CARAVAGGIO (1571-1610) Portrait of a Knight of Malta (c. 1608) Oil on canvas (118 x 95 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" The Portrait of a Knight of Malta is one of the works that the Italian scholar Mina Gregori has convincingly identified as …
Tag: Portrait
Portrait of a Young Knight
LUDOVICO CARDI (known as IL CIGOLI) 1559-1613 Portrait of a Young Knight (1594) Oil on canvas (78 x 62 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence The Florentine artist Ludovico Cardi, better known as Il Cigoli was a pupil of the late Mannerist painter Alessandro Allori (1535-1607) and of the architect Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608). He was born in …
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (c. 1629) Oil on canvas (67 x 54 cm) National Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" Within the different genres covered by the Old Masters, portraiture is my favourite. In the hands of its finest practitioners …
An Allegory
PHILIPPE-LAURENT ROLAND (1746-1816) Allegorical Group with the Bust of an Architect (1780-90) Terracotta: Height 67,3 cm Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" The son of a wood carver, Philippe-Laurent joined the atelier of the famous Agustin Pajou (1730-1809) at the age of …
An Officer and a Gentleman
NICOLAS DE LARGILLIERE (1656-1746) Portrait of an Officier, c. 1715 Oil on canvas (66 x 55 cm) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Unjustly neglected by art historians, particularly the Anglo-Americans, in favour of his contemporary and rival Hyacinthe Rigaud …
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 …
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 …
Jacob van Reygersberg
ROMBOUT VERHULST (1624-1698) Bust of Jacob van Reygersberg (1671) Marble: Height: 63 cm - Width: 57 - Depth: 33 cm Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Rombout Verhulst was one of the finest Flemish sculptors of the XVIIth century. Born in Malines, …
Augustin Pajou
ADELAIDE LABILLE-GUIARD (1749-1803) Portrait of the sculptor Augustin Pajou (1783) Pastel on paper: 72 x 63 cm Musée du Louvre Adélaide Labille was born in Paris, the youngest of eight children. Her father was a haberdasher who owned a shop named A la Toilette; by a curious coincidence, the future Madame du Barry worked in …
The Cricket Player
JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY (1738-1815) Richard Heber (1782) Oil on canvas (166 x 130 cm) Yale Center for British Art, Yale, Connecticut, USA To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Copley was an Anglo-American painter who achieved notoriety in his home town of Boston through hard work and precocious natural …
Old Masters 