Tiziano (c.1488-1576) La Bella (Portrait of a Lady) 1536–1538 Oil on canvas, 89 × 75.5 cm Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze The female portrait, known by its complimentary epithet “La Bella”, is one of the most famous paintings of the later years of…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Retrato del bufón Calabazas (Portrait of the Jester Calabazas) c.1631–1632 Oil on canvas, 175 x 106 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Calabazas, a jester in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, had physical and mental…
Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641) A Genoese Lady with Her Child c.1623–1625 Oil on canvas, 217.8 x 146 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland This portrait was a departure from the painting style popular at this time, focusing less on a demonstrative…
Perugino (c.1446-1523) San Sebastiano (Saint Sebastian) c.1493 Metalpoint, 25.6 x 14.6 cm Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland The Florentine painter Perugino made drawings to record figural types and poses that could be repeated throughout his finished paintings. He used the elegant,…
Parmigianino (1503-1540) Cupido che fabbrica l’arco (Bowcarving Cupid) 1534–1539 Oil on lime, 135.5 × 65 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The inspiration for this painting may have come from a sculpture that Parmigianino may have seen in the Grimani Collection in Venice in…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) The White Symphony: Three Girls c.1868 Oil on millboard mounted on wood panel, 46.4 x 61.6 cm Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1902.138. This…
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill (1834-1903) Three Figures: Pink and Grey 1868–1878 Oil on canvas, 139.1 x 185.4 cm Tate Britain, London This picture derives from one of six oil sketches that Whistler produced in 1868 as part of a plan for…
Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792) Self-Portrait when Young 1753–1758 Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 61.6 cm Tate Britain, London This self-portrait was probably painted soon after Reynolds set up a studio in London in 1753. He had spent the previous three years studying art…
Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792) Self-Portrait c.1775 Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 61 cm Tate Britain, London This is one of Reynolds‘s most explicit attempts to rival Rembrandt as a self-portraitist. By the time he painted this work, he was the most famous…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Retrato de Francisco I de Este (Portrait of Duke Francesco I d’Este) 1638 Oil on canvas, 68 x 51 cm Galleria Estense, Modena In 1638 Duke Francesco I d’Este undertook a diplomatic trip to the court of King Philip…