Gauguin, Paul (1848-1903) Poèmes Barbares (Savage Poems) 1896 Oil on canvas, 64.8 x 48.3 cm Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA Gauguin’s model for this painting was likely Pau’ura a Tai, a 14-year-old girl whom the artist described as his “native wife”…
Modigliani, Amedeo (1884-1920) Nu couché (Reclining Nude) 1917 Oil on canvas, 60.6 x 92.7 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Modigliani’s celebrated series of reclining nudes, begun in 1916, is influenced by Italian Renaissance representations of Venus and other idealized…
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1825-1905) Dante et Virgile (Dante and Virgil) 1850 Oil on canvas, 280.5 x 225.3 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Having failed on two occasions to win the Prix de Rome (1848 and 1849), Bouguereau was hungry for revenge. His…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Danae 1560–1565 Oil on canvas, 129.8 x 181.2 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid The first Poesie presented to Prince Philip were Danaë (1553, The Wellington Collection) and Venus and Adonis (1554, Museo del Prado, P422), versions of other…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) & Workshop Venere e il suonatore di liuto (Venus and the Lute Player) c.1565–1570 Oil on canvas, 165.1 x 209.6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Venus, the goddess of love, interrupts her music making to be crowned…
Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian) 1474 Tempera on poplar panel, 195 x 75 cm Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The Roman officer Sebastian was supposed to renounce his Christian faith in order to serve as the bodyguard of the Emperor Diocletian. When he…
Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479) San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian) c.1478 Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 171 x 85.5 cm Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden Antonello da Messina set the martyrdom of St. Sebastian in Venice, as can be seen from the waterways…