Thérèse Schwartze | Self-portrait, 1888 | Uffizi Gallery

The artist presents herself by citing a well-known precedent: Sir Joshua Reynolds, who in his youthful self-portrait of 1749 portrays himself while making a screen with one hand over his eyes and holding the tools of his trade in the other.

After an initial apprenticeship with his father, Thérèse studied at the Rijksakademie, in Munich and in Paris.

Returning to Amsterdam she opened a very active studio, receiving important commissions and awards.

Claude Monet at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Claude Monet | Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875

From: National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

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From low on a hillside, we look up at a light-skinned woman and boy standing in tall grass against a sunny blue sky in this vertical painting.

The woman stands at the center of the composition, and the moss-green parasol she holds over her head almost brushes the top edge of the canvas.

Her body faces our left but she turns her head to look at us.

Her long dress is painted largely with strokes of pale blue and gray with a few touches of yellow.

Her voluminous skirts swirl around her legs to our left.

Lovis Corinth | Impressionist / Expressionist painter

Lovis Corinth (1858-1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.

Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Secession group, later succeeding Max Liebermann as the group's president.

His early work was naturalistic in approach.

Corinth was initially antagonistic towards the expressionist movement, but after a stroke in 1911 his style loosened and took on many expressionistic qualities.

His use of color became more vibrant, and he created portraits and landscapes of extraordinary vitality and power.

Corinth's subject matter also included nudes and biblical scenes.

Frank Holl R.A. | Victorian painter

Francis Montague Holl RA (London 4 July 1845 - 31 July 1888 London) was an British painter, specializing in somewhat sentimental paintings with a moment from a narrative situation, often drawing on the trends of social realism and the problem picture in Victorian painting.

He was also, especially in his later years when the demand for social realism slackened, a portrait painter, mostly of official-type portraits of distinguished and therefore elderly men, including members of the royal family.

He died in his early 40s, which some contemporaries attributed to overwork, as he had been very busy in the last twenty years of his life.

Vincenzo Volpe | Verismo painter

Vincenzo Volpe (December 14, 1855 – February 9, 1929) was an Italian painter.

From 1874 to 1890, he painted mostly genre scenes.

From 1891 to 1896, he concentrated on religious art, then returned to genre works and portraits.

Vincenzo Volpe was born in Grottaminarda, Campania.

His family moved to Naples when he was eight, and in 1871 he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti there and studied with Domenico Morelli.

Maggie Siner, 1951 | Semi-realist Still life / Figure painter

A quiet voice in contemporary art, Siner’s paintings are prized for their enduring qualities: a perfect sense of the fleeting moment, exquisite clarity of light, bold gestural brushwork, delicately balanced structure, fine craftsmanship, the captured moment of absolute recognition and beautiful whimsical takes on the everyday world.

Her subjects range from the intimate (a handful of cherries), to the monumental (earth and sky), to intimate portraits and unpredictable combinations of objects.

Maxmilian Ciccone, 1972 | Figurative painter

Italian painter Maxmilian Ciccone was born in the beautiful mountainous region of Calabria, near Catanzaro.

As a child, was evident his artistic inclination which later led him to study art at the Liceo Artistico of Catanzaro.

Without ay further education, his art career has continued to grow steadily.

His intense passion for art lead him to study painters of the past, such as: Caravaggio, Shishkin and Kramskoi.

Virginia Woolf | Resta viva / Stay alive

Qualunque cosa succeda, resta viva.

Non morire prima di essere morta davvero.

Non perdere te stessa, non perdere la speranza, non perdere la direzione.

Resta viva, con tutta te stessa, con ogni cellula del tuo corpo, con ogni fibra della tua pelle.

Resta viva, impara, studia, pensa, costruisci, inventa, crea, parla, scrivi, sogna, progetta.

Erik Werenskiold | Mrs. Heimbeck Study for The Dinner Party, 1929