Millais, John Everett (1829-1896) Ophelia 1851–1852 Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 111.8 cm Tate Britain, London The scene depicted is from Shakespeare‘s Hamlet, Act IV, Scene vii, in which Ophelia, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by…
Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609) Madonna Montalto (The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist) c.1600 Oil on copper, 35 x 27.5 cm National Gallery, London Domesticity reigns in this exquisite little picture. A delightfully pretty Virgin Mary balances a squirming,…
Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528) Madonna and Child 1512 Oil on lime, 49.3 × 37.4 × 2.8 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Inscription on the top right with the monogram, dat. 1512 The relatively small-format painting was certainly intended as a private devotional picture;…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) The Four Rivers of Paradise c.1615 Oil on canvas, 208 × 283 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna According to the conventional interpretation, the four continents are depicted here as female allegoric figures paired with the gods of their…
Tintoretto, Jacopo (1518-1594) Susanna e i vecchioni (Susanna and the Elders) c.1555–1556 Oil on canvas, 146 × 193.6 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna In the Old Testament, it is told how Susanna receives lewd proposals from two men who have secretly intruded…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Jeune femme lisant un journal illustré (Young Woman Reading an Illustrated Journal) c.1880 Oil on canvas, 46.4 x 55.9 cm Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Lotto, Lorenzo (1480-1557) Ritratto di un uomo (Portrait of a Man, possibly Girolamo Rosati) 1533–1534 Oil on canvas, 108.2 x 100.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland The gesture of the elegantly dressed man is a mystery. Is he rising from…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Jean dessinant (The Artist’s Son, Jean, Drawing) 1901 Oil on canvas, 45.09 × 54.61 cm Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond The simplified palette of this portrait of Renoir’s second son, Jean, is limited to a range of…
Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban (1617-1682) Cristo cargando la cruz (Christ Bearing the Cross) c.1665–1675 Oil on canvas, 154.3 × 210.8 cm Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia Murillo has transformed what is typically depicted as a crowded scene into a private encounter between the…
Lippi, Filippino (1457-1504) La Sacra Famiglia con San Giovanni Battista e Santa Margherita (The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret) 1495 Tempera and oil on wood, diameter 153 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Lippi‘s sophisticated composition…