When Ripley uses Dickies typewriter for the first time, he types " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This is a pangram, a phrase that uses every letter in the alphabet. They are commonly used for analyzing a persons handwriting. In this case, it allowed Ripley to notice the "e" stamp was off center on Dickies typewriter.
The Picasso painting in Dickie's home is "The Guitar Player," painted in 1910 during Picasso's Analytic Cubism phase. It currently resides at The Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Jude Law, who played Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), praised this series, "I'm enjoying it. How can one not? It's such great material. You're in great hands with wonderful actors, and it's such an interesting character. Both versions reflect the director in many ways. One is visual, colorful, and romantic. The other is quite forensic and more sinister. Film, to me, often reflects the person at the helm of the camera."