【推荐2】Art lovers around the world are remembering Leonardo da Vinci who died in France 500 years ago, on May 2, 1519.

A British art expert announced on Thursday that Britain’s royal family has a portrait (肖像) of the famous artist, often known simply as Leonardo. Martin Clayton, a royal art adviser, said the portrait’s owner is Queen Elizabeth II. He added that the image was made by one of Leonardo’s assistants shortly before his death. Clayton said the “straight nose” and other details look very much like the only other known portrait of Leonardo done in his lifetime. That picture was the work of Italian painter Francesco Melzi. It will be on display at the Queen’s Gallery with about 200 drawings from her collection of Leonardo’s works.

On Thursday, the presidents of Italy and France gathered in the French town of Amboise to mark the anniversary of the artist’s death. He spent the final years of his life in the town. Today art lovers around the world are celebrating Leonardo’s work. He is considered a true Renaissance man, working not only as an artist, but as a scientist and inventor. “There really hasn’t been anybody then or since who has combined this extraordinary genius for these totally different areas,” said Gregory Rubinstein. He is the worldwide head of Old Master drawings at Sotheby’s auction house. “I think that’s what’s at the heart of our fascination.”

Sotheby’s announced Thursday that an important Leonardo drawing is going on display in its New York offices next month. The drawing, called “Leda and the Swan”, was painted in 1506. It is based on a story from Greek mythology (神话). It has not been shown in public since 2003. Leonardo appears to have made the painting while he was also working on “Mona Lisa”, his most well-known painting. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Rubenstein said the “very complete and very beautiful” drawing appears to have been preparatory work for a painting that was never made or was lost. “It’s a very mysterious one because there is no surviving record. and no painting survives,” he said.

【推荐1】John Myatt is an artist. He may not be the greatest artist in the world, but he is possibly the world’s greatest forger (伪造者). He is able to paint pictures in the style of famous artists like Monet and Matisse.

    1     This unusual skill got Myatt into a lot of trouble in the 1990s. For many years he taught art at a secondary school, but then he got divorced (离婚) and he gave up his job to spend more time with his children. In order to make some money he started painting pictures in the style of famous artists and selling them.

    2     He was honest about his work—he wrote his name on the back, and he sold them for ￡150 each. However, one of his customers, John Drewe, started to resell Myatt’s paintings as genuine, original works. Drewe had sold one of Myatt’s paintings for￡25,000. He contacted Myatt and suggested that they go into business together. Myatt agreed. He continued to paint and Drewe sold his paintings to art collectors around the world.     3    

The amazing thing is that Myatt painted his pictures with decorator’s paint.     4     But it soon came to an end. Drewe was divorced too, and his ex-wife found out about the forgeries. She went to the police and they arrested Dewe and Myatt. At their trial Drewe was sent to prison for six years and Myatt for less than one year.

    5     When he came out he started to produce pictures in the style of famous artists again. But he put his name on the back, as he’d done before he met Drewe. Myatt is now famous and instead of charging￡150 for a painting, he can charge￡40-50,000.

【推荐3】Earlier this year I was asked to design a sculpture for London’s first step-free trail (无障碍通道) with Whizz-Kidz, the UK’s leading charity for young wheelchair users. It was an offer I couldn’t possibly refuse, considering the trail is a way to increase public awareness about the need for wheelchair users to be mobile and included in society, through the power of art. It was also something that seemed extra important to me, as art isn’t always something accessible to me as a disabled person.

I was born in a working-class family in 1969. We never had much money, so getting hobbies was difficult. But Mum and Dad always made sure that I had something to draw on. As a child, I often lost myself in drawing in our small house. However, a bad illness caused me to be paralyzed at 11, ending up in a wheelchair. Still, during these dark moments I learned to escape through art. Fortunately, I recovered enough to go to art college.

It was when a friend recommended an iPad to me in my thirties that my life as an artist totally changed. It changed the way I made art, as I could effectively create art digitally. The art poured out of me. Things moved so quickly that after just four months, my work on my personal experiences as a disabled person was shown in a group show in America.

And this led me to work with groups of disabled people, so I could use iPad to make art about the stories I was being told. I was not giving them a voice, but it was they who gave me a voice, so that I could make public art about disability. Eventually, I hoped art would change public policy. I hope thousands of disabled people will be able to take part and enjoy the wonderful art on show, and I know it is a celebration of them and their lives.

【推荐2】From Rags to Riches: Success Stories to Inspire You

For many people, stories about success can be truly motivational. Indeed, reading about someone’s journey, the hardships they overcame and how they eventually achieved success can become the sort of examples that encourage us to persist in achieving our own goals.

The following amazing success stories of celebrities will become a source of endless inspiration for you.

Stephen King

The master of horror has penned over 90 stories throughout his career, most of which have been a definitive success. But the going wasn’t always easy for King.

Raising a family with his wife Tabitha, who was also a writer, the pair could barely make ends meet. When he wasn’t working as a teacher, King worked odd jobs at a laundromat, and as a gas station attendant and a janitor to keep a roof over his family’s heads.

His first novel Carrie, which tells the story of a troubled teen with telekinetic powers, was rejected 30 times before finally getting published, eventually becoming one of the best-selling novels of all time.

Anita Roddick

The late founder of The Body Shop could never have predicted the success that her business would bring. Indeed, when Roddick founded The Body Shop, she had a simple plan: to sell cruelty-free cosmetics made from natural ingredients.

Soon after opening the doors to her first store in 1976, its vast popularity led to numerous franchises, resulting in over 700 global stores by 1991.

Thanks to Roddick’s unique vision, The Body Shop became the forefront for ethical consumerism, becoming one of the first businesses to shun animal-tested ingredients and promote fair-trade products. Roddick also used her booming business to support and advocate several environmental and social causes, often working with organizations such as Greenpeace.

James Dyson

Britain’s richest man has taken the world by storm with his inventions. However, Dyson’s schooling is not what you’d expect from a world-renowned inventor. Indeed. Dyson was inclined towards the arts as a student and studied furniture design at the Royal College of Art in London.

But his career path would take a turn one day after becoming frustrated with his home vacuum. After breaking it apart and identifying a design flaw in the product. Dyson set out to create what would become a market-changing invention: the first bagless vacuum cleaner.

It took him 5 years and 5, 126 failed prototypes before he made one that worked. But after being unable to find a manufacturer that would produce it, Dyson put his house on the line to become a manufacturer himself. Even then, getting sellers and shops to stock his vacuum cleaner was a struggle, and being a one-man operation, he acted as the sole designer, engineer, manufacturer and salesman of his product.

Although it took a while for his invention to get any attention from consumers, once it did, it inevitably became a billion-dollar idea that set the foundations for Dyson’s empire.