Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Annunciazione (Annunciation from San Martino alla Scala) 1481 Detached fresco, 243 x 555 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The usual subject of the announcement to the Virgin Mary by archangel Gabriel is set in a renaissance palace, overlooking…
Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906) Une moderne Olympia (A modern Olympia) 1873–1874 Oil on canvas, 46.2 x 55.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Cézanne‘s early works, executed in dark colors, were strongly inspired by those of the Old Masters and by the compositions of Delacroix,…
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898) La Poésie dramatique (Dramatic Poetry, Aeschylus) c.1896 Oil on canvas, 124.1 x 63.2 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia This painting is a scaled-down version of an enormous canvas—over 14 × 7 feet—that Puvis de Chavannes painted as…
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,…
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…
Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903) Nature morte avec des tournesols sur un fauteuil (Still Life with Sunflowers on an armchair) 1901 Oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg In 1901, when this painting was produced, Gauguin was still living…
Miró, Joan (1893-1983) Caballo, pipa y flor roja (Horse, Pipe, and Red Flower) 1920 Oil on canvas, 82.6 x 74.9 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Miró painted this work at his home in the Spanish village of Montroig shortly after his…
Miró, Joan (1893-1983) La casa de la palmera (House with Palm Tree) 1918 Oil on canvas, 65 x 73 cm Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid Joan Miró’s searches for new plastic solutions between 1916 and 1918 led to the creation of four ‘detailist’…
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…
Memling, Hans (c.1430-1494) Flowers in an Jug (verso) c.1485 Oil on panel, 29.2 x 22.5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Recto: Memling, Hans (c.1430-1494) Portrait of a Young Man praying c.1485 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Hans Memling was a leading painter of the second half…