Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Madonna at the Fountain 1439 Oil on panel, 19 x 12 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp Inscriptions: frame, lower: A XAN/ IOHES DE EYCK ME FECIT + PLEVIT ANO 1439° The Virgin Mary lovingly cradles the…
Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) Rendez-vous dans la forêt (Rendezvous in the Forest) 1889 Oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Beyond a dense screen of stylized, dark brown tree trunks, bending branches, and sage and moss-green leaves, a…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Mistress and Maid (Dame en dienstbode) c.1666–1667 Oil on canvas, 90.2 x 78.7 cm Frick Collection, New York Vermeer chose a large canvas for this composition, which presents two women pondering a newly arrived letter. Depicting an interior…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Madonna Litta mid 1490s Tempera on canvas (handed over from panel), 42 x 33 cm Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg This painting would seem to have been produced in Milan, where the artist moved in 1482. It was one…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Madonna del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary) c.1601 Oil on canvas, 364.5 × 249.5 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Our Lady invites St. Dominic to distribute rosaries to the people. St Peter Martyr points to the source of all graces,…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Sacrificio di Isacco (Sacrifice of Isaac) c.1603 Oil on canvas, 104 x 135 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The painting illustrates the Old Testament passage in which God subjected Abraham to an extraordinary test of obedience by ordering him to…
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1825-1905) Amour Fraternel (Fraternal Love, Virgin and Child with Young Saint John) 1851 Oil on canvas, 147 x 113.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Bouguereau enjoyed a lifetime of official favor and commercial success and carried the tradition of…