Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926) Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge 1879 Oil on canvas, 81.3 × 59.7 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Cassatt created a series of theater scenes in the late 1870s, displaying an interest in city nightlife…
Lotto, Lorenzo (1480-1557) Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Caterina e Tommaso (Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Thomas) 1527–1533 Oil on canvas, 117 x 152 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The motif of a gathering of saints around the Madonna,…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) Portrait of a Couple (Probably Isaac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Laen) c.1622 Oil on canvas, 140 x 166.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam This happy, smiling pair sits comfortably close to each other. Posing a couple together in…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Pink and Gold: The Neapolitan 1897 Oil on canvas, 50 x 31 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Carmen Rossi, the sitter of this small portrait, was an Italian girl who posed for Whistler as a child and…
Boucher, François (1703-1770) Pompadour à sa toilette (Pompadour at Her Toilette) 1750 Oil on canvas, 81.2 × 64.9 cm Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1721–1764), became the official mistress of Louis XV in 1745. Numerous portraits of her…
Chagall, Marc (1887-1985) Bella au col blanc (Bella with White Collar) 1917 Oil on linen, 149 x 72 cm Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris The writer Bella Rosenfeld, represented here as a giantess, would be Chagall‘s muse throughout her life. Taking up…
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882) The Salutation of Beatrice 1869 Oil on canvas, 57.1 x 47 cm Private collection Inscription with a sonnet from Dante‘s Vita Nuova (The New Life). Beatrice Portinari was the Florentine girl who represented the ideal of…
De Morgan, Evelyn (1855-1919) Queen Eleanor and the Fair Rosamund Probably 1901–1902 Oil on canvas, 75.6 x 66.7 cm De Morgan Collection Rosamund was the mistress of Henry II, who built a house for her at Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Legends say…
Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788) Mrs Siddons 1785 Oil on canvas, 126 × 99.5 cm National Gallery, London Mrs Siddons (1755–1831) was the greatest tragic actress of her time, remaining at the top of her profession for 30 years. Gainsborough painted her in the…