Rembrandt (1606-1669) Small Self-Portrait c.1657 Oil on walnut wood, 48 × 40.6 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna In this informal portrait, Rembrandt confronts the viewer in everyday attire – a brown skirt and red woollen shirt. With advancing age, simplicity of appearance and…
Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588) Cristo e la Samaritana (Christ and the Samaritan) c.1585 Oil on canvas, 143.5 × 288.3 × 3.2 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The Gospel according to St. John reflects the thoughtful dialogue between Christ and the (non-Jewish) woman from Samaria…
Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588) Rebecca al pozzo (Rebecca at the Well) c.1582–1588 Oil on canvas, 145.5 x 282.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Three men, one woman, and three camels gather around the stone ledge of a well in this horizontal landscape…
Raffaello (1483-1520) La Trasfigurazione (The Transfiguration) 1516–1520 Tempera grassa on wood, 410 x 279 cm Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vaticano Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici (the future pope Clement VII) commissioned two paintings for the cathedral of S. Giusto of Narbonne, the city of which…
Parmigianino (1503-1540) Ritratto di uomo (Portrait of a Man) c.1528 Oil on panel, 58 x 46 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma This panel is first documented in connection with the Borghese Collection in 1693, when it was inventoried as a work by Parmigianino.…
Fontana, Lavinia (1552-1614) Visita della regina di Saba al re Salomone (The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon) 1599 Oil on canvas, 256 x 325 cm National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin In 1872, just eight years after first opening…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Presentazione di Gesù al Tempio (Presentation of Jesus in the Temple) c.1470 Oil on wood, 82 x 106 cm Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia Image: © Fondazione Querini Stampalia Onlus, Venezia The Presentation at the Temple is one of…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Adorazione dei Magi (Adoration of the Magi) c.1557–1560 Oil on canvas, 223 × 120 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milano Painted around 1559–60, the painting has much in common with Titian’s mature works. The rendering of the sky is interesting, for the…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Uomo in armatura (Man in Armour) c.1530 Oil on canvas, 65 x 58 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milano In his Musaeum Federico Borromeo writes that “Titian would have wanted to paint his father like this, armour-clad, to celebrate in a playful…
Caillebotte, Gustave (1848-1894) Portrait de Madame X (Portrait of Madame X) 1878 Pastel, 63 x 50 cm Musée Fabre, Montpellier A central figure in Impressionism, Caillebotte trained in 1871 in the very academic studio of Léon Bonnat. While he passed the entrance…