Cranach, Lucas the Elder (1472-1553) Melancholy 1532 Oil on panel, 61 x 97 cm Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen The sixteenth-century artist Lucas Cranach has become very popular in recent years, prompting a steady succession of exhibitions featuring his mysterious images. SMK…
Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) King David Playing the Harp c.1627–1628 Oil on panel, 44.8 x 66 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia The biblical King David strums his harp, performing the music of heaven in concert with five angels. Ornate fictive architecture frames…
Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588) Allegorie dell’amore: L’infedeltà (Four Allegories of Love: Unfaithfulness) c.1575 Oil on canvas, 189.9 x 189.9 cm National Gallery, London This is one of a series of four paintings by Veronese that concern the trials and rewards of love, although…
Piero della Francesca (c.1416-1492) Natività (The Nativity) early 1480s Oil on poplar, 124.4 x 122.6 cm National Gallery, London Piero della Francesca depicted Christ’s Nativity as a miraculous vision materialising on top of a hill near his hometown in rural Tuscany. He…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Le Guitariste espagnol (The Spanish Guitarist) 1894 Oil on canvas, 65.4 × 54.6 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Daumier, Honoré (1808-1879) Le Troubadour (The Troubadour) 1868–1873 Oil on fabric, 83.6 x 56.8 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Daumier was called the “Michelangelo of caricature” and especially renowned for his cartoons and drawings satirizing 19th-century French politics and society.…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Suonatore di liuto (Lute Player) c.1595–1596 Oil on canvas, 100 x 126.5 cm Private collection Compare: Caravaggio (1571-1610) Suonatore di liuto c.1595 Badminton House, England Caravaggio (1571-1610) Suonatore di liuto 1595–1596 Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Fragonard, Jean-Honoré (1732-1806) Le bluff de l’aveugle (Blind man’s Bluff) c.1775–1780 Oil on canvas, 62.5 x 45.1 cm Timken Museum of Art, San Diego Jean Honore Fragonard trained in the studio of François Boucher, who painted Lovers in the Park, hanging…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Le chanteur espagnol (The Spanish Singer) c.1861 Watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper, 28.58 × 21.59 cm Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas The Spanish Singer is among the earliest masterpieces in watercolor produced by Edouard Manet. It…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Jeune femme espagnole avec guitare (Young Spanish Woman with Guitar) 1898 Oil on canvas, 55.6 x 65.2 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington A young woman with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks sits facing our right…