Piero della Francesca (c.1416-1492) Battesimo di Cristo (The Baptism of Christ) probably about 1437–1445 Egg tempera on poplar, 167 × 116 cm National Gallery, London This is the earliest surviving work by the innovative Tuscan painter, Piero della Francesca. Very few…
Verrocchio (1435-1488) & Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Battesimo di Cristo (The Baptism of Christ) c.1470–1475 Tempera and oil on wood, 177 x 151 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The artist had the collaboration of his young pupil Leonardo, who executed the figure of…
Perugino (c.1446-1523) Battesimo di Cristo (Baptism of Christ) c.1498–1500 Oil on olive wood, 30 × 23 x 2.2 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Perugino used his successful inventions again and again. This baptism goes back to his fresco in the Sistine Chapel. More…
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882) Beata Beatrix c.1864–1870 Oil on canvas, 86.4 x 66 cm Tate Britain, London Dante Gabriel Rossetti identified closely with the medieval poet Dante Alighieri. Rossetti saw his own despair at the death of his wife, the artist and…
Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609) Incoronazione della Vergine (The Coronation of the Virgin) after 1595 Oil on canvas, 117.8 x 141.3 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This majestic picture—a window onto heaven—was painted for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1571–1621) following the artist’s…
Tiepolo, Giambattista (1696-1770) L’Immacolata Concezione (The Immaculate Conception) 1767–1769 Oil on canvas, 281 x 155 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This majestic image was part of a cycle of seven altarpieces commissioned in 1767 for the new royal church of…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) The Ascension of Christ 1636 Oil on canvas, 92.7 x 68.3 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich The so-called ‘Passion Cycle’ was painted for the stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange. The six paintings…
Guercino (1591-1666) San Gregorio e Santi (Saint Gregory the Great with Saints Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier) c.1625–1626 Oil on canvas, 296 x 211 cm National Gallery, London This altarpiece commemorates one of the most important events of the papacy…
Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528) The Annunciation c.1502–1503 Woodcut printed in black ink on white antique laid paper, darkened to cream, 29.8 × 21.1 cm Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Pala delle Convertite (The Trinity with Saints Mary Magdalen and John the Baptist) c.1491–1494 Tempera on panel, 215 x 192 cm Courtauld Institute of Art, London The Trinity with Saints is one of the most important paintings by Botticelli…