Raffaello (1483-1520) La Fornarina (Portrait of a Young Woman) c.1520 Oil on panel, 87 x 63 cm Palazzo Barberini, Roma The subject of this portrait, according to tradition, was Raphael’s inspirational muse and mistress: Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker in…
Velázquez, Diego (1599-1660) Venus del Espejo (Venus at her Mirror, The Rokeby Venus) 1647–1651 Oil on canvas, 122.5 x 177 cm National Gallery, London This is the only surviving female nude painted by Velázquez. The subject was rare in seventeenth-century Spain,…
Tiziano (c.1488-1576) Venere di Urbino (Venus of Urbino) 1538 Oil on canvas, 119 x 165 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze This is one of Titian’s most famous works and it depicts the emblematic figure of a young bride about to be dressed…
Manet, Édouard (1832-1883) Olympia 1863 Oil on canvas, 130.5 x 191 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris With Olympia, Manet reworked the traditional theme of the female nude, using a strong, uncompromising technique. Both the subject matter and its depiction explain the scandal…
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe (1825-1905) Naissance de Vénus (Birth of Venus) 1879 Oil on canvas, 300 x 215 cm Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Jordaens, Jacob (1593-1678) Marriage of Peleus and Thetis 1636–1638 Oil on canvas, 181 x 288 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid As with the Rape of Hippodamia (P01658), this marriage scene was commissioned from Rubens as part of the mythological cycle drawn from…