Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641) A Genoese Lady with Her Child c.1623–1625 Oil on canvas, 217.8 x 146 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland This portrait was a departure from the painting style popular at this time, focusing less on a demonstrative…
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,…
David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) Cupidon et Psyché (Cupid and Psyche) 1817 Oil on canvas, 184.2 x 241.6 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Jacques-Louis David included two butterflies in this painting: one above the slumbering Psyche and the other on the base…
Magritte, René (1898-1967) L’Homme au journal (Man with a Newspaper) 1928 Oil on canvas, 115.6 x 81.3 cm Tate Britain, London Magritte’s deadpan style is seen clearly in these four simply painted scenes. Each section seems to be exactly the same,…
Magritte, René (1898-1967) L’Esprit de géométrie (The Spirit of Geometry) 1937 Gouache on paper, 37.5 × 29.2 cm Tate Britain, London Magritte exchanges the heads of a mother and a baby – compressing one and enlarging the other. The effect is…
Guercino (1591-1666) Venere, Marte e Amore (Venus, Mars and Cupid) 1633 Oil on canvas, 139 x 161 cm Galleria Estense, Modena Following the indication of Venus, whose right hand is painted almost in a trompe l’oeil, Cupid is about to…
Vuillard, Édouard (1868-1940) Femme dans un intérieur (Woman in an Interior, Madame Hessel at Les Clayes) 1935 Oil on paper, 40.9 x 55.7 cm Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton This intimate work was painted, according to Vuillard’s journal, on Easter morning…
Pinturicchio (c.1454-1513) San Bartolomeo (Saint Bartholomew) c.1497 Tempera on wood panel, 59.6 x 51 cm Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton Flayed and crucified for spreading Christ’s word through Armenia and India, the apostle Bartholomew was represented horrifically, holding his own skin,…
Burne-Jones, Edward (1833-1898) The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon 1881–1898 Oil on canvas, 279.4 × 650.2 cm Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce According to Thomas Malory‘s “Le Morte d’Arthur” (1470), King Arthur suffered a fatal wound in a…
Burne-Jones, Edward (1833-1898) King Arthur at Avalon (study) s.d. Mixed media on paper on wooden strainer, 191.4 x 54.7 x 2 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff Compare: Burne-Jones, Edward (1833-1898) The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon 1881–1898 Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce…