Merry-Joseph Blondel was a French Neoclassical painter active in the early part of the 19th century.

He studied with the well known painter Jean-Baptiste Regnault, and from fairly early in his career formed a lasting friendship with Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Blondel had a tremendously successful career, garnering numerous awards and prestigious commissions, including major works for the Palace of Versailles, the palace of Fontainebleau, the Louvre Museum and the Luxembourg Palace.

His refined, exacting style varied from naturalistic to classicaly styled.

Among reproductions of his works on Wikimedia Commons, you will find a number of greyscale images (images above, second and third from bottom). These are of large scale (6 foot high [190 cm] or larger) commercially hand-printed “wallpapers” produced by Dafour, Paris, and designed by Blondel and Louis Lafitte. The figures in these have a fascinatingly sculptural quality to them. (More info on Sotheby’s, and here.)

César de Cock was a 19th century Belgian (Flemish) painter who spent much of his career in France. He initially studied at the School of Fine Arts in Ghent, where he was born, but in France became a pupil of Charles-François Daubigny,

Cesar de Cock, along with his elder brother, painter Xavier de Cock, became friends with Barbizon School painters Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Théodore Rousseau, and the influence of the French artists is evident in the work of both of the brothers.

César, in particular, had a wonderfully textural approach and an affinity for compositions with small streams.

Web resources for César de Cock are more scattered than for many artists, but a number of auction sites offer detailed zoomable images of his work.

Robert “Rob” Gonsalves was a Canadian painter adept at crafting images in which reality appears to bend back on itself, connecting with a twist in a kind of mental Möbius strip.

Though some would inaccurately consider his work to be Surrealism (which is specifically supposed to be derived from the unconscious mind or dreams), it would be better classed as the more loosely defined “Magic Realism”, which is the term usually applied to Gonsalves’ paintings.

I’ve always found his work to be particularly delightful, both in the fascinating juxtapositions of viewpoints and the whimsy that pervades them. Gonsalves revisits some of his themes multiple times, but finds amusing variations in additional subjects.

Rob Gonsalves died in June of this year at the age of 58.

I don’t think there is an official site for Rob Gonsalves, but I believe Huckleberry Fine Art is his primary gallery representation. Unfortunately, the images on their site are inexplicably small.

You may find it easier to view larger images of his work on sites like Tutt’Art, and some of the blog and web magazine posts I list below.

See also my previous posts on Rob Gonsalves, (and here).

There are several collections of his work, some still in print, others available only through used book sources.

These appear to be available (Amazon links):
Imagine a World (2015)
Master Of Illusion: The Art Of Rob Gonsalves 2018 Wall Calendar
Master of Illusion 2017 Wall Calendar
Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion (Gonsalves included with others)

These are available from Amazon through secondary sellers:
Imagine a Place (2008)
Imagine a Day (2005)
Imagine a Night (2003)

[Thanks to Thorin for suggesting the update on Rob Gonsalves.]