Nicola Simbari

I was out for lunch with friends the other day and walked into RITCHIES auction house here in Toronto. Thought maybe they'd have some inventory to look at, but you couldn't really get past reception. However - from across the room we could see a painting of a nude about to go up for auction, and we were so taken with it that we looked up the artist when we got home - Nicola Simbari, a still-living Calabrian painter, born 1927... I feel stupid for not knowing who he is. Here are a few of his paintings that are making my little heart go a pitter-patter.