Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Venus Giving Arms to Aeneas (Venus schenkt wapens aan Aeneas) 1668 Oil on canvas, 161.8 x 165.8 cm Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp In the 17th century, classicism broke through, also in golden Holland. Artists…
Guercino (1591-1666) Autoritratto mentre dipinge ‘Amore fedele’ (Self-Portrait before a Painting of “Amor Fedele”) 1655 Oil on canvas, 116 x 95.6 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington In this vertical portrait painting, a pale-skinned, bearded man holding a painter’s palette…
Guercino (1591-1666) Amor virtuoso (Cupid Spurning Riches) c.1653 Oil on canvas, 99 x 75 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The papal nuncio to Spain, Camillo Massimo (1620–1677), presented Guercino’s Cupid spurning Riches and Guido Reni’s Cupid with a Bow (P150)…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Omaggio a Venere (Worship of Venus) 1518 Oil on canvas, 172 x 175 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Titian‘s first contribution to the Camerino d’Alabastro was prompted by the death in October 1517 of Fra Bartolommeo from whom Alfonso d’Este…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian) 1474 Tempera on poplar panel, 195 x 75 cm Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The Roman officer Sebastian was supposed to renounce his Christian faith in order to serve as the bodyguard of the Emperor Diocletian. When he…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Primavera (Allegory of Spring) c.1480 Tempera on panel, 207 x 319 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze This painting, usually known as the Primavera [or ‘Spring’] shows nine figures from classic mythology advancing over a flowery lawn in a grove…
Raffaello (1483-1520) San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian) c.1502–1503 Tempera and oil on wood, 45.5 x 36.4 cm Accademia Carrara, Bergamo Originally from Urbino and initially active in Perugino‘s workshop, Raphael worked in Siena, perhaps as a collaborator of Pinturicchio, to then establish…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Diane chasseresse (Diana) 1867 Oil on canvas, 199.5 x 129.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Renoir wrote that he had produced this painting as a study of a nude, the sort of exercise that was a mainstay of…
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1825-1905) Naissance de Vénus (Birth of Venus) 1879 Oil on canvas, 300 x 215 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Amorino dormiente (Sleeping Cupid) 1608 Oil on canvas, 72 x 105 cm Galleria Palatina, Firenze In classical antiquity Cupid, the god of love, was always depicted as a young boy armed with bow and arrows. Such images were known as…