacob Jordaens | Baroque Era painter | Page 2

Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 - 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits.

After Peter Paul Rubens** and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his day.

Unlike those contemporaries he never travelled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their intellectual and courtly aspirations.

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

• Jacob Jordaens | Baroque Era painter