Józef Rapacki | Landscape painter

Józef Rapacki (19 March 1871, Warsaw - 31 January 1929, Olszanka) was a Polish painter, watercolorist and graphic designer; best known for his nostalgic landscapes of Mazovia.

He was born to a theatrical family; son of the actor, Wincenty Rapacki. His brother Wincenty and sister Honorata also became actors.

Jerzy Leszczyński, the actor and director, was his nephew. He decided on a different course and, at the age of fourteen, enrolled in a drawing class taught by Wojciech Gerson.

Friedrich Prolss | Genre painter

Fritz (Friedrich) Anton Otto Prölß (1855-1934) was a German portrait and genre painter.

Prölß studied painting at the academies in Dresden with Ferdinand Pauwels and in Munich from 1880 with Franz von Defregger.

He was a member of the Munich artists' cooperative and exhibited his paintings in the Munich Glass Palace, among other places.

Although his residence was in Munich, he spent the summer months in Mittenwald for more than 50 years from 1879, where he created most of his work.

Giambattista Bassi | Master of Verismo

Gian Battista Bassi was an Italian painter. In his day he was defined as the "Master of Verismo".

Born in 1784 in Massa Lombarda, Giambattista Bassi joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna in 1810, and thanks to one of his paintings, he was awarded a three year stay in Rome.

Among many, he became friends with Tommaso Minardi, Antonio Canova and Pietro Giordani, thanks to whom Bassi was able to obtain his first important commission: two paintings for the King of Naples.

Karel Balcar, 1966 | Figurative painter

Karel Balcar (born in Lanškroun) is a Czech painter.

Balcar studied at the Czech Technical University in Prague (1984-1985) and at the University of Economics, Prague (1986-1987).

In 1992 he enrolled Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and graduated in 1999 from studio of professor Zdeněk Beran.

Most of his exhibitions since then have been in Prague, including venues such as the Liechtenstein Palace, town hall and the Rudolfinum but also the cities of Brno, Hradec Králové and at the Czech Centre in New York City.

He lives and works in Prague.

William Frederick Yeames RA | Historical genre painter

William Frederick Yeames RA (1835-1918) was a British painter best known for his oil-on-canvas "And When Did You Last See Your Father?", which depicts the son of a Royalist being questioned by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.

Yeames was born in Taganrog, Russia, the son of a British consul based in Russia.

After the death of his father in 1842, Yeames was sent to school in Dresden where he began studying painting.

After a change in the fortunes of his family, Yeames moved to London in 1848, where he learnt anatomy and composition from George Scharf and took art lessons from F. A. Westmacott.

Lorenzo Vallés | History / Genre painter

A painter of history, mythology, genre scenes and landscapes, Lorenzo Vallès (1830-1910) was born in Madrid.

He first studied art at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid, together with the renown artist Federico del Campo.

Born in a modest family, he was fostered by the Duke of Sesto who granted him with a pension, thus giving himthe opportunity to go and study art in Rome in 1853.

There, he joined a significant communauty of emigrant artists and, above all, the Spanish colony of painters who included Rafael Senet y Perez (1856-1926), Marià Fortuny i Marsal and Martín Rico y Ortega (1833-1908), who had already found a great international demand fortheir works.

Leo Gestel | Cubo-Futurism / Modernist painter

Leo Gestel | Lady with Large Hat in Summer House, 1913 | Frans Hals Museum

This portrait of a ladym clothed in red and with a penetrating gaze, was not painted in a single style.

Like many artists in the 1910s, Leo Gestel was inspired by the international avant-garde.This included movements such as French Cubism and Italian Futurism.

The structure of the work is of a Cubist nature. The mosaic patern in the background brings Futurism to mind.

The Futurists attempted to record velocity and movement in their art. The circular forms in this painting suggest a dynamic of this kind.

The elegant and self-confident-looking lady was an artist friend of the painter, Else Berg.

Gestel became acquinted with her, and her husband Mommie Schwarz, through the art collector Piet Boendermaker of Bergen.

Gestel painted this portrait of her during a sojourn to Majorca. | Source: © Frans Hals Museum

Nora Heysen | Portrait / Still-life / War painter

From: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

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Daughter of renowned landscape painter Hans Heysen, Nora Heysen (1911-2003) established her own reputation as a distinguished portrait and still-life painter, becoming the first woman to win the Archibald Prize and to be appointed an Australian official war artist during the Second World War.

Born at Hahndorf, South Australia, the fourth child of Hans and Selma Heysen, Nora received her earliest art training from her father.

At fifteen she commenced studies at the School of Fine Arts, Adelaide, under F. Millward Grey, where she received a traditional academic training, learning to draw from plaster casts and live models.