Salvatore Fiume | Figurative painter

Salvatore Fiume (1915-1997) was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, writer and stage designer.

His works are kept in some of the most important museums in the world, among which the Vatican Museums, the Hermitage of Saint Petersburg, the Museum of Modern Art of New York, the Pushkin Museum of Moscow and the Galleria d'Arte Moderna of Milan.

Jean-Francois Raffaelli | Cityscape painter

Jean-François Raffaëlli (April 20, 1850 - February 11, 1924) was a French Realist painter, sculptor and printmaker who exhibited with the Impressionists.

Sandro Botticelli | Mystic Nativity / Natività mistica, 1501

The 'Mystic Nativity' shows angels and men celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The Virgin Mary kneels in adoration before her infant son, watched by the ox and the ass at the manger. Mary's husband, Joseph, sleeps nearby. Shepherds and wise men have come to visit the new-born king. Angels in the heavens dance and sing hymns of praise. On earth they proclaim peace, joyfully embracing virtuous men while seven demons flee defeated to the underworld.

Sandro Botticelli | Calumny of Apelles / La calunnia di Apelle, 1496

The Calumny of Apelles is a tempera painting by Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. Based on the description of a painting by Apelles, the work was completed in approximately 1494. It is on display in the Uffizi in Florence.

In The Calumny of Apelles, Botticelli drew on the description of a painting by Apelles, a Greek painter of the Hellenistic Period.

Edward Lamson Henry | Genre painter

Edward Lamson Henry (January 12, 1841 - May 9, 1919), commonly known as E.L. Henry, was an American genre painter, born in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Early life

Though born in Charleston, by age seven his parents had died and Henry moved to live with cousins in New York City. He began studying painting, there and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1860 he went to Paris, where he studied with Charles Gleyre and Gustave Courbet, at roughly the same time as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille and Alfred Sisley.

Honoré de Balzac | Quotes / Aforismi

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

• A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.
• There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.
• True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.
• There are some women whose pregnancy would make some sly bachelor smile.
• Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside.

Dmitry Balahonov, 1971 | Saint Petersburgh painting

Dmitry Balahonov /Дмитрий Балахонов was born February 6, 1971. From early childhood, he studied at different art schools. In 1989 he graduated from art school in the city of Bobruisk, after serving in the army engaged in the work of a professional. Since 1992 he has been working independently in the Mogilev. In 1995, goes to live abroad, working with galleries in Tel Aviv, holds solo exhibitions. In 1999 he moved to live in Mogilev, actively cooperates with many galleries and salons of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Minsk.

Georgi Lapchine | Neo-Impressionist painter

Georgi (Georgy, Georges) Alexandrovich Lapchine / Георгий Александрович Лапшин (1885-1950) was born in Moscow. In the early 1900s Lapshin studied at the Stroganov School. In 1906-1909 he lived in Paris, studied with Cormon and J. F. Lhermitte.

Returning to Moscow, participated in the group exhibition of independence (1910), was the founder and permanent participant of "free art" (1911-1917).

In 1918-1922 works were exhibited in Moscow on the 1st and 2nd shows a picture of professional union painters in Moscow (1918), the 2nd National Exhibition of paintings (1919), the 47th exhibition TPHV (1922), as well as the 1st Russian art Exhibition in Berlin (1922). In 1924 he moved to Paris.