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…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Carlo V nella battaglia di Mühlberg (Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg) 1548 Oil on canvas, 335 cm x 283 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This portrait commemorates Charles V’s victory over the Schmalkaldic League at Mühlberg on…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Allocuzione di Alfonso d’Avalos (Alfonso d’Avalos Addressing his Troops) 1540–1541 Oil on canvas, 223 cm x 165 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Alfonso d’Avalos, first Marchese del Vasto, was born in Ischia on 25 May 1502 to a noble…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Storia di Lucrezia (The Story of Lucretia) c.1500 Tempera and oil on panel, 83.8 x 176.8 cm Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston According to legend, Lucretia’s brutal rape and tragic suicide precipitated the foundation of the Roman Republic. Botticelli…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Venere e Marte (Venus and Mars) c.1485 Tempera and oil on poplar, 69.2 x 173.4 cm National Gallery, London Venus, the goddess of love, looks over at her lover Mars. She is alert and dignified, while he – the…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Primavera (Allegory of Spring) c.1480 Tempera on panel, 207 x 319 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze This painting, usually known as the Primavera [or ‘Spring’] shows nine figures from classic mythology advancing over a flowery lawn in a grove…
Canova, Antonio (1757-1822) Perseo con la testa della Medusa (Perseus with the Head of Medusa) 1804–1806 Marble, 242.6 x 191.8 x 102.9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York When Countess Valeria Tarnowska first met the sculptor Antonio Canova, on December…
Canova, Antonio (1757-1822) Venere e Marte (Venus and Mars) 1817–1822 Marble, 208 x 137 x 65.5 cm Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace, London