Old paintings

Wladyslaw Teodor Benda Born: January 15, 1873 in Poznan (Posen), German Empire Died: November 30, 1948 in Newark, New Jersey) was a Polish-American painter, illustrator, and designer.

Told you my degree would come in handy, Mom.

“❝He remembered the way love had burned through him like a flame under glass, grasping outward, devouring what air it had left before it choked. How he hated it; desperately he had tried to keep it burning.❞ ──𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, These Violent Delights.”

Painted Hall at Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich returned to former glory in £8.5m project

The Pre-Raphaelite artists of Victorian England painted many Shakespearian characters, but Ophelia was a particular favourite. The sad death by drowning of Hamlet's sweetheart...

Detail : Seven Works of Mercy. 1606-07. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Italian 1571-1610. oil/canvas. http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

"A Cavatina" {1888} By ~ Briton Riviere

Mary Anne Bloxan (later MrsFrederich H.Hemming) by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Stunningly beautiful, Austrian Empress Sisi was a legendary beauty who left behind a heritage of skincare and haircare that is indispensable even today.

Paintings can be far more complicated than they appear at first glance. The stories told by works of art are the stuff of novels. Here are a few of the stories behind famous masterpieces.