Canova, Antonio (1757-1822) Orfeo (Orpheus) 1777 Marble, h. 140 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Canova produced his first commissioned works – a pair of statues showing Orpheus and Eurydice – at the age of just 16 or 17, for his patron,…
Canova, Antonio (1757-1822) Paolina Borghese Bonaparte come Venere Vincitrice (Paolina Borghese Bonaparte as Venus Victrix) 1804–1808 Carrara marble, 160 x 92 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma Portrayed by Antonio Canova in the guise Venus victorious in the Judgement of Paris, Pauline Borghese…
Raffaello (1483-1520) La Fornarina (Portrait of a Young Woman) c.1520 Oil on panel, 87 x 63 cm Palazzo Barberini, Roma The subject of this portrait, according to tradition, was Raphael’s inspirational muse and mistress: Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker in…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Ecce Homo 1547 Oil on slate, 69 x 56 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Although we do not know when Titian first treated this subject, it was probably in 1535, when he painted a Christ for Federico Gonzaga following a…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Diane chasseresse (Diana) 1867 Oil on canvas, 199.5 x 129.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Renoir wrote that he had produced this painting as a study of a nude, the sort of exercise that was a mainstay of…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Los borrachos, o El triunfo de Baco (The Drunkards, or The Triumph of Bacchus) 1628–1629 Oil on canvas, 165 x 225 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid Documentation of payment received by Velázquez in July 1629 for an…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Amor sacro e amor profano (Sacred and Profane Love) 1515–1516 Oil on canvas, 118 x 278 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma This work was probably sold to Scipione Borghese in 1608 by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati. A veritable interpretative enigma, critics…
Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille (1796-1875) La Bacchante à la Panthère (Bacchante with a Panther) 1860 Oil on canvas Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT
Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828) La maja desnuda (The Naked Maja) 1795–1800 Oil on canvas, 97.3 x 190.6 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid An image of Venus in the nude, lying on a green velvet divan with pillows and a spread. Legend…
