Cosimo I de' Medici (1519–1574)
Workshop of Bronzino (Italian, Florentine, 1503–1572)
Oil on wood; 37 3/4 x 27 3/4 in. (95.9 x 70.5 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1908 (08.262)
[300x410]

Portrait of a Man, ca. 1515
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, Venetian, born about 1488, died 1576)
Oil on canvas; 19 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (50.2 x 45.1 cm)
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.640)

Formerly ascribed to Giorgione, the painting is now generally regarded as an early work by Titian of about 1515. In view of its condition no firm attribution is possible. The surface is seriously abraded, and the canvas has been cut down. It is likely that the right arm originally rested on a parapet and that the whole of the gloved right hand was shown.
[300x337]

Alfonso d'Este (1486–1534), Duke of Ferrara
Copy after Titian (late 16th or early 17th century)
Oil on canvas; 50 x 38 3/4 in. (127 x 98.4 cm)
Munsey Fund, 1927 (27.56)
[300x381]

Bacchus and Ariadne
Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Italian, Venetian, 1675–1741)
Oil on canvas; 46 x 50 1/2 in. (116.8 x 128.3 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw, 1984 (1984.458)

When Bacchus arrived on the island of Naxos, he found the beautiful daughter of Minos, Ariadne, who had been abandoned by Theseus. Bacchus married her and her crown was transformed into a constellation by Jupiter. In the present picture Bacchus, wearing vine leaves in his hair, places a ring on Ariadne's finger. The subject was treated by Pellegrini a number of times. The present picture may date from after 1721, following Pellegrini's return to Venice and his extensive work in England, Dьsseldorf, the Low Countries, and Paris.
[500x462]

Piazza San Marco, possibly late 1720s
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) (Italian, Venetian, 1697–1768)
Oil on canvas; 27 x 44 1/4 in. (68.6 x 112.4 cm)
Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1988 (1988.162)

The most famous view painter of eighteenth-century Venice, Canaletto was particularly popular with British visitors to the city. This wonderfully fresh and well preserved canvas shows the square of San Marco. The windows of the bell tower are fewer in number than in actuality, and the flagstaffs are too tall, but otherwise Canaletto took few liberties with the topography. The loose, ragged handling and high key suggest a date in the late 1720s.
[500x304]

The Birth of the Virgin, 1467
Fra Carnevale (Bartolomeo di Giovanni Corradini) (Italian, Marchigian, active by 1445, died 1484)
Tempera and oil on wood; 57 x 37 7/8 in. (144.8 x 96.2 cm)
Rogers and Gwynne Andrews Funds, 1935 (35.121)

Description



This picture is apparently a lateral panel from a highly original altarpiece commissioned in 1467 for the church of Santa Maria della Bella at Urbino. A companion panel, "The Presentation of the Virgin," is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The infant Virgin being bathed by midwives has the character of a genre scene and is embroidered with engaging details from everyday life. The imposing building, decorated with reliefs derived from Roman sculpture, reflects the architecture of the celebrated ducal palace at Urbino. After his training in Florence under Filippo Lippi, Fra Carnevale returned to his native Urbino, where he would have seen works by Piero della Francesca and may have known the great architect-theorist Leon Battista Alberti. The picture originally had an elaborate frame with a series of arches along the top; the present frame is seventeenth-century Bolognese.
[300x451]

The Annunciation, 1672
Luca Giordano (Italian, Neapolitan, 1632–1705)
Oil on canvas; 93 1/8 x 66 7/8 in. (236.5 x 169.9 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1973 (1973.311.2)

Giordano was the leading painter in Naples in the late seventeenth century and one of the most sought-after Italian artists of his day. He painted in a variety of styles, but always with verve and panache. This "Annunciation" is dated 1672, following a trip to Venice, and it pays homage to the work of Titian. X-radiographs reveal that Giordano reworked the angel extensively.
[300x421]

Harbor Scene: An English Ship with Sails Loosened Firing a Gun
Peter Monamy (English, 1681–1749)
Gift of William P. Clyde, 1960 (60.94.2)
[500x407]

Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta)
Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

Tempera on canvas (transferred from panel) 42 x 33 cm

This Madonna and Child was probably painted in Milan, where the artist moved in 1482.

The Madonna's sublime, tender gaze as she looks at her son, and the tranquillity of the distant mountainous landscape, reflect humanist dreams of Ideal Man and a Harmonious Life. At once profound and noble, the painting reveals great beauty in its colouring and composition. The painting came to the museum in 1865 from the collection of Count Antonio Litta in Milan. A preparatory drawing for the Madonna's head is in the Louvre, Paris.
[350x455]

Judith
Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco) 1477-1510

Oil on canvas (transferred from panel); 144 x 68 cm

This work is regarded as the best of the Hermitage's works from the Venetian School. The artist has taken as his subject the Biblical legend of Judith. When the Assyrian army laid siege to her native town of Bethulia, Judith set out to save both the city and its people. She penetrated the camp of Holofernes, commander of the enemy army, fascinated him with her beauty and intelligence, and when left alone with him after a banquet, beheaded the sleepy general with his own sword. Rather than depicting the final dramatic scene of the legend, Giorgione represents Judith in a state of tranquil meditation. The serenity of both the heroine and the landscape behind her do not seem to be in keeping with the dramatic events set out in the Bible, and only her traditional attributes confirm Judith as the subject of the painting.
[367x787]

Madonna and Child (Madonna Conestabile)
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), 1483-1520

Tempera on canvas (transferred from panel); 17.5 x 18 cm

In this early work, the Madonna Conestabile, named after a previous owner, Raphael represents the harmony and unity of Man and Nature with profound lyricism. Peace and contemplation - and hint of sadness - are reflected in the face of the young woman, and are perfectly in tune with the mood engendered by the transparent spring landscape. The flowing lines of the figures, echoing the round format of the painting, and the gentle painting style intensify the tender and delicate image of the young woman and the beauty of the world around.
[350x353]

Maecenas Presenting the Liberal Arts to Emperor Augustus
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1696-1770

Oil on canvas; 69.5 x 89 cm

Commissioned by Count Francesco Algarotti, this painting glorifies the life and work of Count Heinrich von Bruhl, for whom it was intended. A court minister, well-known collector and connoisseur of paintings, Bruhl held a similar post at the court of Augustus III, King of Poland, to that of Maecenas under the Roman Emperor Augustus. Three female figures, accompanied by Homer personifying poetry, are allegories of the Liberal Arts - Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. In his correspondence, Algarotti mentions that in the background Tiepolo depicted Bruhl's Dresden palace with its hanging garden. Algarotti kept a watercolour copy of the painting in his house.
[500x391]

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (Italian, Lombard, 1571/73-1610), Medusa, oil on a circular convex leather shield, diameter 55.5 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
[699x713]

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, 1624-33, Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Rome. Beyond the baldacchino, is The Throne of Saint Peter, 1657-66, marble, white and gilt stucco, and stained glass, overall height about 100 feet, a huge sculptural composition behind the altar, in the apse of the basilica. The focal point of the Throne is the stained glass Dove of the Holy Spirit, c. 1660.
[631x1100]

Portrait of Julius II
1511-12
Oil on wood, 108 x 80,7 cm
National Gallery, London
[517x698]

Andrea del Castango

Famous Persons: Giovanni Boccaccio
c. 1450
Fresco transferred to wood, 250 x 154 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[446x698]

Famous Persons: Dante Allighieri
c. 1450
Fresco, transferred to wood, 250 x 154 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[453x699]

Famous Persons: Francesco Petrarca
c. 1450
Fresco transferred to wood, 247 x 153 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[450x698]

Fra Angelico

The Adoration of the Magi
c. 1445
Panel, diameter 137,4 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
[700x690]

GianBellino

Sacred Allegory
1490-1500
Oil on panel, 73 x 119 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[699x450]

Boticelli

Primavera
c. 1482
Tempera on panel, 203 x 314 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[699x452]

The Birth of Venus (detail)
c. 1485
Tempera on canvas
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[699x411]

Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder
c. 1474
Tempera on panel, 57,5 x 44 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[553x699]

Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici
c. 1475
Tempera on panel, 54 x 36 cm
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
[469x698]

Calumny of Apelles
1494-95
Tempera on panel, 62 x 91 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
[699x463]

The Abyss of Hell
1480s
Coloured drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome
[699x469]

Inferno, Canto XVIII
1480s
Coloured drawing on parchment, 320 x 470 mm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin
[700x458]

Ghirlandaio

Slaughter of the Innocents
1486-90
Fresco
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
[700x462]

Leonardo

Madonna with a Flower (Madonna Benois)
c. 1478
Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 50 x 32 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
[446x699]

St John the Baptist
1513-16
Oil on panel, 69 x 57 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
[523x699]