Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) Arlequín con espejo (Harlequin with a Mirror) 1923 Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid ©Sucesión Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid Initially intended as a self-portrait, Harlequin with a Mirror combines three characters from the circus and…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) Family Group in a Landscape 1645–1648 Oil on canvas, 202 x 285 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Frans Hals is widely considered the most brilliant exponent of Dutch portraiture, a genre that enjoyed immense popularity in the seventeenth century.…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Venus and Cupid c.1606–1611 Oil on canvas, 137 x 111 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Rubens was the most outstanding of all Flemish painters, and a leading exponent of Baroque art. The Toilet of Venus is one of…
Carpaccio, Vittore (c.1460-c.1526) Giovane cavaliere in un paesaggio (Young Knight in a Landscape) c.1505 Oil on canvas, 218.5 x 151.5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid The canvas, signed and dated by Carpaccio on a cartellino to the right of the figure, was…
Ghirlandaio, Domenico (1448-1494) Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni 1489–1490 Mixed media on panel, 77 x 49 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid This superb panel is a fine example of fifteenth-century Florentine portraiture. Artists of the time followed classical dictates: body proportions were idealised while…
Duccio di Buoninsegna (c.1255-c.1319) Cristo e la Samaritana (Christ and the Samaritan Woman) 1310–1311 Tempera and gold on panel, 43.5 x 46 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid This painting was part of the predella (the bottom tier) of the Maestà altarpiece made for…
Van der Weyden, Rogier (c.1399-1464) The Descent from the Cross before 1443 Oil on panel, 204.5 x 261.5 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The Descent from the Cross was painted for the Chapel of Our Lady Outside the Walls at Leuven, which…
Van der Weyden, Rogier (c.1399-1464) Madonna Durán 1435–1438 Oil on panel, 100 x 52 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The panel has been trimmed on all four sides but little of the painted surface can have been lost. It is made…
Campin, Robert (c.1378-1444) The Annunciation 1420–1425 Oil on oak panel, 76 x 70 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The event is set in a gothic temple, alluding to the New Law that replaces the old one, represented by the Romanesque tower in…
Campin, Robert (c.1378-1444) The Betrothal of the Virgin 1420–1430 Grisaille, Oil on oak panel, 77 x 88 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Two scenes are represented in this work. On the left, in a circular, Romanesque interior covered with a dome, is…