Botticelli, Sandro (c.1445-1510) Annunciazione (Annunciation from San Martino alla Scala) 1481 Detached fresco, 243 x 555 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze The usual subject of the announcement to the Virgin Mary by archangel Gabriel is set in a renaissance palace, overlooking…
Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-1898) La Poésie dramatique (Dramatic Poetry, Aeschylus) c.1896 Oil on canvas, 124.1 x 63.2 cm Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia This painting is a scaled-down version of an enormous canvas—over 14 × 7 feet—that Puvis de Chavannes painted as…
Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665) La Destruction du temple de Jérusalem (The destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem) 1635 Oil on canvas, 147 × 198 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The material is taken from Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War. Titus, the son of the…
Lotto, Lorenzo (1480-1557) Madonna col Bambino tra i santi Caterina e Tommaso (Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Thomas) 1527–1533 Oil on canvas, 117 x 152 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The motif of a gathering of saints around the Madonna,…
Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa c.1630–1640 Oil on canvas, 117.5 x 194 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Jordaens was one of the most renowned and versatile Antwerp painters. Here he illustrates an episode from Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, naked and…
Daubigny, Charles-François (1817-1878) Plage à marée basse (Beach at Ebb Tide) c.1850 / c.1878 Oil on panel, 35 x 55 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Daubigny painted this beautiful seascape in Villerville-sur-Mer in Normandy. On an otherwise empty beach, a lone shell seeker walks…
Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) Vue dans la forêt de Fontainebleau (View in the Forest of Fontainebleau) 1855 Oil on canvas, 82 x 102 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam See also: • Forêt de Fontainebleau (France)
Hals, Frans (c.1582-1666) Portrait of a Couple (Probably Isaac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Laen) c.1622 Oil on canvas, 140 x 166.5 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam This happy, smiling pair sits comfortably close to each other. Posing a couple together in…
Carracci, Annibale (1560-1609) Pietà c.1603 Oil on copper, 41.3 x 60.7 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Overwhelmed by her helplessness and pain, Mary holds her dead son in her lap. Pale colours and the pathos of marbles by Michelangelo and from antiquity…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Giovane donna nuda allo specchio (Young woman at her toilette) 1515 Oil on poplar panel, 62.9 x 78.3 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Inscription: “Joannes bellinus faciebat M.D.X.V.” As an elderly man, Bellini turned to the depiction of a…