Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Les Deux Soeurs, Sur la terrasse (Two Sisters, On the Terrace) 1881 Oil on canvas, 100.4 × 80.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago “He loves everything that is joyous, brilliant, and consoling in life,” an anonymous interviewer once…
Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban (1617-1682) Virgen con el Niño (Virgin and Child) 1670s Oil on canvas, 165.7 x 109.2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Like Zurbarán and Velázquez, Murillo was trained in Seville, where he spent his whole career. Often referred…
Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban (1617-1682) Sagrada Familia del pajarito (Holy Family with a Bird) c.1650 Oil on canvas, 144 x 188 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid A domestic scene filled with tenderness showing the Virgin Mary winding a skein of thread and…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) At the Piano 1858–1859 Oil on canvas, 67.63 x 93.35 cm Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati
Munch, Edvard (1863-1944) The Sick Child (Det Syke Barn) 1885–1886 Oil on canvas, 120 x 118.5 cm Nationalgalleriet, Oslo Edvard Munch used a simple composition for this sickbed scene, placing the main image in the centre and to the fore of…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) El aguador de Sevilla (The Waterseller of Seville) c.1623 Oil on canvas, 107.7 x 81.3 cm Wellington Museum, London This is one of the most famous early paintings by Velázquez, produced in his home town of Seville when…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Las Meninas, o La familia de Felipe IV (Las meninas or The Family of Philip IV) 1656 Oil on canvas, 320.5 x 281.5 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This is one of Velázquez‘s largest paintings and among…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Le tre età dell’uomo (The Three Ages of Man) 1512–1514 Oil on canvas, 90 x 150.7 cm Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh This early work depicts the three stages of life: infancy, adulthood and old age. Cupid clambers over the sleeping…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Amor sacro e amor profano (Sacred and Profane Love) 1515–1516 Oil on canvas, 118 x 278 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma This work was probably sold to Scipione Borghese in 1608 by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati. A veritable interpretative enigma, critics…
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) L’Atelier du peintre (The Painter’s Studio) 1854–1855 Oil on canvas, 361 x 598 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris The enormous Studio is without doubt Courbet‘s most mysterious composition. However, he provides several clues to its interpretation: “It’s the whole world…