Courbet, Gustave (1819-1877) Beatrice Bouvet (born c.1861) 1864 Oil on canvas, 91.9 x 73.2 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff The Salins industrialist Alfred Bouvet purchased two Courbet landscapes and commisioned this portrait of his daughter, then aged three. She is holding…
Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788) Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter c.1748 Oil on canvas, 92.1 × 70.5 cm National Gallery, London This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with…
David, Jacques-Louis (1748-1825) L’empereur Napoléon dans son cabinet aux Tuileries (The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries) 1812 Oil on canvas, 203.9 × 125.1 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington How do portraits influence the way we see historic figures?…
Pissarro, Camille (1830-1903) Portrait de Minette (Portrait of Minette) 1872 Oil on canvas, 45.7 x 35.2 cm Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919) Le clown musical (The Clown) 1868 Oil on canvas, 193.5 x 130 cm Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo Commission Auguste Renoir made this large painting on commission for the owner of the café of Cirque d’Hiver, the winter circus in Paris.…
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867) François 1er reçoit les derniers soupirs de Léonard de Vinci (Francis I receives the last breaths of Leonardo da Vinci) 1818 Oil on canvas, 40 x 50.5 cm Petit Palais, Paris Following his stay in Rome…
Fragonard, Jean-Honoré (1732-1806) Le Concours musical (The Musical Contest) c.1749–1752 Oil on canvas, 62 x 74 cm Wallace Collection, London
Fragonard, Jean-Honoré (1732-1806) Les hasards heureux de l’escarpolette (The Happy Chances of the Swing) c.1767–1768 Oil on canvas, 81 x 64.2 cm Wallace Collection, London Fragonard’s iconic painting is one of the most emblematic images of 18th-century French art. A young…
Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828) La Aguadora (The Water Carrier) c.1808–1812 Oil on canvas, 68 × 50.5 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest Whether Goya was the last great old master or the first modern genius is a spurious dilemma: he did not…
Carpaccio, Vittore (c.1460-c.1526) Ritorno degli ambasciatori (The Return of the Ambassadors) c.1497–1498 Oil on canvas, 297 x 526 cm Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venezia This is the third of nine paintings in the cycle of the Legend of St. Ursula (Storie di sant’Orsola). The…