Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Annunciazione (Annunciation from San Martino alla Scala) 1481 Detached fresco, 243 x 555 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The usual subject of the announcement to the Virgin Mary by archangel Gabriel is set in a renaissance palace, overlooking…
Lorenzo di Credi (c.1459-1537) Madonna col Bambino (The Virgin and Child) c.1480–1485 Oil on wood, 71.1 × 49.5 cm National Gallery, London The Virgin Mary is seated directly in front of us. Together with swathes of drapery, she covers almost the…
Géricault, Théodore (1791-1824) Le baiser (The Kiss) c.1816–1817 Charcoal, wash and gouache on brown paper, 20 x 27.4 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Having failed to win the Academy prize that would finance a study trip to Italy, in 1816 Géricault decided…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Olympia 1867 Etching Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Manet‘s model, Victorine Meurent, was herself a successful painter who showed her work at Paris‘s salon. When Edouard Manet’s painting Olympia was exhibited in Paris in 1865, it was met by…
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…
Alma-Tadema, Lawrence (1836-1912) Glaucus and Nydia 1867 Oil on wood panel, 55.5 x 81 x 4.5 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Alma-Tadema, one of the most popular Victorian painters, became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the…
Rembrandt (1606-1669) Jupiter and Antiope 1659 Etching and drypoint, 13.9 x 20.1 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Rembrandt depicts the slumbering Antiope so convincingly that it seems he is drawing a model actually sleeping soundly. She lies in a totally relaxed pose, her lips parted…
Munch, Edvard (1863-1944) The Sick Child (Det syke barn) 1907 Oil on canvas, 118.7 x 121 cm Tate Britain, London The Sick Child draws upon Munch’s memory of his sister Sophie’s death from tuberculosis at the age of fifteen. The model…
Legros, Alphonse (1837-1911) Cupidon et Psyché (Cupid and Psyche) exhibited 1867 Oil on canvas, 116.8 × 141.4 cm Tate Britain, London The tale of Cupid and Psyche was written by the Roman poet Lucius Apuleius. Psyche was given a box, supposedly…