Tintoretto, Jacopo (1518-1594) Autoritratto (Self-Portrait) c.1546–1548 Oil on canvas, 45.1 × 38.1 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia This dramatically intimate self-portrait announced the arrival of a new talent on the Venetian art scene; Tintoretto painted it when he was just beginning…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) Sketch of The Knight with the Falcon, known as the “Crusader” 1659–1661 Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 55.5 cm Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen Surrounded by darkness, a face brightens up to meet the viewer. The eyes hold us tight.…
Arp, Jean (1886-1966) Moustaches c.1925 Oil on board, 30.7 x 22.7 cm Tate Britain, London Arp developed a distinctive repertoire of abstracted shapes for his sculptural reliefs. The same motifs, repeated from work to work, were intended as a kind of…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) René Descartes 1647–1648 Oil on oak wood, 19 x 14 cm Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen The small painting has been dealt a hard time. Someone has scratched zigzag lines with a pointed object all over the painting. But…
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…
Fantin-Latour, Henri (1836-1904) Autoportrait (Self-Portrait) 1861 Oil on canvas, 25.1 x 21.4 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) La Mort de Sardanapale, esquisse (The Death of Sardanapalus, sketch) 1826–1827 Oil on canvas, 81 × 100 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Compare: Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) La mort de Sardanapale 1844 Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) Mort…
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…
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…