Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife 1434 Oil on oak, 82.2 x 60 cm National Gallery, London This must be one of the most famous paintings in the world, and one of the most intriguing.…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (Vrouw met waterkan) c.1662 Oil on canvas, 45.7 x 40.6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Standing at an open window, a woman begins her day with ablutions from a gilt-silver…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) The Art of Painting (De Schilderkunst) c.1666–1668 Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Bruegel the Elder, Pieter (c.1525-1569) Head of an Old Farmer’s Wife c.1560–1565 Oil on oak, 22 x 18.4 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich Such studies of facial expressions, known as tronies, served to capture a fleeting moment of powerful emotion and its…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Madonna Litta mid 1490s Tempera on canvas (handed over from panel), 42 x 33 cm Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg This painting would seem to have been produced in Milan, where the artist moved in 1482. It was one…
Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903) Le Christ jaune (The Yellow Christ) 1889 Oil on canvas, 92.07 x 73.34 cm Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo The Symbolists, who emerged during the 1880s, were weary of modern society and sought escape from reality. They began to…