Raffaello (1483-1520) La Velata (Woman with a Veil) c.1512–1515 Oil on canvas, 82 x 60.5 cm Galleria Palatina, Firenze The veil over the hair, from which the name of this splendid work by Raphael is derived, indicates that the woman is…
Raffaello (1483-1520) La dama col liocorno (Lady with a Unicorn) c.1505–1506 Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 67 x 56 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma The young woman depicted is a Florentine girl, as can be seen from the precious fashionable dress of…
Raffaello (1483-1520) Ritratto di Maddalena Doni (Portrait of Maddalena Doni) 1505–1506 Oil on panel, 65 x 45.8 cm Galleria Palatina, Firenze On the back there is a representation in monochrome of Deucalion and Pyrrha. Pair: Raffaello (1483-1520) Ritratto di Agnolo Doni 1505–1506 Galleria…
Holbein, Hans the Younger (c.1497-1543) Portrait of Henry VIII of England c.1537 Oil on panel, 28 x 20 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Portraiture was the most popular genre in sixteenth-century England, and indeed one of the few available to artists following the…
Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664) Casa de Nazareth (Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth) c.1640 Oil on canvas, 165 x 218.2 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Stories of Christ’s childhood and adolescence became increasingly popular during the Counter-Reformation…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Madame Auguste Manet c.1866 Oil on canvas, 98 x 80 cm Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston This portrait of the artist’s mother, Eugénie-Désirée Fournier Manet (1811-1885), shows her in the widow’s black mourning dress she donned after her…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian c.1888 (?)-1900 Oil on canvas, 191.5 x 89.8 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Ethel Philip, Whistler‘s sister-in-law and a favorite subject of the artist, whose likeness appears in…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) La fragua de Vulcano (The Forge of Vulcan) 1630 Oil on canvas, 223 x 290 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid A figure suddenly appears on the left in a forge where various blacksmiths are working, dressed in…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Las Meninas, o La familia de Felipe IV (Las meninas or The Family of Philip IV) 1656 Oil on canvas, 320.5 x 281.5 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This is one of Velázquez‘s largest paintings and among…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Flora c.1517 Oil on canvas, 79.7 x 63.5 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze A young woman emerges from the brown background of the painting, holding out a bouquet of spring flowers, consisting of violets, rosebuds and jasmine. She is dressed…