PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Nicolaas Rockox Oil on wood (56 x 65 cm) To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Rubens was one of the greatest, most energetic and most fruitful artists whose output, in its variety, extent and quality, has rarely been achieved by any. Although Peter Paul …
Venetian Vedute
FRANCESCO ZUCCARELLI (1702-1788) Capriccio with San Giorgio Maggiore Capriccio with the Prison from the Riva Schiavone Oil on canvas (86 x 128 cm) Private collection Zuccarelli is considered the most important landscape painter to have emerged from his adoptive city of Venice during the first half of the XVIIIth century. Born in Pitigliano, he spent …
A Greek Tale
GUIDO RENI (1575-1642) Atalanta and Hippomenes (1622-25) Museo del Prado, Madrid Oil on canvas (206 x 297 cm) To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Born in Bologna Guido Reni was apprenticed at the age of 10 to the Flemish master Denis Calvaert, after a few years he joined …
An Elderly Lady
GEORGE BEARE (?-1749) Portrait of an Elderly Lady and a Girl (1747) Oil on canvas (127 x 102 cm) Yale Center for British Art, Yale, Connecticut, USA To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" George Beare's distinctive Portrait of an Elderly Lady and a Girl is unquestionably his masterpiece. …
A Sad Gentleman
POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787) Henry Hutchinson O'Hara (1763) Oil on canvas (74 x 61 cm) Private collection Born in Lucca, Tuscany, the son of a goldsmith, Pompeo Batoni came to Rome when he was 21 and remained there for the rest of his life. He became the leading Italian painter of his generation. He specialized in …
A Dutch Farmyard
MELCHIOR DE HONDECOETER (1636-1695) Cockerell with Hens in a Farmyard (1681) Oil on canvas (84 x 69 cm) Private collection To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Pupil of his father Gysbert Hondecoeter and of his uncle Jan Baptiste Weenix, Melchior began his career with a different speciality from …
An English Beauty
SIR PETER LELY Diana Kirke, later Countess of Oxford (1665-70) Oil on canvas (135 x 108 cm) Yale Center for British Art, Yale, Connecticut, USA To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" The portrait of Diana Kirke is one of Lely's most sensuous and beautiful. It exemplifies his lush …
Saint Gines
LUISA IGNACIA ROLDÁN (1652-1706) San Ginés de La Jara (1692) Wood, painted and gilded. Height: 176 cm Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and open it on a new tab Luisa Roldán (better known as La Roldana) was the first Spanish female sculptor on record and one of …
The Lamentation
ADRIAEN VAN DER WERFF (1659-1722) The Lamentation (1685) Oil on copper 63 x 51 cm Mr Frederick Ruskin´s collection, on loan to the Phoenix Art Museum, USA To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Adriaen van der Werff was schooled in the fijnschilder (1) tradition of Gerrard Dou (1613-1675) …
The Travelling Earl
ANTON VAN DYCK (1599-1641) Portrait of the Earl of Denbigh (1633-34) Oil on canvas 247 x 148 cm The National Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" William Feilding (c.1582-1643), first Earl of Denbigh, was very well-connected. In 1607 he married the sister of George Villiers, soon …
Old Masters 