Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) Allegorical Family Portrait early 1650s Oil on canvas, 178.4 x 152.3 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg This group portrait is an allegorical depiction of a scene of betrothal or marriage. That is confirmed by the inclusion in the…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) Santa Casilda (Saint Casilda) c.1630–1635 Oil on canvas, 171 x 107 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Images of saints depicted alone, holding their attributes and looking out of the picture space were among the most popular compositions within…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Retrato de doña Mariana de Austria, reina de España (Portrait of Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain) 1655–1657 Oil on canvas, 66 x 56 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid ©Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, on loan at the Museu Nacional d’Art de…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Nunc Dimittis (Now You let depart) c.1505–1510 Oil on panel, 62 x 82.5 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Considered in his later years to be the greatest Venetian painter of his time, Giovanni Bellini was the teacher of the…
Gentileschi, Orazio (1563-1639) La felicità pubblica trionfa sui pericoli (Public happiness triumphs over dangers) 1st quarter of the 17th century Oil on canvas, 267 x 170 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) La Bella (Portrait of a Lady) 1536–1538 Oil on canvas, 89 × 75.5 cm Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze The female portrait, known by its complimentary epithet “La Bella”, is one of the most famous paintings of the later years of…
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…
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…
Tintoretto, Jacopo (1518-1594) Susanna e i vecchioni (Susanna and the Elders) c.1555–1556 Oil on canvas, 146 × 193.6 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna In the Old Testament, it is told how Susanna receives lewd proposals from two men who have secretly intruded…
Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863) Mort de Sardanapale (Death of Sardanapalus) 1827 Oil on canvas, 392 cm × 496 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris “The rebels besieged him in his palace… Lying on a superb bed, at the top of an immense pyre,…