Raffaello (1483-1520) Madonna Garvagh / Madonna Aldobrandini (Garvagh Madonna or Aldobrandini) c.1510–1511 Oil on wood, 38.9 × 32.9 cm National Gallery, London This is one of several small and medium-sized Madonnas made by Raphael in the years immediately following his arrival in…
Bacon, Francis (1909-1992) Study for Crouching Nude 1952 Oil and sand on canvas, 198.1 × 137.2 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Few painters have defined the post–World War II era with its existential loathing better than Francis Bacon, the brilliant son…
Pinturicchio (c.1454-1513) Crocifissione tra i santi Cristoforo e Girolamo (Christ on the Cross between Sts. Christopher and Jerome) Ante 1473 or c.1475–1478 Oil on panel, 59 x 40 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma This panel has been in the Borghese Collection only since…
Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906) Une moderne Olympia (A modern Olympia) 1873–1874 Oil on canvas, 46.2 x 55.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Cézanne‘s early works, executed in dark colors, were strongly inspired by those of the Old Masters and by the compositions of Delacroix,…
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898) La Poésie dramatique (Dramatic Poetry, Aeschylus) c.1896 Oil on canvas, 124.1 x 63.2 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia This painting is a scaled-down version of an enormous canvas—over 14 × 7 feet—that Puvis de Chavannes painted as…
Robbia, Luca della (1400-1482) Madonna col Bambino (Madonna and Child) 3rd quarter of the 15th century Terracotta and glazed clay, 53 × 38 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Emotional depictions of the Madonna for domestic worship were very popular in Florence in…
Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665) La Destruction du temple de Jérusalem (The destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem) 1635 Oil on canvas, 147 × 198 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The material is taken from Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War. Titus, the son of the…
Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa c.1630–1640 Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 194 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Jordaens was one of the most renowned and versatile Antwerp painters. Here he illustrates an episode from Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, naked and…
Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609) Pietà c.1603 Oil on copper, 41.3 x 60.7 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Overwhelmed by her helplessness and pain, Mary holds her dead son in her lap. Pale colours and the pathos of marbles by Michelangelo and from antiquity…