Annibale Carracci (Italian, 1560-1609)

Annibale Carracci, (born November 3, 1560, Bologna, Papal States [Italy] - died July 15, 1609, Rome), Italian painter who was influential in recovering the classicizing tradition of the High Renaissance from the affectations of Mannerism.

He was the most talented of the three painters of the Carracci family.

The sons of a tailor, Annibale and his older brother Agostino were at first guided by their older cousin Lodovico, a painter who persuaded them to follow him in his profession.

Annibale’s precocious talents developed in a tour of northern Italy in the 1580s, his visit to Venice being of special significance.

Vincent Van Gogh | First Steps (after Millet), 1890

Artist: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Date: 1890

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 72.4 x 91.1 cm

Current location: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles Bukowski | Quando Dio creò l’amore / When God created love..

When God created love he didn't help most

when God created dogs He didn't help dogs

when God created plants that was average

when God created hate we had a standard utility

when God created me He created me

when God created the monkey He was asleep

when He created the giraffe He was drunk

Anna MarinovaRussian painter,1983) Spring Harmony

Van Gogh | Sunflowers series, 1888

Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s ⎆ impending arrival, Vincent van Gogh was determined to cover the walls of The Yellow House with paintings of sunflowers. August 21, 1888 Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo:

"Now that I hope to live with Gauguin in a studio of our own, I want to make decorations for the studio. Nothing but big flowers. Next door to your shop, in the restaurant, you know there is a lovely decoration of flowers; I always remember the big sunflowers in the window there.
If I carry out this idea there will be a dozen panels. So the whole thing will be a symphony in blue and yellow".

Larry Duke | Ballet Dancers

Nord Carolina based artist Larry Duke is an American painter ⎆, know for working in in the Figurative Impressionism style ⎆. As a young person, Duke discovered an aptitude and love for drawing and has enjoyed art ever since.

His interest intensified and became even more passionate 11 years ago when he started oil painting with a local artist (Manny Rashet). Over the past six years he has worked with Andy Braitman where he mastered his unique combination of loose brush work and palette knife ⎆.

Giovanni (Nino) Costa | Genre painter

Giovanni Costa (15 October 1826 - 31 January 1903), often known as Nino Costa, was an Italian landscape painter and patriotic revolutionary.

Giovanni Costa was born in Rome on 15 October 1826, the fourteenth of the sixteen children of Gioacchino Costa (died 1842) and Maria Chiappi (died 1857).

His father was from Santa Margherita Ligure and as a young man had moved to Rome, where he opened a wool-spinning factory and achieved wealth and position.

The family lived in a large house in Piazza San Francesco a Ripa, in Trastevere, close to the factory.

Felix Revello de Toro, 1926 | Figurative painter

Spanish artist Félix Revello de Toro was born in Malaga on June 10, 1926, the son of art teacher José María Revello Cazar. He started painting when he was 13 years old. The City Hall of Malaga helped him study at the Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.

He became a university professor for 17 years in Barcelona, and then decided to dedicate himself solely to painting. He became one of the best portrait painters in Spain, and in 1991 he was asked to paint the official portraits of the King and Queen of Spain.

Gerard Terburg (1617-1681)

Gerard ter Borch (December 1617 - 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg, was an influential and pioneering Dutch ⎆ genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age.
He influenced fellow Dutch painters ⎆ Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou ⎆, Eglon van der Neer and Johannes Vermeer ⎆.

According to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Ter Borch:

"established a new framework for subject matter, taking people into the sanctum of the home"

showing the figures’ uncertainties and expertly hinting at their inner lives. His influence as a painter, however, was later surpassed by Vermeer ⎆.

Gerard ter Borch (Zwolle, dicembre 1617 - Deventer, 8 dicembre 1681) è stato un pittore Olandese ⎆, specializzato in scene di genere e ritratti.
La sua prima formazione avvenne presso il padre Gerard ter Borch il Vecchio, per poi diventare allievo del pittore di paesaggi Pieter de Molijn ad Haarlem. Stimolato dalla pittura di Rembrandt e degli italiani, nel 1635 si mise in viaggio e soggiornò lungamente in Inghilterra, dove incontrò Anton van Dyck, in Spagna e a Roma.

Rientrò in patria nel 1645 e risiedette ad Haarlem, Amsterdam e Münster (in Vestfalia), dove fra il 1646-1648 fu ritrattista per l'ambasciatore olandese, durante le negoziazioni di pace con la Spagna. Visse poi in numerosi altri posti, fino a stabilirsi a Deventer, dove morì nel 1681.
Abile ritrattista, si specializzò nella pittura di interni e di scene domestiche della borghesia, spesso con gentili accenni ironici.

Nella cura della bellezza fisica del sui soggetti traspaiono infatti talvolta accenni alla transitorietà delle cose mondane e della ricchezza, alla fugacità capricciosa dell'amore, all'essenza talvolta vuota e vana della mondanità.

Fu un vero maestro nel cogliere le sfumature più sottili, tanto figuratamente nella psicologia, quanto realmente nella stesura pittorica, dove seppe cogliere con maestria il diverso incedere della luce sui più svariati materiali.