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The catalogue that was written by Oscar Casares to accompany the painting is a descriptive memory and research of the artwork where all of the creative, artistic and production processes is explained. The catalogue is already registered and protected by copy right.

Madonna was kept informed throughout the artistic and logistic process of Oscar´s work for the biennale.

The painting and its composition are absolutely original and not reproductions from photographs.Total labor invested: 2,700 hours.

“VIRTUES OF THE SOUL AS ECLIPSED BY THE DIVA MADONNA” by OSCAR CASARES will be presented in the seventh edition of the Biennale Internazionale dellArte Contemporanea of Florence that will be held from 5th to 13th December 2009 in the historical setting of Fortezza da Basso.

A percentage of the sale/auction of this painting will go to support a registered non-profit organization.

Experts who followed the development of the artwork:

ERNA KALUZA was born in Vienna, Austria, and is a cartoonist by profession. She, as well as her husband Les, worked at the Paramount Studio in New York. In 1964 he settled in Hollywood and worked for Hanna-Barbera on shows like “THE FLINTSTONES”, “THE JETSONS”, “YOGI BEAR”, “JOHNNY QUEST” and many others. Les also produced his own animated shorts, which were shown at Film Festivals all over the world and won several awards.
Erna went through much the same as Les working at the same studios in ink and pain and in animation. Erna’s paintings are colorful and cheery and are in private collections in the USA and Europe. Besides painting, Erna also enjoys writing poetry, essays and short stories.

PATRICIA E. CARÍAS was born in Guatemala, lived in the USA for over 20 years. She has a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California, Berkeley.

NATÁLIA P. VIEIRA is an architect and coordinates artistic and cultural projects. She is dress and costume supervisor for theatre, fashion and cinema. She graduated from Lusíada University.

JOSÉ CARLOS VECHINA is a theologian. He received his degrees from the University of Deusto, Bilbao, and the University of Salamanca, Spain. He is currently an archivist at the OCD, a Catholic organization.

ANTÓNIO PINTO DE MAGALHÃES aka ANTÓNIO ALIJÓ is a painter, interior decorator, curator, scenographer (ballet and theater), restoration architect, graphic designer, artistic director of a decoration magazine, director of photography of interiors. António graduated from the College of Mompelier and National Conservatory.

“VIRTUES OF THE SOUL AS ECLIPSED BY THE DIVA MADONNA” is another great painting by the very talented Portugese artist Oscar Casares… ERNA KALUZA

In the painting that Oscar Casares will present in Florence “Madonna is love, grace and delight; she is mystifying the marvellous glory of passion in paramount service of her ideal: eternal youth, beauty and spirituality.”

For the development of the painting Oscar Casares has studied Kabbalah to better understand Madonna’s spirituality – a body of mystical teachings based on the Torah, the Jewish scriptures.