Leo Putz - Portrait of a Young Woman

Leo Putz - Portrait of a Young Woman, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 74 x 68 cm]

Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis - Profile Portrait of a Lady [c.1500]

Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis - Profile Portrait of a Lady [c.1500], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In 1483 Ambrogio de Predis (or Preda), with his brother Evangelista, was contracted in Milan to assist Leonardo da Vinci in painting and gilding the altarpiece which was to incorporate The Virgin of the Rocks. It is likely that this portrait is also a Milanese work. The Moor's head and the letters L and O which ornament the buckle of the belt may allude to Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.

[Oil on walnut, 52.1 x 36.8 cm]

Gerrit van Honthorst - Saint Sebastian [c.1623]

Gerrit van Honthorst - Saint Sebastian [c.1623], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Sebastian was a Roman centurion, who was discovered to be a Christian and was sentenced to death by Emperor Diocletian. He was bound to a stake and shot with arrows. He was left for dead, although the arrows had not killed him and he was eventually stoned to death. Honthorst was one of the first artists to portray Saint Sebastian as a half-length figure, slumped forward in a seated position. The pose was subsequently adopted by other followers of Caravaggio in Utrecht, including Jan van Bijlert and Hendrik ter Brugghen in the mid-1620s. This picture was probably painted shortly after Honthorst's return to Utrecht in 1620.

[Oil on canvas, 101 x 117 cm]

Guido Cagnacci - The Drunken Noah

Guido Cagnacci - The Drunken Noah, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Guido Cagnacci (January 19, 1601 – 1663) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, belonging to the Forli painting school and to the Bolognese School. Born in Santarcangelo di Romagna near Rimini, he died in Vienna in 1663. He worked in Rimini from 1627 to 1642. After that, he was in Forli, where absorbed the lesson of the Melozzo’s painting. His life was at times tempestuous, as characterised by his failed elopement (1628) with an aristocratic widow. Some contemporaries remark him as eccentric, unreliable and of doubtful morality. He is said to have enjoyed the company of cross-dressing models. Cagnacci's work was, in one view, "entirely unappreciated by his contemporaries," but re-assessed by modern critics; his painting is "warm with the heightened tones of grazing light, rich in the play of shadows and colours.”

François Gérard - Cupid and Psyche

François Gérard - Cupid and Psyche, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

François Pascal Simon, Baron Gérard (Rome, March 12, 1770 – Paris, January 11, 1837) was a French painter born in Italy, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador. His mother was Italian. Gérard is best remembered for his portraits; the colour of his paintings has suffered, but his drawings show in uninjured delicacy the purity of his line; and those of women are specially remarkable for a virginal simplicity and frankness of expression.

Alphonse Legros - Cupid and Psyche [c.1867]

Alphonse Legros - Cupid and Psyche [c.1867], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Roman poet Lucius Apuleius wrote the tale of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche was given a box containing beauty for the goddess Venus. But she could not resist looking inside it and was sent into a deep sleep. Legros (1837 – 1911) shows the moment when her lover, Cupid, discovers her in her torpor. He is about to wake her with a touch of his arrow. Legros was born in France but James Whistler lured him to London, where he settled in 1863. The composition of the reclining female figure shows the influence of Italian artists such as Giorgione and Titian, as well as Rembrandt.

[Oil on canvas, 1168 x 1414 mm]

Gerrit Berckheyde - The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem [1674]

Gerrit Berckheyde - The Market Place and the Grote Kerk at Haarlem [1674], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This view shows the market place in Haarlem from the north-west from beside the town hall, the Doric portico of which is on the right. On the opposite side of the square is the 15th-century Grote Kerk (church of St Bavo) and the Vleeshal (meat market) to the right. Both these buildings remain largely unchanged today, but the portico of the town hall, which casts a powerful shadow in the foreground, no longer exists.

[Oil on canvas, 51.8 x 67 cm]

Vlaho Bukovac - In The Bath [1908]

Vlaho Bukovac - In The Bath [1908], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Vlaho Bukovac (July 5, 1855 – April 23, 1922) was a Croatian painter. Bukovac was born Biagio Faggioni in the town of Cavtat south of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia. As a son born to a family of mixed Croatian and Italian ancestry, his father was an Italian Croat from Genoa, while his mother was of explicitly Croatian descent. 

Besides being an artist who followed the established canons there was another Bukovac who followed his own inner impulses of artistic creation. Liberated artistic expression, which was called Impressionism, developed in the spirit of the artists who kept gathering in modernism-oriented marginal galleries in Paris in the 1870s. He knew the spirit of academism and, on the other hand, he felt the spirit of Impressionistic freedom. Having accepted modern principles, Bukovac painted casual pictures, using liberated strokes of the brush, in the pointillist technique. He died in Prague.

[Oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm]

James Whistler - Portrait of the Painter's Mother [1871]

James Whistler - Portrait of the Painter's Mother [1871], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 14, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based painter and etcher. Averse to sentimentality in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". He took to signing his paintings with a stylised butterfly, possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for Whistler's art was characterised by a subtle delicacy, in contrast to his combative public persona. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler titled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes".

In 1863 Whistler's mother moved to England to be with her son. In 1871 his style moved towards greater simplicity when he painted Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother. The figure sits in profile on a light background. The horizontal lines of the skirting boards are what holds the elements in place; the only decoration seen in the light dabs of paint defining a pattern on the curtain. The painting was purchased by the French government and is housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

[Oil on canvas, 144.3 x 162.5 cm]

Otto Franz Scholderer - Portrait of the Artist's Wife [c.1872-73]

Otto Franz Scholderer - Portrait of the Artist's Wife [c.1872-73], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The artist made several portraits of Luise Steurwaldt, whom he married at Roehampton on February 11, 1872. This work is closely related to a larger painting (Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut) where the sitter wears the same costume but holds a European fan, rather than the Japanese one shown here. The Frankfurt painting, for which this may be a study, is dated 1873 and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1875.

Scholderer (1834-1902) was born in Frankfurt where he studied at the Städelsches Kunstinstitut with J. D. Passavant and Jacob Becker. He made frequent trips to Paris and became acquainted with Fantin-Latour and Manet. From 1871 to 1899 he lived in London; he died in Frankfurt. Scholderer was a still-life and portrait painter.

[Oil on canvas, 31.6 x 40 cm]

Mary L Macomber - Night and her Daughter Sleep [1902]

Mary L Macomber - Night and her Daughter Sleep [1902], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Mary L. Macomber (Fall River, Massachusetts, 1861 – Boston, 1916) studied art under Frank Duveneck and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She often exhibited at the National Academy of Design show in New York City and at other major museums and galleries. Many of her paintings were lost in a fire in her studio in 1903.

[Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 63.2 cm]

Aert van der Neer - Night Landscape with a River [c.1650]

Aert van der Neer - Night Landscape with a River [c.1650], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Aert van der Neer (Amsterdam, 1603 – Amsterdam, 1677) was a Dutch painter. A master at representing light, Aert van der Neer painted moonlit river views that embody the principles of Dutch landscape painting in the 1600s. Those principles included isolated figures on meandering paths that cut through a wooded forest, and cloud-filled skies. Van der Neer used a restricted palette of earthy colours and, like most artists during this period, painted indoors. Although he did not receive much attention in his own time, modern scholars praise his ability to create a sense of space and atmosphere. 

Van der Neer first worked as a steward and then became a painter, possibly as a result of contact with his wife's brothers, both of whom were painters. Later in his life, between 1659-1662, Van der Neer and his son were the keepers of a tavern. After then declaring bankruptcy, his property, including his paintings, were appraised at little value. He continued to paint, residing in a state of extreme poverty, until his death fifteen years later. 

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 86 cm]

Pierre Subleyras - Diana and Endymion [c.1740]

Pierre Subleyras - Diana and Endymion [c.1740], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The shepherd Endymion, renowned for his beauty, was sent to sleep by the moon goddess Selene so that she might embrace him unobserved. Selene later became identified with the goddess Diana. 

Subleyras (1699 – 1749) was born in St-Gilles-du-Gard. He was a pupil of his father and later of Antoine Rivalz in Toulouse. In 1726 he studied at the Academy in Paris. He won the Premier Prix in 1727 and in 1728 went to Rome, where he settled and died. He is known chiefly for his altarpieces and portraits.

[Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 99 cm]

Ary Scheffer - Saints Augustine and Monica [1854]

Ary Scheffer - Saints Augustine and Monica [1854], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject is taken from Saints Augustine's Confessions, and depicts Saint Augustine and his mother Saint Monica discussing the Kingdom of Heaven. Shortly afterwards Saint Monica died. This is one of several replicas of Scheffer's most popular picture. The original, finished about 1845, showed the painter's own mother as the model for Saint Monica.

Ary Scheffer was born in Dordrecht and taught by his father, J. B. Scheffer. He was in Paris in 1811, where he studied under Guérin. He exhibited at the Salon from 1812. He was an illustrator, painter and engraver. He was popular in France for his portraits and history paintings.

[Oil on canvas, 135.2 x 104.8 cm]

Albert Lebourg - Notre Dame de Paris, View from the Quay de Tournelle

Albert Lebourg - Notre Dame de Paris, View from the Quay de Tournelle, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Albert Lebourg (Montfort-sur-Risle, February 1, 1849 – Rouen, January 6, 1928) was a French landscape painter.

This painting was sold by Sotheby's on October 6, 2009 for Є17,500.

[Oil on canvas, 46.5 x 65 cm]

Carl Blechen - View of Roofs and Gardens [c.1835]

Carl Blechen - View of Roofs and Gardens [c.1835], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The view is from Blechen’s flat at 9 Kochstraße in Berlin. Abandoning the traditional schemata of landscape painting, Blechen risked an unusual composition that seems more like a detail from a larger work. On the right is the corner of the roof of the house, while on the left is an open view of the backyard and the adjoining garden. It has just rained and there are puddles in the yard. The roof reflects the gentle light. The subtly gradated colours create a muted atmosphere. For this work Blechen chose an utterly unspectacular motif from everyday life, simply painting what he saw, spontaneously and expressively — a daring move later taken up and further developed by Adolph Menzel.

[Oil on canvas, 20 x 26 cm]

Camille Pissarro - The Avenue, Sydenham [1871]

Camille Pissarro - The Avenue, Sydenham [1871], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting is among the largest that Pissarro is known to have painted in London during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1). These works mainly represent scenes in the area of Norwood where Pissarro stayed until June 1871. This work depicts a scene that is little changed today. The painting conveys the atmosphere of an early spring day, with oak trees coming into leaf against a soft blue sky. Technical analysis shows that the main outlines of the landscape were painted first and the figures added over the paint that had dried.

[Oil on canvas, 48 x 73 cm]

Albin Egger-Lienz - Dance of the Dead [1921]

Albin Egger-Lienz - Dance of the Dead [1921], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Albin Egger-Lienz (Dolsach-Stribach, Austria, January 29, 1868 - St. Justina-Rentsch, Italy) was an Austrian painter. He trained first under his father (a church painter), later he studied at the Academy in Munich where he was influenced by Franz defregger and French painter Jean-Francois Millet. In 1899 he moved to Vienna. During 1911 and 1912 he was professor at the Wemar School of Fine Arts and he served as war painter during World War One.

Lucien Freud - Naked Man with Rat [1977-78]

Naked Man with Rat [1977-78], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Realist painter Lucian Freud, one of Britain's most distinguished and highly regarded artists, has died aged 88.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14243713

Hashiguchi Goyō - Woman after a Bath [1915]

Hashiguchi Goyō - Woman after a Bath [1915], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Hashiguchi Goyō (December 21, 1880 - February 24, 1921) was an artist in Japan. Hashiguchi was born Hashiguchi Kiyoshi in Kagoshima Prefecture. His father Hashiguchi Kanemizu was a samurai and amateur painter in the Shijo style. His father hired a teacher in the Kano style of painting in 1899 when Kiyoshi was only ten. Kiyoshi took the name of Goyo while attending the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, from which he graduated best in his class in 1905. The name Goyo was chosen because of his fondness for the five needle pine in his father's garden. In late 1920, Hashiguchi's latent health problems escalated into meningitis. He supervised his last print Hot Spring Hotel from his death bed, but could not finish it personally. He died in February 1921.

[Colour woodblock print. 40.1 x 26.1 cm]

Rembrandt - Belshazzar's Feast [c.1636-38]

Rembrandt - Belshazzar's Feast [c.1636-38], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Rembrandt's source for this painting, the Old Testament Book of Daniel, tells of a banquet Belshazzar, King of Babylon, gave for his nobles. At this banquet he blasphemously served wine in the sacred vessels his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Rembrandt shows the moment when a divine hand appeared and wrote on the wall a phrase only Daniel could decipher. When transliterated the inscription reads: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation: 'God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; your kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians.' That very night Belshazzar was slain. 

Rembrandt derived the form of Hebrew inscription from a book by his friend, the learned Rabbi and printer, Menasseh ben Israel, yet mis-transcribed one of the characters and arranged them in columns, rather than right to left, as Hebrew is written. The picture is an example of Rembrandt's attempt to establish himself as a painter of large-scale Baroque history paintings.

[Oil on canvas, 167.5 x 209.2 cm]

Karl Freidrich Schinkel - View of the Flower of Greece [1836]

Karl Freidrich Schinkel - View of the Flower of Greece [1836], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Against the background of an ideal Greek townscape, naked heroes are constructing an Ionic temple with a double row of columns. The motif of the procession on the frieze of the temple is of reminiscent of that the Parthenon. The painting captures the moment when the last marble block of the frieze is being heaved into position with a considerable expenditure of effort. The block has come from a temporary workshop where work on other sculptures is already under way. As in other works, Schinkel is alluding here to the Napoleonic wars and Prussia’s struggle for independence. In addition there are also thoughts of Greece breaking free from Turkish rule, which had almost been achieved at the time when this picture was painted.

Karl Freidrich Schinkel (Neuruppin, March 13, 1781 - Berlin, October 9, 1841) was the foremost Prussian architect, city planner and painter.

[Oil on canvas, 94 x 235 cm]

Carel Fabritus - Young Man in a Fur Cap [1654]

Carel Fabritus - Young Man in a Fur Cap [1654], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Although no documented portrait of Fabritius is known, it is generally accepted that this is a self portrait. The sitter wears a steel breastplate and backplate. Fabritius's teacher Rembrandt painted a number of portraits of sitters with a breastplate or gorget in the late 1620s and 1630s, but there is no indication that Rembrandt had any military connection. They were instead part of a tradition of painting sitters in fanciful costume, of which Fabritius must have been aware. In contrast to most other portraits of the time, with their plain backgrounds, the artist here places himself starkly against a cloudy sky. The picture was painted in 1654, the year Fabritius was killed in the explosion of the municipal powder magazine in his native Delft.

[Oil on canvas, 70.5 x 61.5 cm]

Wilhelm Leibl - Sleeping Savoyard Boy [1869]

Wilhelm Leibl - Sleeping Savoyard Boy [1869], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Wilhelm Leibl (Cologne, October 23, 1844 – Wurzburg, December 4, 1900) was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes from peasant life. Living among peasants, he depicted his neighbours in everyday scenes devoid of sentimentality or anecdote. The sketch like quality of his painting was replaced by greater precision and attention to drawing. Leibl painted with no preliminary drawing, setting to work directly with colour, an approach that has parallels to Impressionism. His commitment to the representation of reality as the eye sees it earned him recognition in his lifetime as the pre-eminent artist of a group known as the Leibl-Kreis. He executed a small number of etchings in a meticulous style. His charcoal drawings are conceived in great masses of light and shadow, blocked in as though he were using a brush and paint. 

[Oil on canvas, 44 x 64 cm]

Alfred James Munnings - Portrait of Lady Barbara Lowther on Horseback

Alfred James Munnings - Portrait of Lady Barbara Lowther on Horseback, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting was sold by Sotheby's on May 7, 2008 for £860,500.

[Oil on canvas, 71 x 76 cm]

William Orpen - Portrait of Gertrude Sanford [1922]

William Orpen - Portrait of Gertrude Sanford [1922], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

William Orpen (Stillorgan, November 27, 1878 - London, September 29, 1931) was an Irish portrait painter. He was involved in the Celtic revival in his native Ireland and took part in the attempt there to find a visual counterpart to the birth of new national literary language. Although his studio was in London, he spent time in Ireland painting, he was a friend of Hugh Lane and influenced the Irish realist painters, like Sean Keating, who were beginning their careers at that time.

[Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 76.2 cm]

Paul Jean Clays - Ships Lying Near Dordrecht [1870]

Paul Jean Clays - Ships Lying Near Dordrecht [1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Paul Jean Clays (November 27, 1819 – February 10, 1900), Belgian artist, was born in Bruges, and died in Brussels. He was one of the most esteemed marine of his time, and early in his career he substituted a sincere study of nature for the extravagant and artificial conventionality of most of his predecessors. He painted the peaceful life of rivers, the poetry of wide estuaries, the regulated stir of roadsteads and ports. And while he thus broke away from old traditions he also threw off the trammels imposed on him by his master, the marine painter Theodore Gudin (1802–1880). Endeavouring only to give truthful expression to the nature that delighted his eyes, he sought to render the limpid salt atmosphere, the weight of waters, the transparence of moist horizons, the gem-like sparkle of the sky.

[Oil on canvas, 75 x 110.2 cm]

Paul Jean Clays - Ships Lying Off Flushing [1869]

Paul Jean Clays - Ships Lying Off Flushing [1869], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A label on the reverse, signed by Clays and dated Brussels 1868, identifies the view. The discrepancy between this date and the date on the painting (1869) suggests that the artist may have signed and dated it some time after it was completed.

[Oil on wood, 59.9 x 86.8 cm]

Alfred Sisley - Villeneuve-la-Garenne [1872]

Alfred Sisley - Villeneuve-la-Garenne [1872], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Impressionist painters turned repeatedly to the depiction of small provincial towns like Villeneuve-la-Garenne. This canvas comes from the early period of Impressionism and still retains elements of traditional compositions, with the centre of the landscape framed by trees, creating a stage-like effect. Yet this does not deprive the painting of its naturalness: Sisley had a fine lyrical sense and had the rare gift of being able to capture the modest charm and gentle beauty of nature.

In this painting the most important feature is the vivid sunlight illuminating the buildings, seen from the shade beneath the trees. Sisley successfully captured that feeling of cool air, contrasting with the still heat of the opposite bank.

[Oil on canvas, 59 x 80.5 cm]

Pieter Claesz - Vanitas Still Life with the Spinario [1628]

Pieter Claesz - Vanitas Still Life with the Spinario [1628], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Still-life painter Pieter Claesz (1597/98 – 1660) probably came from Berchem, near Antwerp. He moved to Haarlem at an early date, where he married in 1617 and later died. Pieter Claesz's son Nicolaes Bercham, also became a painter. In his early work, Pieter Claesz employed brilliant colours. Later, he adopted a more subdued palette, with colours of similar hues. His compositions acquired more elegance, broadness and nonchalance than previously. Nevertheless, the objects in his still lifes rarely overlap. For Pieter Claesz, the principal aim was to render the materials and catch the reflected light as accurately as possible. This was his speciality. 

This painting looks like a combination of several smaller still lifes. In the foreground, to the right, are a number of musical instruments. They are lying beside a piece of armour and various books. More books are shown on the table, along with a plaster statue, some bones, a skull and various artist's materials. From the skull and bones, it is clear that this painting is about transience, or Vanitas. The watch and the fading oil lamp refer to the passage of time, while the musical instruments symbolise the ephemeral nature of music. 

This still life is not just about Vanitas. Claesz also alludes to the different phases of an ideal painter's apprenticeship. The master's assistant started out doing odd jobs. He mixed paint and kept the studio tidy. After a while he was allowed to start drawing, copying prints and other work. In the foreground we see the necessary sample books, depicted alongside a pen and inkstand. The apprentice would proceed to sketching plaster casts of famous statues. This helped the student gain insight into the human form. A plaster cast of the famous Spinario is included in this composition. Once these phases had been completed, the apprentice could start working in colour, learning how to apply paint and progressing to the depiction of real people. 

[Oil on panel, 70.50 x 80.50 cm]

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Rinaldo Restraining Armida from Wounding Herself with an Arrow

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Rinaldo Restraining Armida from Wounding Herself with an Arrow, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Cento, February 8, 1591 – Bologna, December 9, 1666), best known as Guercino or Il Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. Guercino is Italian for 'squinter', a nickname that was given to him because he was cross-eyed. He is especially noted for his many superb drawings. He was remarkable for the extreme rapidity of his execution, he completed no fewer than 106 large altar-pieces for churches, and his other paintings amount to about 144. In 1626 he began his frescoes in the Duomo of Piacenza. Guercino continued to paint and teach up to the time of his death in 1666, amassing a notable fortune.

Itō Shinsui - The Fragrance of a Bath [1930]

Itō Shinsui - The Fragrance of a Bath [1930], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Shin hanga prints were directed to a Western audience largely through Western patronage and art dealers such as Robert O. Muller (1911-2003). Directed primarily to foreign markets, shin hanga prints appealed to Western taste for nostalgic and romanticised views of Japan. Shin hanga prints flourished and enjoyed immense popularity overseas. In the 1920s, there were articles on shin hanga in the International Studio, the Studio, the Art News and the Art Digest magazines. In 1921, a Shinsaku-hanga Tenrankai (New Creative Print exhibition) was held in Tokyo. One hundred and fifty works by ten artists were exhibited. In 1930 and 1936, two major shin hanga exhibitions were held at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. 

[Full colour woodblock print, 40.8 x 25.7 cm]

John Singleton Copley - Paul Revere [1768]

John Singleton Copley - Paul Revere [1768], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Copley's inspired portrait of his friend and colleague abides by the rules of the game for colonial portraiture; it is an accurate, intricate, and apparently truthful likeness, even as it presents an encoded story. Copley (American, 1738–1815) approached each of his sitters as a type and was able to distinguish each one legibly, much like a character in a play or a novel. The obvious clues to Revere's artistic identity are his open-collared shirt, lack of a coat, contemplative hand-to-chin pose, teapot lacking an inscription, and tools of the silversmith's trade. The embedded narrative is associated with the teapot (Revere actually crafted only one in 1768), as his clients had boycotted tea. With a complicit sitter, Copley created a portrait that reaches beyond biography (the usual province of portraiture) and conveys a message that would have been understood and appreciated by those who saw the painting.

[Oil on canvas, 89.2 x 72.4 cm]

Alexandre Cabanel - Pandora [1873]

Alexandre Cabanel - Pandora [1873], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Cabanel (French, 1823 - 1889), a professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, specialized in portraits of High Society. Here, he depicts the Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson as Pandora, the woman in Greek mythology who opened a forbidden box, releasing all the troubles that afflict humanity.

[Oil on canvas, 70.2 x 49.2 cm]

Ludwig Deutsch - The Nubian Palace Guard

Ludwig Deutsch - The Nubian Palace Guard, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ludwig Deutsch (1855 - 1935), an Austrian-born French painter of incredible skill is much more appreciated now than he was in his own lifetime. He studied first in Vienna and then in Paris, eventually becoming a citizen of France. He made numerous trips to the Middle East and spent some time in Cairo. He painted scenes of both ordinary and religious life and this image attests to his beautiful color palette and attention to detail.

Vittorio Matteo Corcos - Conversations in the Garden of Luxembourg

Vittorio Matteo Corcos - Conversations in the Garden of Luxembourg, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Vittorio Matteo Corcos (Leghorn, October 4, 1859 - Florence, 1933) was an Italian painter. In 1880 he moved to Paris where he signed a two-week contract with the Goupil Art Gallery. From time to time he went to the studio of Léon Bonnat, portrait painter to the Parisian upper middle class and he successfully became part of elite art circles. For his own paintings he chose fashionable themes: female portraits, scenes of modern life, sophisticated interiors painted in vibrant colours and fluid brushstrokes.

Eugene von Blaas - Venetian Beauties

Eugene von Blaas - Venetian Beauties, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Eugene von Blaas (1843 – 1932) was born in Italy, of Austrian parents. He received his initial training from his father, the history and fresco painter Karl von Blaas. He continued his studies at the Academy in Venice and Rome, later becoming professor at the Academy in Venice. Many of his best works reflect life in Venice, often pretty women surrounded by the decaying masonry of intimate courtyards.

Henri Lebasque - Egyptian Woman with a Dish of Fruits [c.1931]

Henri Lebasque - Egyptian Woman with a Dish of Fruits [c.1931] , a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 50 x 61 cm]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Thames Above Waterloo Bridge c.1830-35]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Thames Above Waterloo Bridge c.1830-35], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This unfinished painting takes us to the heart of the smoky commercial capital which, though a Londoner by birth and resident for most of his life, Turner usually preferred to depict from a distance. Here he looks along the Thames towards Waterloo Bridge, designed by John Rennie and opened in 1817, two years after the Battle of Waterloo. 

Turner’s view dates from the 1830s and he was perhaps planning a response in kind to John Constable’s Opening of Waterloo Bridge (Tate), which appeared at the Royal Academy in 1832.

[Oil on canvas, 905 x 1210 mm]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Thames Near Walton Bridges [1805]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - The Thames Near Walton Bridges [1805], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

While living for part of the time at Isleworth, Turner made many excursions along the river, drawing, painting and fishing – his favourite hobby. He kept a boat, and often stopped overnight at various landing-places. He also painted on board, as here on small wood panels and sometimes, more ambitiously, on canvas. 

Painting in oils in the open air, direct from the subject, was becoming popular in the early nineteenth century, in response to a growing feeling for naturalism. Turner’s oil sketches of the Thames painted around 1805 show him at the forefront of the trend.

[Oil on mahogany, 371 x 737 mm]

Charles Spencelayh - A Questionable Vintage

Charles Spencelayh - A Questionable Vintage, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Charles Spencelayh (Rochester, Kent, October 27, 1865 – June 25, 1958) was an English genre painter and portratist in the Academic style. Many of his subjects were of domestic scenes, painted with an almost photographic detail. Spencelayh was a favourite of Queen Mary, who was an avid collector of his work. In 1924 he painted a miniature of King George V for the Queen's dolls house.

Johannes Vermeer - A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal [c.1670-72]

Johannes Vermeer - A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal [c.1670-72], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The richly dressed lady playing a virginal stands in a wealthy Delft home with paintings on the wall, a marble-tiled floor, and a skirting of locally produced Delft blue and white tiles. The two paintings on the wall behind her cannot be identified with certainty, but the small landscape on the left is probably either by Jan Wijnants or Allart van Everdingen. The second painting, attributed to Caesar van Everdingen, Allart's brother, shows the motif of Cupid holding a card. This figure derives from a contemporary emblem. It may either refer to the idea of faithfulness to one lover or, in conjunction with the virginal, to the traditional association of music and love. As with most of Vermeer's work, the painting is undocumented. It is dated on stylistic grounds and on the evidence of the costume. 

[Oil on canvas, 51.7 x 45.2 cm]

Jacob van Ruisdael - The Mill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede [c.1670]

Jacob van Ruisdael - The Mill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede [c.1670], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Dark clouds are gathering above this river landscape. The sunlight occasionally penetrates the clouds, casting a dramatic light upon the mill towering above all else. The buildings in the background are the castle and St Maarten's Church of Wijk-bij-Duurstede. The river in the foreground is the river Lek. Jacob van Ruisdael was one of the most famous painters of wind and water mills in the seventeenth century. This painting depicts an utterly Dutch landscape: flat, lots of water, sky and mills.

There is some discussion about the state of the weather in this painting. The threatening clouds do not correspond with other parts of the painting. For instance, the mill's sails indicate there is little wind. The sails on the boat are also slack, as though there is no wind. Yet the dark bank of clouds suggests a strong wind and that it will soon pour down with rain. It is quite probable that this painting will never be fathomed. Certainly Ruisdael did not paint this picture on the spot, since this was not common practice at the time. He made the painting in his studio, perhaps only then adding the dramatic clouds to the sky.

Leonardo da Vinci - The Leonardo Cartoon [c.1499-1500]

Leonardo da Vinci - The Leonardo Cartoon [c.1499-1500], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This large drawing or cartoon is a full-size preparatory study for a painting. It has, however, never been used to transfer a design onto a panel. The outlines are neither pricked nor incised, and the cartoon must have been preserved in its own right as a finished drawing, although some areas are deliberately left inconclusive or in rough outline. The pretext for the drawing is likely to have been a commission for a painting given to Leonardo by King Louis XII of France. Leonardo started work on this painting in about 1508. It was unfinished at his death and is now in the Louvre, Paris.

[Black chalk and touches of white chalk on brownish paper, mounted on canvas, 141.5 x 104.6 cm]

Jan van der Hayden - An Architectural Fantasy [c.1665-70]

Dirck van Delen - An Architectural Fantasy [1634], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting, signed on one of the stones to the left of the tree, is one of the most varied of van der Heyden's architectural fantasies. The dating to the late 1660s is confirmed by the costume of the figures, which may have been painted by Adiaen van de Velde (1636 - 1672). 

The architectural details appear to be largely imaginary, though they may incorporate features from real buildings. The classical stone gateway with its decoration of Corinthian pilasters, which is highlighted by the cloud formation in the sky, left of centre, may be intended as a reminiscence of one of the 17th-century gates of Amsterdam, although it does not resemble any of them closely. It is contrasted with the Gothic house of brick in the foreground and the dying tree. A new growth of trees and foliage covers the curved town wall on the right.

[Oil on oak, 51.8 x 64.5 cm]

Carl Wilhelmson - In The Studio [1912]

Carl Wilhelmson - In The Studio [1912], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Carl Wilhelmson (Fiskbackskil, November 12, 1866 – Gothenburg, September 24, 1928) was a Swedish artist and professor.

[Oil on canvas, 118 x 128 cm]

Trophime Bigot - Judith Cutting Off the Head of Holofernes [c.1640]

Trophime Bigot - Judith Cutting Off the Head of Holofernes [c.1640], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

According to the Book of Judith in the Catholic Old Testament, the virtuous widow Judith saved her people when the military commanders failed to lift a siege by the Assyrians. She beguiled the enemy General Holofernes into getting drunk and cut off his head. The artist heightened the drama by contrasting Judith's serene determination with the amazement and horror exploding from the general's face. Portraying his head upside down emphasizes Holofernes' defeat and evokes the reversal of societal norms in a woman's victory over a strong man.

By the 1620s, Trophime Bigot (French, c.1579 - 1650, also known as Master of the Candlelight) was in Rome, where he studied the paintings of Caravaggio (1571-1610). The Italian master had introduced often brutal, naturalistic, close-up scenes lit by a single light source. In this powerful baroque composition, the candle's light concentrates the drama around the clear diagonal movement back from Holofernes's straining arm.

[Oil on panel, 125.7 x 196.8 cm]

Johann Liss - Judith in the Tent of Holofernes [c.1622]

Johann Liss - Judith in the Tent of Holofernes [c.1622], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject is from the apocryphal Book of Judith, the Old Testament heroine of the Jews in their struggle against oppression. She penetrated the camp of the Assyrian general Holofernes, pretending to offer assistance in the siege of the city of Bethulia. Alone with the intoxicated general, following a banquet to which she had been invited, she seized his sword and cut off his head. 

Liss' painting was probably executed in Rome in the mid- or early 1620s and it owes much to Caravaggio in the dramatic lighting that enhances the remarkably un-squeamish representation of the subject. The design itself may have been suggested by Venetian paintings showing the female nude from behind. The exceptional freedom of the handling, notably in the costume of Judith, serves to focus attention on her action and intensify the sense of agitation in the painting.

[Oil on canvas, 128.5 x 99 cm]

George Frederic Watts and Assistants - Hope [1886]

George Frederic Watts and Assistants - Hope [1886], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In the Bible (Hebrews, 6:19), hope is 'an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.' Here, Hope is blindfolded, seated on a globe and playing a lyre of which all but one of the strings are broken. Watts (London, 1817 - 1904) wanted to find an original approach to allegory on universal themes. But Hope's attempts to make music appear futile and several critics argued that the work might have been more appropriately titled Despair. Watts explained that 'Hope need not mean expectancy. It suggests here rather the music which can come from the remaining chord'.

[Oil on canvas, 1422 x 1118 mm]

Caspar David Friedrich - Monk By The Sea [c.1808]

Caspar David Freidrich - Monk By The Sea [c.1808], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Friedrich worked for two years on this, ultimately his most famous work. The composition is divided horizontally into land, sea, and sky with a clear simplicity that shocked his contemporaries. A monk stands, bareheaded, on the shore. Seagulls circle around him. The lonely figure faces the leaden blackness of the immeasurably vast sea. The grey band of cloud over the water surprisingly gives way to blue sky along the top edge of the picture. No artistic composition had ever been as uncompromising as this: the main space of the picture seems like an abyss of some kind; there are no boundaries, there is nothing to hold on to, just a sense of floating between night and day, between despair and hope. In 1810 Heinrich von Kleist put into words, as no other could, the magical fascination of this painting: “Nothing could be more sombre nor more disquieting than to be placed thus in the world: the one sign of life in the immensity of the kingdom of death, the lonely center of a lonely circle. With its two or three mysterious objects the picture seems somehow apocalyptic, like Young’s Night Thoughts, and since its monotony and boundlessness are only contained by the frame itself, contemplation of this picture gives one the sense that one’s eyelids have been cut away.”

[Oil on canvas, 110 x 171.5 cm]