Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (Zittende virginaalspeelster) c.1670–1672 Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 45.5 cm National Gallery, London A colourful hanging tapestry has been swept to one side to reveal a young woman seated at 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…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Lacemaker (De kantwerkster) 1669–1670 Oil on canvas transferred to panel, 24 x 21 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris The motif of the lacemaker at work is traditionally a sign of domestic virtue, tinged with religious moralism (the…
Mantegna, Andrea (c.1431-1506) Morte della Vergine (Death of the Virgin) c.1462 Oil on wood, 54.5 x 42 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The Virgin Mary lies on her deathbed, surrounded by eleven Apostles. Through the window, the Borgo di San Giorgio and…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Bacco fanciullo (The Infant Bacchus) 1505–1510 Oil on panel transferred to panel, 50.1 x 39 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Ritratto di Musico (Portrait of a Musician) c.1485 Tempera and oil on panel, 44.7 x 32 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milano The only painting on panel by Leonardo to have remained in Milan, this portrait was traditionally thought to…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Ritratto di Ginevra de’ Benci (Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci) c.1474–1478 Oil on panel 38.1 x 37 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington This square portrait shows the head and shoulders of a young woman in front…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Annunciazione (Annunciation) c.1472 Oil on panel, 90 x 222 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze A flourishing enclosed garden, in front of a Renaissance palace, evokes the hortus conclusus that alludes to the purity of Mary. Archangel Gabriel…
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…
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo (1598-1680) Il Ratto di Proserpina (The Rape of Proserpina) 1621–1622 Marble, 255 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma The work portrays the abduction of Proserpine by Pluto, god of the underworld. Narrated by both Claudian and Ovid, the myth tells…