When Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), one of the most famous Baroque artists in history, returned from an extended stay in Italy in the early 17th century, he didn’t waste any time getting married. One of the most interesting works in the immense oeuvre of Rubens is a self-portrait with his new beloved wife. So in …
Paintings
One of the most powerful men in Europe in the 16th century won a decisive battle in April 1547. The victory of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) resulted in the dissolution of a troublesome Protestant military alliance. To commemorate this victory, Renaissance artists and his court painter at the time Tiziano Vecelli (1490-1576) produced …
When Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614) moved from his home country in the Kingdom of Candia, modern-day Crete in Greece, to Venice, he was already an established painter looking to make a name for himself. He lived and worked in Venice and Rome and as the greatest masterpieces of the famous Renaissance artists who lived and worked …
One of the greatest rooms in the world can be found at the Doge’s Palace in Venice. It’s decorated with a large number of paintings that make you stand in awe. One of these paintings was produced by one of the greatest Venetian Mannerist artists (Late Renaissance) of the 16th century who didn’t shy away …
One of the most sought-after painters in the 1430s was a man who became the court painter of Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Jan van Eyck (1380s-1441) created some of the most intriguing works of art of the 15th century and was a renowned portraitist as well. Unlike a work referred to as “Portrait …
Venus was the Roman goddess of love, beauty, desire, sex, and multiple other related things. Because of this, she has been depicted naked ever since ancient times, and this trend was continued during the Renaissance. Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) only left behind one nude female, mainly because he wasn’t allowed to paint nudity in his paintings …
It’s hard to believe that the first paintings by Eugène Delacroix were influenced by his training in the Neoclassical style. After all, Jean-Jacques Louis (1748-1825), the Greatest Neoclassical artist at the time dominated the art scene during the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. One moment in the early career of …
Dutch Golden Age Painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) wasn’t known for creating monumental works of art. He focused on detailed little paintings which he meticulously worked on for many months and which often depicted common scenes inside his house in Delft. Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Vermeer is one of the most …
One of the most remarkable facts about Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is that he was extremely prolific just before he took his own life in July of the year 1890. The passion and energy that he had about his art didn’t seize during an extended stay at a mental hospital in southern …
The Renaissance is a period in European history that marked the transition between the dark and gloomy Middle Ages into a completely new era of social progress. Some of the greatest minds in history lived during this period which encompassed the 15th and 16th centuries. The revival of Humanism derived from the Roman version “Humanitas,” …