David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) Sapho, Phaon et l’Amour (Sappho, Phaon and Cupid) 1809 Oil on canvas, 225.3 x 262 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg David is considered the founder and leading light of Neoclassicism, which dominated art in the late 18th and…
Géricault, Théodore (1791-1824) Le baiser (The Kiss) c.1816–1817 Charcoal, wash and gouache on brown paper, 20 x 27.4 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Having failed to win the Academy prize that would finance a study trip to Italy, in 1816 Géricault decided…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Fantin-Latour drawing 1859 Black chalk and graphite on paper, 24.5 x 15.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Inscription, in pencil, top right: ‘Fantin au lit/ la poursuite/ de ses études dans les difficultés, 14° froid, le 20…
Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) La Vie (Life) 1903 Oil on canvas, 196.5 x 129.2 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland In 1901, depressed over the suicide of a close friend, Picasso launched into the melancholic paintings of his Blue period (1901–4). Only…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Olympia 1867 Etching Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Manet‘s model, Victorine Meurent, was herself a successful painter who showed her work at Paris‘s salon. When Edouard Manet’s painting Olympia was exhibited in Paris in 1865, it was met by…
Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) Mort de Sardanapale (Death of Sardanapalus) 1827 Oil on canvas, 392 cm × 496 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris “The rebels besieged him in his palace… Lying on a superb bed, at the top of an immense pyre,…
Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) Danae e la pioggia d’oro (Danae and the Shower of Gold) 1621–1623 Oil on canvas, 161.5 × 227.1 cm Getty Center, Los Angeles This painting is part of a series of works executed by Gentileschi in 1622 for…
Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) Danae c.1623 Oil on canvas, 162 x 228.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland The gauzy scarf draped over Danaë was a studio prop present in many of Orazio‘s paintings. Danaë’s father feared a prophecy that his grandson…
David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) Cupidon et Psyché (Cupid and Psyche) 1817 Oil on canvas, 184.2 x 241.6 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Jacques-Louis David included two butterflies in this painting: one above the slumbering Psyche and the other on the base…
Alma-Tadema, Lawrence (1836-1912) Glaucus and Nydia 1867 Oil on wood panel, 55.5 x 81 x 4.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Alma-Tadema, one of the most popular Victorian painters, became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the…