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 This alluring muse gracefully turns her head to the left, exposing a seductive neck and tender pink earlobe. Transparent gauze covers…
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”)…
Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641) Portrait of a Man 1619 Oil on canvas, 102 × 71 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp
Giorgione (c.1477-1510) Madonna col Bambino e i santi Caterina e Giovanni Battista (Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and John the Baptist) c.1496–1500 Oil on panel, 50 x 81 cm Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venezia
Giorgione (c.1477-1510) La vecchia (The Old Woman) c.1502–1508 Oil on canvas, 68 x 59 cm Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venezia
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Gesù che porta la croce (Carrying of the Cross) c.1565 Oil on canvas, 67 x 77 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Renaissance painting abounds with representations of Christ bearing the cross on the road to Calvary, either as an isolated…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Ritratto di giovane donna (Portrait of a Young Woman) c.1536 Oil on canvas, 96 x 75 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg In his portraits, Titian, one of the best portrait painters in Europe, took a radically different approach to male…