Fontana, Lavinia (1552-1614) Ritratto di Ginevra Aldrovandi Hercolani (Portrait of Ginevra Aldrovandi Hercolani) c.1595 Oil on canvas, 114.62 x 94.62 cm Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Ginevra Aldrovandi’s husband, the Bolognese senator Ercole Hercolani, died in 1593. Her elaborate mourning costume-with costly…
Fontana, Lavinia (1552-1614) Minerva in atto di abbigliarsi (Minerva Dressing) 1613 Oil on canvas, 258 x 190 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma The work, which dates back to 1613, was painted in Rome, evoked here through the dome of St. Peter’s visible…
Arcimboldo, Giuseppe (1526-1593) Il Bibliotecario (The Librarian) 1562 Oil on canvas, 98 x 71 cm Skoklosters Slott, Sweden
Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife 1434 Oil on oak, 82.2 x 60 cm National Gallery, London This must be one of the most famous paintings in the world, and one of the most intriguing.…
Tissot, James (1836-1902) Hush! 1875 Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 112.2 cm Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Modern life was the central theme of Tissot‘s art, with a focus on bourgeois social behaviour. His genre pieces typically dwelt on social nicety, flattering…
Tissot, James (1836-1902) Summer (‘Portrait’) 1876 Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 50.8 cm Tate Britain, London James Tissot is deliberately ambiguous here, inviting us to interpret it. His model, Miss Lloyd, stands at the entrance of a billiards’ room, a space…
Tissot, James (1836-1902) Cache-cache (Hide and Seek) c.1877 Oil on wood, 73.4 x 53.9 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington In early 1874 Degas wrote, “Look here, my dear Tissot. . . you positively must exhibit at the Boulevard [in the…
Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) Portrait de femme (Portrait of a Woman) c.1895 Oil on canvas, 160.5 x 105.5 cm Musée Picasso, Paris Brassaï, photo of Picasso in his studio at 23 rue La Boétie, standing in front of Rousseau’s Portrait of a…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Woman with a Pearl Necklace (Vrouw met parelsnoer) 1663–1665 Oil on canvas, 56.1 x 47.4 cm Gemäldegalerie, Berlin SIGNATURE / INSCRIPTION: Inscription on the table top: IVMeer (IVM in ligature) A young woman stands at a table and…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Love Letter (De liefdesbrief) c.1669–1670 Oil on canvas, 44 x 38.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Vermeer chose an unusual vantage point for this painting. From a dim space in the foreground, a glimpse is afforded of another room…