Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Venus del Espejo (Venus at her Mirror, The Rokeby Venus) 1647–1651 Oil on canvas, 122.5 x 177 cm National Gallery, London This is the only surviving female nude painted by Velázquez. The subject was rare in seventeenth-century Spain,…
Caillebotte, Gustave (1848-1894) Dans un café (In a Café) 1880 Oil on canvas, 153 x 114 cm Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen Caillebotte presented this café scene, typical of modern life, at the fifth Impressionist Exhibition. A life-sized male figure dominates the…
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.…
Tissot, James (1836-1902) Hush! 1875 Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 112.2 cm Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Modern life was the central theme of Tissot‘s art, with a focus on bourgeois social behaviour. His genre pieces typically dwelt on social nicety, flattering…
Tissot, James (1836-1902) Cache-cache (Hide and Seek) c.1877 Oil on wood, 73.4 x 53.9 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington In early 1874 Degas wrote, “Look here, my dear Tissot. . . you positively must exhibit at the Boulevard [in the…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Woman with a Pearl Necklace (Vrouw met parelsnoer) 1663–1665 Oil on canvas, 56.1 x 47.4 cm Gemäldegalerie, Berlin SIGNATURE / INSCRIPTION: Inscription on the table top: IVMeer (IVM in ligature) A young woman stands at a table and…
Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman early 1660s Oil on canvas, 74.1 x 64.6 cm Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace, London A Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman entered the Royal Collection in 1762 as a work…
Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) La Chambre de Van Gogh à Arles (Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles) 1889 Oil on canvas, 57.3 x 73.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris (F0483-JH1793) Van Gogh produced three, almost identical paintings on the theme of his bedroom. The…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Marta e Maria Maddalena (Martha and Mary Magdalene) c.1598 Oil and tempera on canvas, 100 x 134.5 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit “There is a Michelangelo da Caravaggio who is doing extraordinary things in Rome.” This quote by a…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Narciso (Narcissus) 1597–1599 Oil on canvas, 113.3 x 94 cm Palazzo Barberini, Roma The classical myth of Narcissus had been frequently represented since antiquity, but the version by Caravaggio is distinguished by its unusual compositional scheme, conceived rather like a…