Vermeer, Jan (1632-1675) Mistress and Maid (Dame en dienstbode) c.1666–1667 Oil on canvas, 90.2 x 78.7 cm Frick Collection, New York Vermeer chose a large canvas for this composition, which presents two women pondering a newly arrived letter. Depicting an interior…
Bellini, Giovanni (c.1430-1516) Madonna del Prato (Madonna of the Meadow) c.1500–1505 Oil on synthetic panel, transferred from wood, 66.5 × 85.1 cm National Gallery, London The Virgin Mary adores the Christ Child sleeping on her lap. Giovanni Bellini was one of…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Le Chemin de fer (The Railway, Gare Saint-Lazare) 1873 Oil on canvas, 93.3 x 111.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington Edouard Manet offers an intriguing study in contrasts and ambiguity in The Railway, starting with the relationship between…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) La Gioconda (Monna Lisa) c.1503–1506 Oil on poplar, 79.4 x 53.4 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris A false identity problem It is only since the 20th century that certain historians, but more often amateurs in search of recognition,…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Vergine delle rocce (Virgin of the Rocks) c.1491–1499 and 1506–1508 Oil on poplar, thinned and cradled, 189.5 x 120 cm National Gallery, London Full title: The Virgin with the Infant Saint John the Baptist adoring the Christ Child…
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Annunciazione (Annunciation) c.1472 Oil on panel, 90 x 222 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze A flourishing enclosed garden, in front of a Renaissance palace, evokes the hortus conclusus that alludes to the purity of Mary. Archangel Gabriel…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Ritratto di Maffeo Barberini (Portrait of Pope Urban VIII) c.1598 Oil on canvas, 124 x 90 cm Private collection, Firenze See also: • Urbanus VIII (Papa)
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Fillide Melandroni (Portrait of a Courtesan) c.1597, destroyed in 1945 Oil on canvas, 66.8 x 53 cm Bode Museum, Berlin (former Kaiser Friedrich Museum) See also: • Fillide Melandroni
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Marta e Maria Maddalena (Martha and Mary Magdalene) c.1598 Oil and tempera on canvas, 100 x 134.5 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit “There is a Michelangelo da Caravaggio who is doing extraordinary things in Rome.” This quote by a…
Caravaggio (1571-1610) Santa Caterina d’Alessandria (Saint Catherine of Alexandria) c.1598–1599 Oil on canvas, 173 x 133 cm Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid This painting was almost certainly commissioned in Rome by Caravaggio’s first patron, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. Captured in a strikingly natural…