Ribera, Jusepe de (1591-1652) Aristotele (Aristotle) 1637 Oil on canvas, 124.4 x 99 cm Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis Ribera‘s image of Aristotle is one of six imaginary portraits of ancient philosophers commissioned in 1636 by the prince of Liechtenstein. The artist’s…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Giovane donna nuda allo specchio (Young woman at her toilette) 1515 Oil on poplar panel, 62.9 x 78.3 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Inscription: “Joannes bellinus faciebat M.D.X.V.” As an elderly man, Bellini turned to the depiction of a…
Flinck, Govert (1615-1660) Bathsheba with King David’s Letter 1659 Oil on canvas, 115 x 87 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Bonnard, Pierre (1867-1947) La Fenêtre (The Window) 1925 Oil on canvas, 108.6 × 88.6 cm Tate Britain, London In this work, Bonnard unites interior and exterior in the strong sunlight of the South of France. It was made in a rented apartment…
Lotto, Lorenzo (1480-1557) Ritratto di un uomo (Portrait of a Man, possibly Girolamo Rosati) 1533–1534 Oil on canvas, 108.2 x 100.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland The gesture of the elegantly dressed man is a mystery. Is he rising from…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Jean dessinant (The Artist’s Son, Jean, Drawing) 1901 Oil on canvas, 45.09 × 54.61 cm Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond The simplified palette of this portrait of Renoir’s second son, Jean, is limited to a range of…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) San Francisco en meditación (Saint Francis in Meditation) 1639 Oil on canvas, 162 × 137 cm National Gallery, London In this moving painting, Saint Francis is shown meditating in a landscape. His cowl (or hood) is pulled…
Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788) Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter c.1748 Oil on canvas, 92.1 × 70.5 cm National Gallery, London This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with…
David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) L’empereur Napoléon dans son cabinet aux Tuileries (The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries) 1812 Oil on canvas, 203.9 × 125.1 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington How do portraits influence the way we see historic figures?…
De Morgan, Evelyn (1855-1919) William De Morgan 1909 Oil on canvas, 68.8 x 54.8 cm National Portrait Gallery, London Painted by his wife, the renowned artist Evelyn de Morgan, this portrait shows De Morgan ‘surrounded by tokens of his two professions’, holding…