Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) San Francesco sorretto dall’angelo (Saint Francis supported by an Angel) c.1607 Oil on canvas, 126 x 98 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The subject of the angelic consolation of Saint Francis became popular in the second half of…
Angelico, Fra (c.1395-1455) L’Annunciazione (The Annunciation) c.1426 Tempera on panel, 162.3 x 191.5 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This altarpiece was painted for the monastery of Santo Domenico in Fiesole, near Florence. The central panel shows the Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation to…
Alma-Tadema, Lawrence (1836-1912) The Siesta, or Pompeian Scene 1868 Oil on canvas, 130 x 369 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid A domestic scene set in classical antiquity. An old man and a youth recline on divans while an attractive young woman…
Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530) Sacra Famiglia Medici (Madonna and Child, Saint Elizabeth and Saint John the Baptist) c.1529 Oil on panel, 140 × 104 cm Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze The scene is built with a diagonal layout of the four figures intent…
Parmigianino (1503-1540) Cupido che fabbrica l’arco (Bowcarving Cupid) 1534–1539 Oil on lime, 135.5 × 65 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The inspiration for this painting may have come from a sculpture that Parmigianino may have seen in the Grimani Collection in Venice in…
Correggio (c.1489-1534) Madonna Barrymore (Madonna and Child) c.1505–1510 Oil on canvas, 56.3 x 41 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609) Madonna Montalto (The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist) c.1600 Oil on copper, 35 x 27.5 cm National Gallery, London Domesticity reigns in this exquisite little picture. A delightfully pretty Virgin Mary balances a squirming,…
Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528) Madonna and Child 1512 Oil on lime, 49.3 × 37.4 × 2.8 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Inscription on the top right with the monogram, dat. 1512 The relatively small-format painting was certainly intended as a private devotional picture;…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) The Four Rivers of Paradise c.1615 Oil on canvas, 208 × 283 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna According to the conventional interpretation, the four continents are depicted here as female allegoric figures paired with the gods of their…
Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665) La Sainte Famille sur les marches (The Holy Family on the Steps) 1648 Oil on canvas, 73.3 x 105.8 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Poussin placed small wax models in a box pierced with holes to study…