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Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovidius (Ovid), was an ancient Roman poet who lived during the reign of Emperor Augustus.
Most of the information about the life and work of Ovid, scholars have drawn from his own works, as well as from the works of Seneca the Elder and Marcus Fabius Quintilianus. Ovid was from a fairly high class of "horsemen", studied rhetoric at the maestros of oratory of the ancient Roman Empire, and then went traveling, visiting Athens, Asia Minor and Sicily. As a young man, Ovid held minor public offices, was a member of the college of civil affairs, and served in an office that performed spiritual and secular duties at the state level.
However, Ovid was much more attracted to poetry, and he resigned and about 29-25 BC joined the circle of those chosen under the patronage of Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus. After publishing Amores, a collection of love-erotic lyrics, around 15-16 BC, Ovid became one of Rome's most popular poets. He became famous for his works in the genre of elegy, as well as for his epic poem Metamorphoses (8 AD), which became one of the most important sources in the study of classical mythology.
For reasons unknown to us, in 8 A.D. Ovid was disgraced and exiled for the rest of his life to Tomes on the Black Sea, where he wrote his "Mournful Elegies" and a poem cycle entitled "Letters from Pontus". A contemporary of Virgil and Horace, Ovid was one of the three canonical representatives of Latin literature.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu was a Dutch cartographer and map publisher.
Willem studied astronomy and cartography under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and even discovered the variable star P Swan in 1600. A little later Blaeu settled in Amsterdam, where he began making globes and also began producing land and sea maps, including a 1605 world map. In 1629 he managed to acquire the printing plates of the cartographer Jodok Hondius, with which he published his own atlas.
In 1633, Willem Blaeu was appointed cartographer of the Dutch Republic, as well as the official cartographer of the Dutch East India Company. Blau built up a large collection of maps and conducted an extensive publishing business. After Willem's death, his sons Jan Blaeu (1596-1673) and Cornelius Blaeu successfully continued his work. But in 1672, during a fire in Amsterdam, Blaeu's workshop was destroyed, and the company founded by Willem Blaeu ceased to exist in 1698.
![FIBONACCI, Leonardo [c.1170-c.1250]; BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius Severinus [c.480-524], GROSSETESTE, Robert [1175-1253]; [DE PULCHRO RIVO, Johannes, attrib.]](/assets/image/picture_2279440/69ac3/5672d49f6fe2176fe5b0465502ca1a9b1657663200jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![FIBONACCI, Leonardo [c.1170-c.1250]; BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius Severinus [c.480-524], GROSSETESTE, Robert [1175-1253]; [DE PULCHRO RIVO, Johannes, attrib.]](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_2279440/69ac3/5672d49f6fe2176fe5b0465502ca1a9b1657663200jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
Henry Spencer Moore was an influential English sculptor and artist, renowned for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures that have found homes around the world as public works of art. Born on July 30, 1898, in Castleford, Yorkshire, Moore showed early talent in art, but his journey towards becoming a sculptor was not straightforward. His experiences as a young teacher and a soldier in the First World War, where he was injured in a gas attack, significantly shaped his perspectives and artistic direction.
After the war, Moore pursued his passion for art, winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London, where he began to experiment with modernist influences and direct carving techniques, moving away from the traditional Victorian style. His works, characterized by organic shapes and a blend of abstraction and figuration, were inspired by a wide range of sources, including primitive art, the human body, and the natural world.
Moore's sculptures are celebrated for their unique ability to blend form with space in the landscape, offering viewers a dynamic interaction with his works. His dedication to public art made his sculptures accessible to a wide audience, contributing to his status as one of the 20th century's most significant sculptors. Moore's legacy is preserved through the Henry Moore Foundation, which supports artists and promotes public appreciation of sculpture.
For collectors and experts in art and antiques, Moore's work remains a testament to the power of sculpture to evoke emotion and thought. His contributions to modern art and sculpture continue to inspire and influence artists around the world.
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