Happy Valentine's Day 💕! Buon San Valentino 💕!

Saint Valentine, officially known as Saint Valentine of Rome, is a third-century Roman saint widely celebrated on February 14 and commonly associated with "courtly love".

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city.

In William of Malmesbury's time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine.

St. Valentine - Stained glass window at Basilica in Terni, Italy

Titian | Danaë and the Shower of Gold, 1560-1565

"The Danaë and the Shower of Gold") comprises at least five oil-on-canvas paintings by the Venetian master Titian🎨, completed between 1540-1570. The works are based on the mythological princess Danaë. According to Ovid she was isolated in a bronze dungeon following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father.

Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus (in Roman mythology Jupiter), who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to entice her as a shower of gold.

Antonio Tordesillas, 1960 | Figurative painter

Antonio was born in Madrid, Spain. His father wanted him to paint and eventually to continue family tradition and become either a painter or a designer. His father studied in a school of a great Spanish painter, José Arpa Y Perea (Sevilla, 1860-1952), who was well known not only in Europe but also in the United States of America.

After studying with his father, Antonio began in 1975 to attend classes at the Academy Artium Peña, the Plaza Mayor of Madrid. The academy was at that time one of the most important art schools in Europe and trained many currently famous realist and hyperrealist painters of Spain.

Cathrine Edlinger-Kunze | Abstract painter

German-born painter Cathrine Edlinger-Kunze moved to the United States in 1994 where she works as a full time artist. She credits her father for inspiring her love for painting. "Sitting side by side with my father, I learned very early what painting meant to me, and it became a special bond to my father and me".

Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838-1874)

Marià Fortuny i Marsal, meglio noto col nome italianizzato Mariano Fortuny, è stato un pittore spagnolo, uno dei più rilevanti del panorama artistico spagnolo del XIX secolo.

Fortuny nacque nel 1838 a Reus, in Catalogna, da una famiglia di modeste origini.

All'età di dodici anni rimase orfano di madre e venne assegnato alla tutela del nonno.

Martin Rico | Impressionist painter

Born on 12 November 1833, at the age of twelve Martín Rico (1833-1908) began studying at the Liceo Artístico y Literario (Lyceum) and later became a pupil of the painter Vicente Camarón, who would introduce him to landscape painting, which shaped his artistic personality in a decisive way.

The brother of the engraver Bernardo Rico, with whom he later collaborated in illustrations for magazines, he also studied at the San Fernando Academy and travelled around Spain with his painter friends Pablo Gonzalvo and Plácido Francés.

Peace quotes / Frasi sulla pace

• "Occhio per occhio e il mondo diventa cieco"!
• "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"!

Mahatma Gandhi

• "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word".

• "Mi rifiuto di accettare il punto di vista secondo cui l’umanità è così tragicamente legata alla mezzanotte senza stelle del razzismo e della guerra e che la luminosa alba della pace e della fratellanza non potrà mai diventare una realtà... credo che la verità disarmata e l’amore avranno l’ultima parola".

Martin Luther King, Jr.

• "The purpose of all wars, is peace".
• "Lo scopo di tutte le guerre è la pace".

Sant'Agostino

• "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
• "La pace non può essere mantenuta con la forza; può essere raggiunto solo attraverso la comprensione". 

Albert Einstein

• "While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart".
• "Mentre proclami la pace con le tue labbra, fai attenzione ad averla ancora più pienamente nel tuo cuore".

Francesco d'Assisi

Alberto Guillen, 1951 | Watercolor flowers

Mexican artist Alberto Guillen is well known for his watercolor paintings of flowers.

Alberto Guillen was born in Mexico City. Lives and works in Salem, Oregon.

Artist's education: 2 years of traditional training in the art of painting at the University of Willamette and the study of Photoshop CS4, and Painter 11, Wacom Intuos4 Digital Tablet.