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…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Amor sacro e amor profano (Sacred and Profane Love) 1515–1516 Oil on canvas, 118 x 278 cm Galleria Borghese, Roma This work was probably sold to Scipione Borghese in 1608 by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati. A veritable interpretative enigma, critics…
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) Portrait de Juliette Courbet (Portrait of Juliette Courbet) 1844 Oil on canvas, 77.5 x 62 cm Petit Palais, Paris See also: • Courbet, Juliette (1831-1915)
Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828) Majas al balcón (Majas on a Balcony) c.1808–1812 Oil on canvas, 162 x 107 cm Private collection, Switzerland Compare: Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828) Majas al balcón c.1800–1810 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York