Mario Puccini | The Italian van Gogh

Mario Puccini (1869, Livorno - 1920, Florence) was an Italian Post-Macchiaioli painter, who specialized in landscapes and village scenes.

He was sometimes referred to as "The Italian Van Gogh".

His father was a baker. He worked in his father's bakery and sketched as a hobby until his talent was noticed by Giovanni Fattori, who encouraged him to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, which he did, against parental objections, in 1884 when he was only fifteen.

Alexis Le Borgne, 1995 | Watercolor painter

Alexis Le Borgne is an award-winning French-Vietnamese professional artist based in France.

He describes his art as evolving with time and being marked by continuous questioning and desire to learn in perpetuity.

From still lifes to interior scenes, as well as the animal world, imaginary landscapes and character settings, each of Le Borgne's subjects "brings its stone to the edifice", helping him to better understand and grasp the world around him.

Oreste Cortazzo | Painter of the Belle Époque

Oreste Cortazzo (1836, Rome - 1910, Paris) was an Italian-born French painter, graphic artist and illustrator.

His family originally came from Ceraso, in the Province of Salerno.

Around 1848, he began an apprenticeship with his father, Michele (1808-1865), who was also a painter and a great admirer of Titian. (Some of Michele's works may be seen at the Palace of Caserta, near Naples.)

Jaroslav Seifert | Di pomeriggio uno scroscio di pioggia..

Di pomeriggio uno scroscio di pioggia

fece profumare anche l’erba pesta

e la sera, piena di primaverile malinconia,

lenta s’univa alla notte.

Jeff Rowland

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Tête de jeune fille coiffée d'un chapeau de jardin, 1895

"I have taken up again, never to abandon it, my old style, soft and light of touch", Renoir wrote to his dealer Durand-Ruel in 1888, full of enthusiasm for his latest efforts.

"This is to give you some idea of my new and final manner of painting - like Fragonard, but not so good" (quoted in J. House, Renoir in the Barnes Foundation, New Haven, 2012, p. 121).

Renoir's new approach represented a sea-change after the controversial Ingres-inspired method he cultivated in the previous decade.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Tête de jeune fille coiffée d'un chapeau de jardin, 1895 | Christie's

Jaroslav Seifert | Se al cuore si potesse dire / If one could tell one’s heart…

Se al cuore si potesse dire:

non correre!

Se potessi ordinargli: brucia!

Già si spegne.

Marc Chagall

Romà Ribera | Painter of the Belle Époque

Romà Ribera i Cirera (Barcelona, 1848-1935) was a Catalan genre painter.

He specialized in contemporary scenes from upper-class social events, rendered in meticulous detail, but also did numerous scenes from life in the 17th and 18th centuries.

He studied at the Escola de la Llotja and at the private school operated by Pere Borrell del Caso.

In 1873, he went to Rome to complete his studies.

While there, he met Marià Fortuny, who works would influence his style.

Rosario de Velasco | Magic Realism painter

Rosario de Velasco Belausteguigoitia (Madrid, 1904 - Barcelona, 1991) Spanish painter.

Born in Madrid, in her early years she started an active painting career.

Pupil of Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza, developed a neo-traditional style imbued with Magic Realism.

Her favourite subjects were seascapes, portraits and landscapes.