Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898) L’été (Summer) before 1873 Oil on canvas, 43.2 × 62.2 cm National Gallery, London The theme of Puvis de Chavannes’s painting is an old one. Images of summer and harvesting can be found in medieval illuminated manuscripts,…
Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban (1617-1682) Autorretrato (Self Portrait) c.1670 Oil on canvas, 122 × 107 cm National Gallery, London Murillo probably painted this self portrait in about 1670, when he was in his early fifties – his hairline is receding and his…
Millet, Jean-François (1814-1875) Femme et enfant dans un paysage (Woman and Child in a Landscape) 1846–1847 Oil on canvas, 45.7 × 38.1 cm National Gallery, London A woman sits on a rocky ledge, her head gracefully turned toward a young naked…
Michelangelo (1475-1564) Deposizione di Cristo nel sepolcro (The Entombment, or Christ being carried to his Tomb) c.1500–1501 Oil on wood, 161.7 × 149.9 cm National Gallery, London This is one of perhaps only three surviving panel paintings by the great Florentine…
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867) Oedipe et le Sphinx (Oedipus and the Sphinx) c.1826 Oil on canvas, 17.5 × 13.7 cm National Gallery, London Oedipus, a figure from Greek mythology, stands nude and in profile before the Sphinx, who guards the…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) Young Man holding a Skull (Vanitas) 1626–1628 Oil on canvas, 92.2 × 80.8 cm National Gallery, London A life-size figure stands before us, holding a skull in one hand and gesticulating with the other. Shown close up, the…
Guardi, Francesco (1712-1793) Il Palazzo Ducale e il Molo dal Bacino di San Marco (Venice: The Doge’s Palace and the Molo from the Basin of San Marco) c.1770 Oil on canvas, 58.1 × 76.4 cm National Gallery, London Guardi delighted in capturing…
Guardi, Francesco (1712-1793) La Punta della Dogana con S. Maria della Salute (Venice: The Punta della Dogana with S. Maria della Salute) c.1770 Oil on canvas, 56.2 × 75.9 cm National Gallery, London The huge dome of the church of S.…
Géricault, Théodore (1791-1824) Cheval effrayé par la foudre (A Horse frightened by Lightning) c.1813–1814 Oil on canvas, 48.9 × 60.3 cm National Gallery, London Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault was a keen horseman, and his passion for horses was matched by his expert understanding…
Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788) Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter c.1748 Oil on canvas, 92.1 × 70.5 cm National Gallery, London This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with…