Gioacchino La Pira | The Blue Grotto on Capri island

The Blue Grotto / Grotta Azzurra, is a sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, southern Italy.

Sunlight shining through an underwater cavity is reflected back upward through the seawater below the cavern, giving the water a blue glow that illuminates the cavern.

The cave extends some 50 metres into the cliff at the surface, and is about 150 metres (490 ft) deep, with a sandy bottom.

Gioacchino La Pira | The Blue Grotto on Capri island

The Blue Grotto is one of several sea caves worldwide that is flooded with a brilliant blue or emerald light.

The quality and nature of the color in each is determined by its unique combination of depth, breadth, water clarity, and light source.

Lionel Walden | Seascape painter

A famous painter of seascapes and marine scenes, Lionel Walden (1861-1933) was born in Connecticut.

He first became interested in art in Minnesota, where the family moved when his father became rector of an Episcopal Church there.

As a young man Walden moved to Paris where he studied with E. A. Carolus-Duran.

Odilon Redon | Portrait of Marie Botkine, 1900

Odilon Redon | Portrait of the ceramist Marie Botkin, pastel | Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

Portrait of Marie Botkine

Autor: Odilon Redon (1840-1916)

Date: 1900

Style: Symbolism

Genre: Portrait

Media: Pastel, paper

Dimensions: 48 x 64 cm

Location: Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

Adolph von Menzel | Realist painter

Adolf von Menzel, in full Adolf Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (1815-1905), German painter and printmaker, best known in his own day as a brilliant historical painter, whose patriotic works satisfied the public’s taste, engendered by Prussia’s continual expansion throughout the 19th century, for propagandistic art.

In the 20th century he was chiefly esteemed for his sensitive treatment of light and the original compositions of his small genre pictures.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: "La mia Italia" | Le lettere..

Italia, autunno 1881.

Alla signora Charpentier,

Dovevo pranzare un mattino con voi, e mi avrebbe fatto infinitamente piacere, perché è già passato tanto tempo.

Ma sono diventato improvvisamente viaggiatore e mi ha preso la febbre di vedere Raffaello .

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Un jardin à Sorrente, 1881 | Sotheby's

Hugo Salmson | Genre painter

Born in Stockholm, Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843-1894) was a Swedish painter, known for figures and genre scenes.

He was the son of Fredrik Ludvig Salmson, a wholesaler, and his wife Maria Perlberg.

He initially studied business, but soon decided on an artistic career.

In 1862, he began his studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts where he was trained by Johan Christoffer Boklund.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard | Rococo painter

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), French Rococo painter whose most familiar works, such as The Swing (1767), are characterized by delicate hedonism.

Fragonard was the son of a haberdasher’s assistant. The family moved to Paris about 1738, and in 1747 the boy was apprenticed to a lawyer, who, noticing his appetite for drawing, suggested that he be taught painting.

François Boucher | Rococo painter

François Boucher (1703-1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style.

Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes.

He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century.