Rembrandt (1606-1669) Sketch of The Knight with the Falcon, known as the “Crusader” 1659–1661 Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 55.5 cm Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen Surrounded by darkness, a face brightens up to meet the viewer. The eyes hold us tight.…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) La Première Sortie (At the Theatre) 1876–1877 Oil on canvas, 65 × 49.5 cm National Gallery, London We seem to be sitting in a box at the theatre, which we share with two young women. But we can’t be…
Raffaello (1483-1520) Madonna Garvagh / Madonna Aldobrandini (Garvagh Madonna or Aldobrandini) c.1510–1511 Oil on wood, 38.9 × 32.9 cm National Gallery, London This is one of several small and medium-sized Madonnas made by Raphael in the years immediately following his arrival in…
Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479) San Benedetto (Saint Benedict) 1473 Oil on panel, 125 x 63 cm Museo Regionale, Messina This is the right panel of the Saint Gregory Polyptych. Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479) Polittico di San Gregorio 1473 Museo Regionale, Messina See…
Monet, Claude (1840-1926) La plage de Trouville (The Beach at Trouville) 1870 Oil on canvas, 38 × 46.5 cm National Gallery, London Monet’s earlier paintings of the Normandy coast had emphasised it as a working seascape, peopled with fishermen who had to…
Angelico, Fra (c.1395-1455) Madonna dell’Umiltà (The Virgin of Humility) c.1440 Tempera on panel, 74 x 52 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam As a Dominican monk, Fra Angelico was not subject to the strict rules of the Florentine painters’ guild. He was thus free…
Bacon, Francis (1909-1992) Oedipe et le Sphinx d’après Ingres (Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres) 1984 Lithograph printed in colours on Arches paper, 117 × 86 cm Private collection Compare: Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867) Oedipe explique l’énigme du sphinx 1808 Musée…
Bacon, Francis (1909-1992) Self-Portrait 1975 Oil and Letrase on canvas, 35.5 × 30.5 cm Private collection “Self-Portrait, 1975, was the sole painting in this small format on which Bacon applied dry transfer lettering – the scrambled letters fixed to his neck…
Miró, Joan (1893-1983) La terre labourée (The Tilled Field) 1923–1924 Oil on canvas, 66 x 92.7 cm Guggenheim Museum, New York During the summer of 1923 Joan Miró began painting The Tilled Field, a view of his family’s farm in Montroig, Catalonia.…
Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588) Ritratto di dama con cagnolino (Portrait of a Woman with a Dog) c.1560–1570 Oil on canvas, 105 x 79 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Along with Titian and Tintoretto, Paolo Caliari — known as Veronese — was one of…