Ernest Seton-Thompson - writer, artist, naturalist
Eighty-six years of life - a considerable time. Exactly so many wonderful Canadian writer, artist, naturalist Ernest Seton-Thompson lived. But who was he in the first place? A rare case…

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Konstantin Meunier - an artist who glorified the proletariat
The life of the Belgian master Constantin Meunier is not eventful. But his creative biography is unusual. He began as a sculptor, visiting the class of the Academy of Fine…

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Kanoplasta from Tanagra
The Greek words "tanagra", "tanagryanka" about a hundred years ago entered the Russian language. They are now used to denote everything fragile, feminine and plastic. The artist V. Serov invented…

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Antique Cologne
Cologne ... Many have heard about this German city on the Rhine, a major center of medieval European culture. The well-known Cologne Cathedral is an unsurpassed monument of Gothic architecture.…

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Barbizon School of Painting
Barbizon School of Painting Far from the noise of the capital, the French painters of the last century have chosen the area around the royal residence of Fontainebleau, which since…

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painters from England

“The Adoration of the Magi” by Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci

In March 1481, the monks of the Florentine monastery of San Donato and Scopetto turned to the notary Pietro of Vinci with a request to find an artist who could write an altar painting for the cathedral. Pietro immediately offered the services of his son Leonardo, who recently graduated from Verrocchio. At the same time the contract was concluded, where the working conditions were determined. The artist was given the task of painting a 2.5×2.5 m size in oil on a blackboard in two – two and a half years. The plot of the Adoration of the Magi is one of the episodes of the Gospel legend. Continue reading

Mexican painting of the first half of the 20th century

In the 20th century, the art of Latin America, primarily Mexico, unexpectedly became one of the most significant phenomena of world culture. The dramatic history of this country is replete with brutal conquests, murders, merciless oppression of the masses – starting from the invasion of the Aztec warrior people, who later created a formidable state later in Central Mexico, in the XII century.

In the first half of the 16th century, Spanish conquerors conquered Mexico, seized the ancient civilization that had developed here, spread Christianity with fire and sword, and turned the Indians into slaves. Continue reading

Kanoplasta from Tanagra

The Greek words “tanagra”, “tanagryanka” about a hundred years ago entered the Russian language. They are now used to denote everything fragile, feminine and plastic. The artist V. Serov invented the term “tanagretika” on their basis, meaning beneath it artless, elegant, opposite to the cold and rational in art.

The ancient city of Tanagra in Boeotia, in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula, has gained wide popularity in recent times thanks to an archaeological sensation – finds of Tanagrian figurines. Continue reading

"Denial of confession" by Ilya Repin
The man was brought to execution. After several months of imprisonment, he was pale. Around the roaring crowd. - Villain, crazy! In the king himself shot! - God saved his…

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Caravaggio - "an excellent rival of nature"
At the turn of the XVI – XVII centuries in Italy, famous for great painters, poets, scientists and humanists, a very peculiar artist appeared. His paintings caused a genuine sensation.…

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The Unknown by Ivan Kramskoy
At the end of the 1860s, in the period when the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions was born, a curious incident occurred in the workshop of Artel of artists. He…

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