Tintoretto, Jacopo (1518-1594) Autoritratto come giovane uomo (Self-Portrait as a Young Man) c.1548 Oil on pine panel, 45.7 × 36.8 cm Victoria and Albert Museum, London This early and forceful self-portrait, by one of the greatest Venetian painters, was done with…
Boucher, François (1703-1770) La Toilette de Vénus (The Toilette of Venus) 1751 Oil on canvas, 108.3 x 85.1 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Boucher executed this painting for Madame de Pompadour, the powerful, official mistress of Louis XV and…
Watteau, Antoine (1684-1721) Acteurs de la Comedie-Francaise (Actors of the Comédie-Française) 1711–1712 Oil on panel, 20 × 25 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Watteau was very fond of the play Les trois cousines (The Three Cousins) by Florent Carton, known as Dancourt,…
Watteau, Antoine (1684-1721) La Rêveuse (The Dreamer) 1712–1714 Oil on panel, 23.2 × 17 cm Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago The traditional title of this small painting, The Dreamer, derives from an engraving made after it, which was intended for sale to…
Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) Virgin and Child with Saints Zacharias, Elizabeth and John the Baptist c.1620 Oil on canvas, 114 x 153 cm National Gallery, London We are watching an intimate family moment, apparently unnoticed. Two children are being introduced – they…
Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926) Mother Combing Her Child’s Hair c.1901 Pastel on gray paper, 64.1 x 80.3 cm Brooklyn Museum, New York
Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) La Berceuse, portret van Madame Roulin (La Berceuse, Portrait of Madame Roulin) 1888–1889 Oil on canvas, 92 × 72.5 cm Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (F 504, JH 1665) She who rocks the cradle In Arles, Van Gogh befriended the…
Ghirlandaio, Domenico (1448-1494) Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni 1489–1490 Mixed media on panel, 77 x 49 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid This superb panel is a fine example of fifteenth-century Florentine portraiture. Artists of the time followed classical dictates: body proportions were idealised while…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) The Laughing Cavalier 1624 Oil on canvas, 83 x 67.3 cm Wallace Collection, London A highly gifted portraitist, Frans Hals had a supreme ability to characterise his sitters and make them appear lifelike. This exuberant portrait of a…
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) Portrait of a Woman c.1648 Oil on canvas, 108 x 80 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris Dated around 1648 and perhaps, according to Grimm, a work by Jan Hals, in comparison with the latter’s Portrait of a Lady,…