Géricault, Théodore (1791-1824) Diane (Diana) Early 19th century Wash, pen on paper, 17.3 x 12 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The composition is almost identical, with the same dimensions, to a Venus disarming Cupid (New York, Sotheby’s, January 28, 2015, n.…
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-1882) Study for “Venus Verticordia” c.1864 Pencil Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Redon, Odilon (1840-1916) Orphée (Orpheus) c.1903–1910 Pastel on brown paper, 68.8 x 56.8 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Drawn in vivid layers of pastel crayon, this work depicts the head of the poet and musician Orpheus. The story of the…
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867) Persée et Andromède (Perseus and Andromeda) c.1819 Oil on canvas, 19.7 × 16.2 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Ingres‘s vulnerable figure of Andromeda is the “classic” idealized figure study. The fact that she is being…
Parmigianino (1503-1540) Cupido che fabbrica l’arco (Bowcarving Cupid) 1534–1539 Oil on lime, 135.5 × 65 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The inspiration for this painting may have come from a sculpture that Parmigianino may have seen in the Grimani Collection in Venice in…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) The Four Rivers of Paradise c.1615 Oil on canvas, 208 × 283 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna According to the conventional interpretation, the four continents are depicted here as female allegoric figures paired with the gods of their…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Bacco e Arianna (Bacchus and Ariadne) 1520–1523 Oil on canvas, 176.5 x 191 cm National Gallery, London Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne is one of the finest and most famous paintings in the National Gallery. The Cretan princess Ariadne has…
Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) Danae e la pioggia d’oro (Danae and the Shower of Gold) 1621–1623 Oil on canvas, 161.5 × 227.1 cm Getty Center, Los Angeles This painting is part of a series of works executed by Gentileschi in 1622 for…
Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) Danae c.1623 Oil on canvas, 162 x 228.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland The gauzy scarf draped over Danaë was a studio prop present in many of Orazio‘s paintings. Danaë’s father feared a prophecy that his grandson…
David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) Cupidon et Psyché (Cupid and Psyche) 1817 Oil on canvas, 184.2 x 241.6 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Jacques-Louis David included two butterflies in this painting: one above the slumbering Psyche and the other on the base…