Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Portrait of a Man (Léal Souvenir) 1432 Oil on oak, 33.3 x 18.9 cm National Gallery, London This small portrait is puzzling in many ways. We don‘t know who this man was or why he is holding…
Van Eyck, Jan (c.1390-1441) Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) 1433 Oil on oak, 26 x 19 cm National Gallery, London This man, his face impassive and his gaze intense, is almost certainly Jan van Eyck himself. No other portraits of…
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.…
Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) Moi-même, Portrait-paysage (Myself, Portrait-Landscape) 1890 Oil on canvas, 146 x 113 cm National Gallery, Prague His today greatly renowned Myself: Portrait – Landscape of 1890 depicts the then new way of the artist’s perception and reflects the artistic confidence…
Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) La Liberté invitant les artistes à participer à la 22e exposition des Indépendants (Liberty Inviting Artists to Take Part in the 22nd Exhibition of the Societe des Artistes Independants) 1905–1906 Oil on canvas, 175 x 118 cm…
Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) Les artilleurs (Artillerymen) c.1893–1895 Oil on canvas, 80.6 x 100.6 cm Guggenheim Museum, New York Henri Rousseau endured the art-historical misfortune of being a working-class late bloomer—he was a Sunday painter who only began to paint seriously in his…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Doge Leonardo Loredan 1501–1502 Oil on poplar, 61.4 x 44.5 cm National Gallery, London Leonardo Loredan knows that he is being looked at, but he does not return our gaze. He is the doge, the ruler of the…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) San Francesco in estasi (St Francis in Ecstasy) c.1475–1480 Oil on panel, 124.1 × 140.5 cm Frick Collection, New York Details of Giovanni Bellini’s birth and early life remain largely unknown. He grew up in Venice, his likely…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Il festino degli dei (The Feast of the Gods) 1514 Oil on canvas, 170 x 188 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Completed by his disciple, Titian, in 1529 Titian‘s landscape to the left of the painting. Six…