Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) Arlequín con espejo (Harlequin with a Mirror) 1923 Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid ©Sucesión Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid Initially intended as a self-portrait, Harlequin with a Mirror combines three characters from the circus and…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Venus and Cupid c.1606–1611 Oil on canvas, 137 x 111 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Rubens was the most outstanding of all Flemish painters, and a leading exponent of Baroque art. The Toilet of Venus is one of…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) The Laughing Cavalier 1624 Oil on canvas, 83 x 67.3 cm Wallace Collection, London A highly gifted portraitist, Frans Hals had a supreme ability to characterise his sitters and make them appear lifelike. This exuberant portrait of a…
Bronzino (1503-1572) Venere, Cupido e la gelosia (Venus, Cupid and Jealousy) c.1550 Oil on poplar, 175.5 × 142 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Campin, Robert (c.1378-1444) A Man c.1435 Oil with egg tempera on oak, 40.7 x 28.1 cm National Gallery, London This striking portrait of a man in a red hat forms a pair with Campin’s A Woman – the sitters were clearly husband…
Memling, Hans (c.1430-1494) Virgin and Child c.1475 Oil on oak, 37.9 x 28 cm National Gallery, London The Virgin Mary, bareheaded and richly dressed, holds the naked Christ Child, who rests on a white cushion on a ledge of purple-grey veined…
Nadar (1820-1910) Honoré Daumier 1856–1858 Salted paper print, 24.4 x 17.9 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington This portrait of the renowned caricaturist and painter Honoré Daumier was possibly not a commissioned work, but the result of a voluntary engagement with a…
Carriera, Rosalba (1675-1757) Musa (A Muse) c.1725 Pastel on laid blue paper, 31 × 26 cm Getty Center, Los Angeles
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) Femme aux pigeons (Woman with Pigeons) c.1865 Oil on canvas, 79.7 x 60.6 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Though Gustave Courbet was best known for his early paintings of French peasants, in later decades he focused on scenes of animals,…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Venus Frigida (Cold Venus) 1614 Oil on panel, 143 x 184 x 3.8 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp The title refers to Terence: “sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus” (“without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes”)…