Turner, Joseph Mallord William (1775-1851) Self-Portrait c.1799 Oil on canvas, 74.3 x 58.4 cm Tate Britain, London This confident-looking young man has just been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. The portrait therefore marks an important moment in Turner’s life. At…
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…
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…
Robbia, Luca della (1400-1482) Madonna col Bambino (Madonna and Child) 3rd quarter of the 15th century Terracotta and glazed clay, 53 × 38 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Emotional depictions of the Madonna for domestic worship were very popular in Florence in…
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,…
Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa c.1630–1640 Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 194 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Jordaens was one of the most renowned and versatile Antwerp painters. Here he illustrates an episode from Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, naked and…