Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788) Mrs Siddons 1785 Oil on canvas, 126 × 99.5 cm National Gallery, London Mrs Siddons (1755–1831) was the greatest tragic actress of her time, remaining at the top of her profession for 30 years. Gainsborough painted her in the…
Scholderer, Otto (1834-1902) The Artist’s Wife on the Ottoman (Luise Scholderer auf der Ottomane) 1873 Oil on canvas, 69 × 82 cm Städel Museum, Frankfurt The artist’s wife is facing sideways towards the viewer and is looking at him in half-profile. Scholderer…
Michelangelo (1475-1564) Madonna di Manchester (Manchester Madonna: The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels) c.1494 Tempera on wood, 104.5 × 77 cm National Gallery, London This picture – known as ‘The Manchester Madonna’ since 1857, when it was exhibited in the…
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…
Gentileschi, Artemisia (1593-c.1653) Autoritratto come Santa Caterina d’Alessandria (Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria) c.1615–1617 Oil on canvas, 71.4 × 69 cm National Gallery, London Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated female artist of the seventeenth century, appears in the guise…
Pissarro, Camille (1830-1903) Portrait de Cézanne (Portrait of Cézanne) 1874 Oil on canvas, 73 × 59.7 cm National Gallery, London On loan from the collection of Laurence Graff OBE, © Laurence Graff OBE Pissarro‘s influence profoundly changed the direction of Cézanne‘s art…
Legros, Alphonse (1837-1911) Erasme (Erasmus) c.1899 One-sided bronze medallion, diameter 13.3 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Inscription: Monogram: AL legend in Greek and Latin: [ten kreitto ta sougrammata deieei: imago ad v […] effigie] in the field: ER / ROT / EXPRESSA…
Burne-Jones, Edward (1833-1898) Princess Sabra 1865 Oil on canvas, 107.2 x 61.5 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris Inscription: S. initials D.b.g.: E.B.J. 1865-6 This work is part of a decorative set commissioned from Burne-Jones by the watercolourist Miles Birket Foster (1825-1899) and…
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Femme faisant du crochet (Woman Crocheting) c.1877 Oil on canvas, 41 x 32.5 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia During the 1870s, alongside his ambitious modern life subjects such as Leaving the Conservatory (BF862), Renoir painted very many canvases of single…
Cranach, Lucas the Elder (1472-1553) Portrait of Frederick the Wise, Duke of Saxony c.1525 Oil on wood panel, 28.7 × 24.5 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia The sitter is Frederick the Wise, Duke of Saxony, who is best known for having protected…