Canaletto | London paintings, 1746-1755

The revered Venetian landscape painter Giovanni Antonio Canal (28 October 1697 - 19 April 1768), known as Canaletto, enjoyed a roaring trade from English visitors to Italy in his early career, but by 1740 the War of the Austrian Succession had taken hold and tourism was dwindling. In 1746, Canaletto decided to move to London to be closer to his market.

At this time Britain was flourishing under newfound wealth.

Canaletto - A self-portait with Saint Pauls in the Background, 1746

Eugene Galien-Laloue | Paris painting

French painter Eugène Galien-Laloue (1854-1941) was born in Paris on 1854.

He was a populariser of street scenes, usually painted in autumn or winter.

His paintings o f the early 1900s accurately represent the era in which he lived: a happy, bustling Paris, la Belle Époque, with horse-drawn carriages, trolley cars and its first omnibuses.

Galien-Laloue's works are valued not only for their contribution to 20th century art, but for the actual history, which they document.

Nydia Lozano, 1947 | Impressionist Figurative painter

Spanish painter Nydia Lozano was born in Alginet, a small town of the Ribera of Valencia.

The name Nydia recalls the character created by Bulwer-Lytton in his The Last Days of Pompei when the local priest refused a baptism with a pagan name so that Nydia had to be baptized as Laura.

Nydia grew up in the huerta landscape, in which life translates itself in a strong luminous atmosphere and in the bright colors of rice fields and of orange and lemon trees.

Everything that her sensitiveness kept accumulating in youth manifested itself in her affection for painting.

Paul Renard | Paris painting

French artist Paul Renard (1871-1920) was studied at Rotterdams Academy of Art.
He spent most of his career painting narrative street scenes of Paris for which he became renowned.
His is a well listed artist and his work can be found in galleries throughout the world.

William Shakespeare | Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Sonnet 18 (also known as "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") is one of the best-known of the 154 sonnets written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare.

In the sonnet, the speaker asks whether he should compare the Fair Youth to a summer's day, but notes that he has qualities that surpass a summer's day, which is one of the themes of the poem.

He also notes the qualities of a summer day are subject to change and will eventually diminish.

The speaker then states that the Fair Youth will live forever in the lines of the poem, as long as it can be read.

There is an irony being expressed in this sonnet: it is not the actual young man who will be eternalized, but the description of him contained in the poem, and the poem contains scant or no description of the young man, but instead contains vivid and lasting descriptions of a summer day, which the young man is supposed to outlive.

Nydia Lozano

Antoine Blanchard | Paris painting

Antoine Blanchard is the pseudonym of the French painter, Marcel Masson [1910-1988]. Blanchard was often introduced to collectors as the foremost artist of Parisian street scenes of his day. Like his predecessors, the French masters Galien-Laloue, Cortes, Loir, Utrillo and Francois Gerome, Blanchard has made an impact on contemporary art.Born in 1910 in a small village near Blois in the Loire Valley, Blanchard was encouraged at a young age to enter the arts. His parents first sent him as a young boy to an art school in Blois, and then relocated the entire family to Rennes in Brittany so that young Antoine could study there at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Three years later, in 1932, the young artist moved to Paris in order to Study at its world famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Upon completion of his studies, Blanchard was awarded the Prix de Rome, an honor rarely given to an artist of his young age.

Amaldus Nielsen | Naturalist painter

Amaldus Clarin Nielsen (23 May 1838 - 10 December 1932) was a Norwegian painter.

Early life

He was born in Halse as a son of shipmaster and merchant Niels Clemetsen Nielsen (1795-1845) and his wife Andrea Marie Møller (1802-1866). He grew up in Mandal in Vest-Agder county, Norway. He lived most of his childhood and adolescence without a father. He received some tuition from a traveling drawing teacher and traveled to Copenhagen to study in 1854.

Boltraffio | The Virgin and Child / Madonna col Bambino, c. 1493-1499

• Artist: Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1467-1516);
• Full title: The Virgin and Child;
• Date made: probably about 1493-1499;
• Medium and support: Oil on walnut;
• Dimensions: 92.7 x 67.3 cm;
• Located: National Gallery London;
• Acquisition credit: Bought, 1863;
• Inventory number: NG728.