Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, Known as the ‘Night Watch’ Rembrandt (1606-1669) Night Watch 1642 Oil on canvas, 379.5 x 453.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Rembrandt‘s largest and most famous painting was made…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes 1680 Oil on canvas, 138 x 190 cm Mauritshuis, The Hague This painting by De Lairesse is a typical example of the style that came into fashion in Holland…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Mercury Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus c.1680 Oil on canvas, 132 x 96 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam During his wanderings, Odysseus encounters the nymph Calypso, who falls in love with him and holds him captive on her island.…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Odysseus and Calypso c.1680 Oil on canvas, 125 x 94 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam The Greek poet Homer recounts how the heroic warrior Odysseus found refuge on the island of the nymph Calypso. The Trojan War is over:…
Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711) Venus Giving Arms to Aeneas (Venus schenkt wapens aan Aeneas) 1668 Oil on canvas, 161.8 x 165.8 cm Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp In the 17th century, classicism broke through, also in golden Holland. Artists…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) Bellona 1633 Oil on canvas, 127 x 97.5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Typical of Rembrandt’s domestication of ancient myth, this depiction of the Roman goddess of war may have reflected the Dutch readiness for conflict during…
Guercino (1591-1666) Cristo e l’adultera (The Woman taken in Adultery) c.1621 Oil on canvas, 98.2 x 122.7 cm Dulwich Picture Gallery, London In the Gospel of John – in the New Testament of the Bible, according to the Christian tradition…
Guercino (1591-1666) Sansone catturato dai filistei (Samson Captured by the Philistines) 1619 Oil on canvas, 191.1 x 236.9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York According to the Bible, Samson, whose strength came from his hair, was shorn by his duplicitous…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Ritratto di Filippo II in armatura (Portrait of Philip II in Armour) 1551 Oil on canvas, 193 cm x 111 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Philip II was Titian’s most important patron, and the pair’s artistic relationship was…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Giovanni Federico I di Sassonia (John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony) 1548 Oil on canvas, 129 cm x 93 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid John Frederick I of Saxony (Torgau, 30 June 1503–Jena, 3 March 1554), Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg…