Rembrandt (1606-1669) Musical Company 1626 Oil on panel, 63.5 x 48 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The subject of this painting is a mystery: is it an exhortation to praise God through singing and string music, or a scene of seduction with…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) The Circumcision 1661 Oil on canvas, 56.5 x 75 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington After learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting in his native Leiden, Rembrandt van Rijn went to Amsterdam in 1624 to study for six months with Pieter Lastman (1583–1633),…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) Self-Portrait 1660 Oil on canvas, 80.3 x 67.3 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Rembrandt was a dedicated self-portraitist all his life, and roughly forty self-portraits by him survive today. In this example, painted when Rembrandt was fifty-four,…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) The Toilet of Bathsheba 1643 Oil on wood, 57.2 x 76.2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Rembrandt shows the biblical figure Bathsheba completely nude, lost in a moment of contemplation and unaware that she is being observed…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes 1680 Oil on canvas, 138 x 190 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague This painting by De Lairesse is a typical example of the style that came into fashion in Holland…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Abraham receiving the three angels of the Lord c.1680–1685 Oil on canvas, 120 x 164 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Episode taken from the Bible (Genesis, XVIII, 6-15). In the background, Sarah, Abraham’s old wife, who will…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Maternal Love (Caritas) c.1685 Oil on canvas, 57 x 48.5 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Bacchus and Ariadne c.1680 Oil on canvas, 175.2 x 92.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (on loan from Mauritshuis, The Hague) Ovid described the following scene in his Metamorphoses: on the island of Naxos, Bacchus, the god of wine, chances upon…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Mercury Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus c.1680 Oil on canvas, 132 x 96 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam During his wanderings, Odysseus encounters the nymph Calypso, who falls in love with him and holds him captive on her island.…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Odysseus and Calypso c.1680 Oil on canvas, 125 x 94 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The Greek poet Homer recounts how the heroic warrior Odysseus found refuge on the island of the nymph Calypso. The Trojan War is over:…