Masterpiece Stories

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait (detail), 1434, The National Gallery, London, England. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck

The Arnolfini Portrait is as enigmatic as it is iconic. Painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434, it spawns a lot of speculation – over half a millennium...

Vithória Konzen Dill 14 October 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger is one of those paintings that we know so well we tend to forget to look closer. It’s like the Mona...

Joanna Kaszubowska 14 October 2023

Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520-23, National Gallery, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian

Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne captures the vibrancy of a Greco-Roman myth through the lens of an Italian Renaissance painter. Learn about the...

James W Singer 9 October 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The First Cloud by Sir William Orchardson

At first glance, Sir William Orchardson’s The First Cloud is a late Victorian domestic scene that appears to be tranquil, refined, and placid.

James W Singer 9 October 2023

caravaggio medusa Masterpiece Stories

Shiny Shield with Caravaggio’s Medusa

Caravaggio’s art epitomizes the essence of Baroque art. The artist, known for close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro,...

Zuzanna Stańska 29 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Bacchus by Caravaggio

A youthful Bacchus, god of fertility, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre is reclining in classical fashion with grapes and vine leaves in...

Zuzanna Stańska 29 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Truth Coming Out of Her Well by Jean-Léon Gérôme

A fair-skinned woman, nude. Mouth open in either shock, rage, or maybe even disgust, as she emerges from a well. One leg is already draped over the...

Kristin Urban 28 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Interior of a Picture Gallery by Giovanni Paolo Panini

Interior of a Picture Gallery with the Collection of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga by Giovanni Paolo Panini shows a truly spectacular assembly of...

Alexandra Kiely 26 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Johan Zoffany

Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) was a German-born neoclassical painter. In the autumn of 1760, he moved to England and started to work for a clockmaker,...

Klaudia Zelazowska 26 September 2023

Kitty Kielland, Summer Night, 1886, oil on canvas, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Summer Night by Kitty Kielland

Kitty Kielland is one of the many talented female artists that have been erased from modern social consciousness. She was a brilliant painter of...

James W Singer 21 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Rainbow at Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro has an interesting portfolio of paintings. His works are divided between cosmopolitan views of Paris and countryside views of...

James W Singer 21 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Gustav Klimt’s Last Painting – Lady with a Fan

Since its creation, at the end of Gustav Klimt’s life, Lady with a Fan was controversial. The piece was shown to the public only three times,...

Giordana Goretti 17 September 2023