Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574) Giuditta e Oloferne (Judith and Holofernes) c.1554 Oil on panel, 108 x 79.7 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis This biblical heroine’s strong arms and angled shoulders create lively diagonal lines that enhance her exaggerated musculature. Judith…
Gentileschi, Artemisia (1593-c.1653) Danae c.1612 Oil on copper, 41.3 × 52.7 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Artemisia Gentileschi excelled at capturing textures, as seen in this reclining figure’s golden hair, the lush fabrics, and metal coins that fall on…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Ecce Homo (Christ Shown to the People) c.1570–1576 Oil on canvas, 109.2 x 94.8 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis By the glow of a blazing torchlight, Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler of ancient Judea, presents Jesus to…
Derain, André (1880-1954) Le Bal à Suresnes (At the Suresnes Ball) 1903 Oil on canvas, 180 × 145.1 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis A man in an infantry uniform dances with a taller woman, the splayed fingers of his…
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,…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) San Andrés (Saint Andrew) 1635–1640 Oil on canvas, 146 x 61 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) 1659 Oil on canvas, 121.5 x 97 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest At the very end of his career, Zurbarán abandoned the tenebroso manner of painting that had characterised his…
Veronese, Paolo (1528-1588) Ritratto d’uomo (Portrait of a Man) c.1555 Oil on canvas, 120 x 102 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest “There is one man who makes easy what we have always been told is impossible; and that is Paolo…