Vincent van Gogh - Bank of the Oise at Auvers [1890]

Vincent van Gogh - Bank of the Oise at Auvers [1890], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 93.7 cm]

David Teniers the Younger - Backgammon Players [c.1640-45]

David Teniers the Younger - Backgammon Players [c.1640-45], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The older player throws the dice, while his opponent moves a chip. Two other figures watch the game. In the right background three men warm themselves by a fire. The reverse of the panel bears the brand of the coat of arms of the city of Antwerp.

[Oil on oak, 37.5 x 56.7 cm]

Paul Cézanne - The Avenue at the Jas de Bouffan [1874-75]

Paul Cézanne - The Avenue at the Jas de Bouffan [1874-75], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Jas de Bouffan was an estate on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence with a fine house dating from the seventeenth century. It belonged to Cézanne's family. Its avenue of chestnut trees provided the motif for a series of pictures by Cézanne, of which this is the earliest. Although difficult to date, it seems likely that it was painted after Cézanne's Impressionist phase. The construction of the picture, with its compressed space, heavy forms and slab-like diagonal foliage (made using a palette knife) is complex. It marks the first appearance of various elements that were to characterise many of his later, classically designed landscapes.

[Oil on canvas, 38.1 x 46 cm]

Meindert Hobbema - The Avenue at Middelharnis [1689]

Meindert Hobberma - The Avenue at Middelharnis [1689], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The painting shows the village and church of Middelharnis in the province of South Holland. The view is remarkably accurate and has hardly changed since the 17th century. Hobbema's design with the avenue of trees receding towards the centre of the picture is simple yet at the same time majestic. The trees are employed to mark the quick recession from foreground to background while the expanse of sky is emphasised by the upward-pointing trees. Unfortunately the paint of the sky was damaged by cleaning some time in the 19th century; the billowing cloud to the right is the best preserved section. 

Before 1660, Hobbema had been the pupil of Jacob van Ruisdael. However, by 1689 Hobbema was not painting for a living anymore. In 1668 he had obtained a well-paid job with the wine-importers' association of Amsterdam, and from then on seems to have painted only occasionally. The present painting is one of only a handful of pictures from this period.

[Oil on canvas, 103.5 x 141 cm]

Ferdinand du Puigaudeau - Alley of Carnations at Kervaudu

Ferdinand du Puigaudeau - Alley of Carnations at Kervaudu, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ferdinand du Puigaudeau (Nantes, April 4, 1864 – Croisic, September 19, 1930) was a French Post-Impressionist painter. This painting was sold by Sotheby's on November 8, 2007 for US $46,000.

[Oil on canvas, 46 x 65 cm]

Fausto Zonaro - After The Game

Fausto Zonaro - After The Game, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Fausto Zonaro (Masi, September 18, 1854 - San Remo, July 19, 1929) was an Italian painter. Zonaro painted portraits, landscapes and historical paintings. It is claimed that “Zonaro was one of those who made a major contribution to the development of western style art in Turkey.” He was a prolific artist who created hundreds of works, most of which are of the Ottoman Empire. An exhibition of his work in Florence in 1977 "received wide acclaim in the art world."

Louis Galloche - Diana and Actaeon

Louis Galloche - Diana and Actaeon, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Louis Galloche (Paris, August 24, 1670 - Paris, July 21, 1761) was a French painter. He was a pupil of Louis Boullogne. In 1695 he won the Prix de Rome and subsequently lived in Rome for two years. Because of a lull in royal patronage, Galloche was obliged, on his return to Paris, to accept commissions from churches and monasteries. In 1711 he was received as a member of the Académie Royale, Paris. He became professor at the Académie in 1720, rector in 1746 and chancellor in 1754. Between 1737 and 1751 he exhibited regularly at the Salons.

[Oil on canvas, 81 x 46.5 cm]

Titian - Diana and Actaeon [1556-59]

Titian - Diana and Actaeon [1556-59], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

While out hunting, Actaeon accidentally happens upon the secret bathing place of Diana, chaste goddess of the hunt. Titian explores the dramatic impact of his intrusion through a dynamic arrangement of figures, sparkling light, intense colour and animated brushwork. Actaeon's fate is foretold by the stag's skull on the plinth and the skins of Diana's former prey hanging above her head.

The National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery, London, formed a partnership in August 2008 to raise £50 million to acquire this painting. The acquisition was made possible with generous contributions from private and public donations, Scottish Government, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Monument Trust, The Art Fund charity and NGL and NGS funds.

[Oil on canvas, 184.5 x 202.2 cm]

Narcisse Diaz de la Peña - Children in a Garden [c.1840]

Narcisse Diaz de la Peña - Children in a Garden [c.1840], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Narcisse Virgilio Díaz de la Peña (August 25, 1807 – November 18, 1876) was a French painter. Diaz was born in Bordeaux to Spanish parents. Díaz exhibited many pictures at the Paris Salon, and was decorated in 1851. During the Franco-German War he went to Brussels. After 1871, his works became fashionable and rose gradually in the estimation of collectors, and he worked constantly and successfully. Díaz's finest pictures are his forest scenes and storms, and it is on these that his fame rests. In 1876, while visiting his son's grave, he caught a cold. He went to Menton in an attempt to recover his health, but on November 18 of that year he died.

[Oil on canvas, 24 x 32 cm]

Gerbrandt Jansz van den Eeckhout - Children in a Park [1671]

Gerbrandt Jansz van den Eeckhout - Children in a Park [1671], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Gerbrandt Jansz van den Eeckhout (Amsterdam, 1621 - Amsterdam, 1674) was a Dutch painter. He was successful in adopting the broader and bolder technique of Rembrandt's mature style, though he seldom approached the master in humanity or depth of feeling. In surprising contrast to his normal Rembrandtesque style are a number of highly finished genre subjects - guardroom scenes, backgammon players, and so on.

[Oil on canvas, 161 x 144.5 cm]

Nicholas Pocock - Burning of the Sewolod

Nicholas Pocock - Burning of the Sewolod, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

After an apprenticeship in the Bristol shipbuilding yards of Richard Champion, Nicholas Pocock (1741 - 1821) began a career at sea in the mid 1760s. He was a practiced and gifted amateur watercolourist, and when in command of the Lloyd, one of Champion’s ships, he began to keep detailed log-books illustrated with wash drawings, four of which are at the National Maritime Museum. In 1780 he gave up his maritime career, and sent his first oil painting to the Royal Academy. The picture arrived too late for exhibition, but Sir Joshua Reynolds wrote back, noting ‘It is much beyond what I expected from a first essay in oil colours’. Pocock exhibited annually at the Academy between 1782 and 1812 and enjoyed a steady supply of commissions for oil paintings and watercolours, mostly of a maritime subject matter. He produced a series of watercolours of Bristol in the 1780s, many of which were engraved, and also of Iceland in 1791. 

[Oil on canvas, 71.7 x 101.6 cm]

Caesar van Everdingen - Bacchus and Ariadne [1660]

Caesar van Everdingen - Bacchus and Ariadne [1660], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Caesar van Everdingen (c.1616 - 1678) depicts Bacchus in this painting as a beardless, naked, sensuous youth, who is ‘womanly or man-womanish’ as he is described in some legends, though his earliest images show him as a normal, clothed, mature man with a beard. Bacchus is usually accompanied by ‘wild’ female companions like nymphs (maenads) and ithyphallic, bearded satyrs, and some such nymphs, satyrs and a putto is depicted in this picture along with wine and other symbolism of reveling. Often he is attended by a bearded, drunken old man named Silenus, his teacher and foster father, who is either absent or shown as the satyr in the background.

Ferdinand Brütt - At The Station

Ferdinand Brütt - At The Station, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ferdinand Martin Cordt Brütt (Hamburg, July 13, 1849 – Bergen, November 6, 1936) was a German painter.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - At The Theatre (La Premiere Sortie) [c.1876-77]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - At The Theatre (La Premiere Sortie) [c.1876-77], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This picture focuses on the young girl who leans forward in her seat to gain a better view of the performance. V-rays show that Renoir originally intended to include two more figures in front of the girl. Modern city entertainments such as cabaret, the theatre and the circus were popular themes among the Impressionist painters. The subject of a theatre box had been treated earlier by Renoir in 'La Loge' (London, Courtauld Institute). This painting has been known by various titles. The art dealer Ambroise Vollard called the picture 'Au Théâtre' in his 1918 catalogue of Renoir's work, but it subsequently became known as 'La Première Sortie' (The First Outing).

[Oil on canvas, 65 x 49.5 cm]

Domenico Corvi - Allegory of Painting [1764]

Domenico Corvi - Allegory of Painting [1764], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This young woman with her palette and brushes is not seriously engaged in painting. Contemplating her reflection in a mirror held by a winged cupid, she is a personification of the self-conscious beauty that was then the goal of art. A mask attached to her head-dress with a golden chain symbolises the potentially misleading view of reality that art can convey even when appearing to imitate nature. Corvi's (Lazio, Italy, 1721 – Lazio, 1803) buoyant, cheerful forms are close to those of French rococo art of the period.

[Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 73.3 cm]

Laurent de la Hyre - Allegory of Arithmetic [1650]

Laurent de la Hyre - Allegory of Arithmetic [1650], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The importance of the intellect was often celebrated in representations of the Seven Liberal Arts: Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music. They could be personified as poised young women in a setting and clothing suggestive of ancient Greece, the homeland of Western abstract thought. On the book held by Arithmetic is the name of the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, while on the worksheet are the primary mathematical functions: addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

La Hyre (French, 1606 – 1656) produced at least two such series as decoration for the homes of the wealthy. He conveys this classical theme with the cool, rounded, carefully balanced forms of the new idealised style inspired by Raphael and Greco-Roman sculpture.

[Oil on canvas, 103.6 x 112 cm]

Arthur Hughes - April Love [1855-56]

Arthur Hughes - April Love [1855-56], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A young woman looks down at fallen rose petals as her suitor bends to kiss her hand. The petals symbolise the fragility of young love, the theme of this courtship scene. Arthur Hughes (1832 – 1915) heightened the painting’s emotional charge by using deep and vivid colours. He had married ‘his early and only love’, Tryphena Ford, in the winter before this painting was first exhibited.The scrupulous depiction of naturalistic detail and texture here shows great dexterity and was greatly admired by the critic John Ruskin. The painting was bought by the writer and design entrepreneur William Morris.

[Oil on canvas, 889 x 495 mm]

Childe Hassam - April Showers, Champs Elysees Paris [1888]

Childe Hassam - April Showers, Champs Elysees Paris [1888], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The greatest of the American Impressionists, Hassam (1859 - 1935) began his artistic career in 1876 as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines such as Scribner's, Century, and Harper's. In the early eighties, Hassam developed a style that reflected both academic realism and Barbizon School influences. By the mid eighties, Hassam was working with a carefully limited palette to produce evocative urban scenes, especially of gray, rainy days. In 1886, Hassam went to Paris for three years, where he entered the Académie Julien to refine his figure technique and, outside the Académie, absorbed the influence of Impressionism, enhancing his sense of colour and light. April Showers, with its loose brushwork and spontaneous texture, clearly shows Hassam's debt to European Impressionism while at the same time remains true to the artist's partiality for depicting inclement weather.

[Oil on canvas. 31.8 x 42.5 cm]

Gerrit Berckheyde - The Weigh House and the Crane on the Spaarne in Haarlem [c.1670]

Gerrit Berckheyde - The Weigh House and the Crane on the Spaarne in Haarlem [c.1670], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Gerrit Berckheyde was christened on June 6, 1638 in Haarlem. He studied under his elder brother, the painter Job Berckheyde and Frans Hals. Together with his brother, he worked in Heidelberg for a while for the Elector Palatine. In around 1660 he returned to Haarlem and in the summer of that year was admitted to the St Luke guild, the local society of artists. In 1698 he drowned in Haarlem's Brouwersvaart canal. After 1660, Berckheyde painted almost only townscapes, mainly of Haarlem, Amsterdam and The Hague. Despite the number of works he painted, and the frequent repetitions, he always produced paintings of exceptional quality. 

[Oil on panel, 32 x 46.50 cm]

Joachim Bueckelaer - The Well-Stocked Kitchen [1566]

Joachim Bueckelaer - The Well-Stocked Kitchen [1566], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Joachim Bueckelaer (c.1530 – 1573) was born in Antwerp and started by working for his uncle, Pieter Aertsen. In his uncle's work-place he learnt to paint market scenes and kitchen tableaux combined with biblical themes. In 1560 he established himself as an independent painter in his home town. Bueckelaer also painted the staffage in the work of other painters such as Anthonis Mor. Filling in the staffage entailed painting in the figures and other details. Bueckelaer was not paid very well during his lifetime. The biographer Karel van Mander reports that Bueckelaer's paintings did not fetch very much. After his death his works became worth at least twelve times as much. 

Here Joachim Bueckelaer provides a view of a well-stocked kitchen. He has painted the room with such suggestion that you could almost step inside. It contains profuse quantities of food. Various kinds of vegetable and fruit, a large piece of lamb, game and poultry: something for everyone's taste. Two kitchen maids are plucking chickens ready to be grilled on a skewer. The men in the kitchen are taking advantage of the drink. In the background, a group is gathering around a man dressed in grey - Christ, a guest in the house of Martha and Mary. 

[Oil on panel, 171 x 205 cm]

Peter Paul Rubens - Venus at a Mirror [1615]

Peter Paul Rubens - Venus at a Mirror [1615], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This painting shows the Roman goddess Venus with her traditionally blonde hair, but in the usual style of Rubens’ paintings showing her as a fat, rounded, but ideal figure. She is sitting with her back facing the viewer and her face only partially visible, but her face in all its glory can be viewed on the mirror held for her by her son, Cupid. The other notable human figure in the picture is that of a black servant or maid, painted in a style reminiscent of African black women slaves usually shown in harems by artists of Orientalism.

The mirror in this painting plays the role of a central character. There are many paintings that depict the subjects looking at mirrors and appreciating their beauty, as can be seen in other paintings of even Venus. While, the purpose of the mirror is to look at her own face, in this painting, the mirror is used to reflect the facial image of Venus to the viewer. As you can see, she is looking straight at you, and not at herself. Also, it is rather impossible for Cupid to hold the mirror for Venus at the angle and elevation so as to make such view possible. Logically, it is ridiculous, but very common in art, photography, and even in movies and we have become ‘psychologically’ used to it.

[Oil on canvas, 98 x 124 cm]

Ferdinand Bol - Venus and Adonis [c.1657]

Ferdinand Bol - Venus and Adonis [c.1657], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The artist Ferdinand Bol (1616 – 1680) grew up in Dordrecht. He learned to paint either there or in Utrecht under the artist Abraham Bloemaert. Later Bol worked for a period at the studio of Rembrandt in Amsterdam, before setting up as an independent artist in 1642. Bol mainly produced portraits and history paintings. At first his work resembled Rembrandt's, but after 1650 he developed a more colourful and elegant style. Bol received numerous commissions, including for the Amsterdam Town Hall and the Admiralty. After 1669 and his second marriage to Anna van Arckel, Bol, now a wealthy man, hardly painted anymore. His self portrait of the late 1660s is one of his last works.

[Oil on canvas, 168 x 230 cm]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, Homer's Odyssey [1829]

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, Homer's Odyssey [1829], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Ulysses is standing aloft on his ship deriding the Cyclops, whom he and his companions have just left blinded, and invoking the vengeance of Neptune. One of the flags is painted with the scene of the Trojan Horse. The horses of the Sun are rising above the horizon. Apparently the idea was in Turner's mind as early as about 1807, if this is the correct date of a sketchbook which contains a rough drawing of the subject. The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1829.

[Oil on canvas, 132.5 x 203 cm]

Louis Icart - Umbrellas

Louis Icart - Umbrellas, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Louis Icart (Toulouse, 1880 – 1950) was a French painter. His portrayal of women is usually sensuous, often erotic, yet always imbued an element of humour, which is as important as the implied or direct sexuality. The beautiful courtesans cavort on rich, thick pillows; their facial expressions projecting passion, dismay or surprise, for the women of Louis Icart are the women of France as we have imagined them to be Eve, Leda, Venus, Scheherazade and Joan of Arc, all wrapped up into an irresistible package.

Jan Molenaer - Two Boys and a Girl making Music [1629]

Jan Molenaer - Two Boys and a Girl making Music [1629], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject of children making music celebrates the carefree pleasures of youth. The boy on the left is playing a violin, and the one on the right a rommelpot (rumbling pot). The girl, who is wearing a soldier's gorget, beats an accompaniment with spoons on a helmet.

[Oil on canvas, 68.3 x 84.5 cm]

Luis Meléndez - Still Life with Oranges and Walnuts [1772]

Luis Meléndez - Still Life with Oranges and Walnuts [1772], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In addition to the oranges and walnuts, on the wooden shelf there are chestnuts, a melon, earthenware jugs, a small barrel and some circular and oblong boxes. The jugs probably contain wine, while the barrel possibly contains olives. The round boxes were normally used for cheese, while the rectangular ones were used for sweets, such as dulce de membrillo, a thick quince jelly eaten in slices. 

Luis Egidio Meléndez de Rivera Durazo y Santo Padre (1716-1780) was born in the Spanish dominion of Naples; his family moved to Spain soon after. His father, uncle, brother and two sisters were all painters. His father, Francisco, was instrumental in founding the Royal Academy in Madrid in 1744, and his son's self portrait of 1746 shows him as a promising student there. Following a dispute, both father and son were expelled from the Academy and turned to miniature painting in the 1750s. 

The series of about 100 still lifes for which Luis Meléndez is remembered dates from the last twenty years of his life. Often planned in pairs, they range from large compositions, which sometimes incorporate landscape settings as in Flemish and Neapolitan still lifes, to smaller and more intense paintings, usually of a vertical format, that are more characteristically Spanish.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 81.3 cm]

Guillaume Victor van der Hecht - Ruins of the Castle of Kenilworth [1845-51]

Guillaume Victor van der Hecht - Ruins of the Castle of Kenilworth [1845-51], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Guillaume Victor van der Hecht (1817 - 1891) was a Belgian painter.

[Oil on canvas, 72 x 96.5 cm]

Abraham Bloemaert - Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares [1624]

Abraham Bloemaert - Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares [1624], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

In this parable from the Gospel of Matthew, the devil, identified by his horns and tail, sows weeds (or tares) in the field where wheat has been planted, while the lazy peasants are sleeping. Christians considered sloth one of the Seven Deadly Sins to which mankind was subject as a result of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, to whom the two naked sleepers allude. The dovecote (a birdhouse to attract doves or pigeons that can be trapped for food without the bother of raising them) was associated with the morally lazy who take the easy way. The goat, known for its lust, alludes to self-indulgence, and the peacock, to pride.

Bloemaert (Dutch, 1566 – 1651) was gifted in depicting natural detail, but he never painted pure landscapes, preferring pictures with a lesson. He was one of the leading artists of Utrecht and trained many major artists of the next generation.

[Oil on canvas, 100.4 x 132.5 cm]

Francois Flameng - Napoleon Hunting in the Forest of Fontainebleau [1905]

Francois Flemeng - Napoleon Hunting in the Forest of Fontainebleau [1905], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

François Flameng (1856 - 1923) was a very successful French painter during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th. He was the son of a celebrated engraver and received a first-rate education in his craft. Flameng initially received renown for his history painting and portraiture, and became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He decorated such important civic buildings as the Sorbonne and the Opera Comique, and also produced advertising work work. Flameng was granted France's highest civilian honour, the Legion d'Honneur, and designed France's first bank notes.

[Oil on panel, 104 x 140 cm]

Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk) [1785]

Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk) [1785], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The Morning Walk by Thomas Gainsborough shows an elegant young couple strolling through a woodland landscape, an attentive dog at the lady's heel. William Hallett and Elizabeth Stephen were both aged 21 and due to be married in the summer of 1785, shortly after the painting was completed. Portraits of wealthy sitters posed in a natural setting and dressed in their finest (but not necessarily most practical) clothes were a popular status symbol. 

William is in a black, silk velvet frock-suit. His apparent carelessness is actually a studied pose. The undone jacket and with one hand tucked into it is a stance seen in many fashionable 18th-centry informal portraits (known as conversation pieces). Elizabeth is in a dress of ivory silk (perhaps her wedding dress) caught at the waist with a black silk band. A frilled muslin kerchief covers her breast, with a knot of grape-green ribbon under it.

The light, feathery brushstrokes used to describe the landscape are typical of Gainsborough's late style. William's hair and Elizabeth's gauzy shawl almost blend into the landscape they walk through.

[Oil on canvas, 236.2 x 179.1 cm]

Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs Andrews [c.1750]

Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs Andrews [c.1750], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This portrait is the masterpiece of Gainsborough's early years. It was painted after his return home from London to Suffolk in 1748, soon after the marriage of Robert Andrews of the Auberies and Frances Carter of Ballingdon House, near Sudbury, in November of that year. The landscape evokes Robert Andrews's estate, to which his marriage added property. He has a gun under his arm, while his wife sits on an elaborate Rococo-style wooden bench. The painting of Mrs Andrews's lap is unfinished. The space may have been reserved for a child for Mrs Andrews to hold.

The painting follows the fashionable convention of the conversation piece, a (usually) small-scale portrait showing two or more people, often out of doors. The emphasis on the landscape here allows Gainsborough to display his skills as a painter of convincingly changing weather and naturalistic scenery, still a novelty at this time.

[Oil on canvas, 69.8 x 119.4 cm]

Charles Sprague Pearce - Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt [1877]

Charles Sprague Pearce - Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt [1877], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Charles Sprague Pearce (October 13, 1851 - May 18, 1914), American artist, was born at Boston, Massachusetts. In 1873 Pearce became a pupil of Léon Bonnat in Paris, and after 1885 he lived in Paris and at Auvers-sur-Oise. He painted Egyptian and Algerian scenes, French peasants, and portraits, and also decorative work, notably for the Thomas Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress at Washington. He died in Paris.

[Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 130.8 cm]

Herbert Draper - The Lament for Icarus

Herbert Draper - The Lament for Icarus, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This picture shows the dead Icarus from Greek mythology. He is surrounded by lamenting sea-nymphs. His father, the craftsman Daedalus, made wings out of wax so that he and his son might escape from the island of Crete. But, overcome by pride, Icarus flies too near to the sun, the wax melts, and he plunges to his death. This is Herbert Draper's most famous picture. He belonged to the generation of British artists that was influenced by French Impressionism but Draper (1863 - 1920) devoted himself to the historical and literary themes of Victorian artists such as Edward Burne-Jones.

[Oil on canvas, 1829 x 1556 mm]

Antonio de Puga - Knife Grinder [1635]

Antonio de Puga - Knife Grinder [1635], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Antonio de Puga (Orense, 1602 – 1648) was a Spanish born Baroque painter. Shortly before his death, and subsequent auction of assets, it became clear that he had collected a significant number of works by other artists, and a respectable library of just over a hundred volumes, which along with the usual devotional works are poems and plays that seem to indicate a high cultural level.

[Oil on canvas, 120 x 160 cm]

Michael Martin Drolling - Kitchen Interior [1815]

Michael Martin Drolling - Kitchen Interior [1815], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Michael Martin Drolling (Paris, March 7, 1789 – Paris, January 9, 1851) was a neoclassic French painter of history and portraiture.

Claude Monet - Jean Monet on His Hobby Horse [1872]

Claude Monet - Jean Monet on His Hobby Horse [1872], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Claude Monet and Camille's first son, Jean (1867-1913), was born in 1867. The little boy appeared in several of Monet's paintings during the family's early residence in Argenteuil. In a fond glimpse of Jean's childhood rather than a formal portrait, Monet has depicted his son riding a favourite toy, playing in the privacy of the family's garden. 

[Oil on canvas, 60.6 x 74.3 cm]

Henry Mosler - Just Moved [1870]

Henry Mosler - Just Moved [1870], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Mosler's canvas represents home as a haven in which the perfect American family still presides, even in humble surroundings amid the jumble of unpacking after a move. The tender, nurturing mother and the "breadwinner" father providing sustenance signify the pillars of a family that is stable and happy despite its modest means. As American cities were being challenged by increasing immigration, crime, and poverty, Mosler (American, 1841 – 1920) reassured art viewers of the power of the family unit and the potential for a more diverse national character once the Union was solidified. Just Moved displays the rich palette, high degree of finish, and lucid narrative that characterise painting at the Düsseldorf Academy, where Mosler studied from 1863 to 1866.

[Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.7 cm]

Charles Pierron - Interior of a Mosque in Cairo [1840s]

Charles Pierron - Interior of a Mosque in Cairo [1840s], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Charles Pierron (1893 – 1958) was a French artist.

[Watercolour, gouache, partially lacquered, 45.4 x 37.4 cm]

Emanuel Max Ainmiller - Interior of a Church [1859]

Emanuel Max Ainmiller - Interior of a Church [1859], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Emanuel Max Ainmiller (February 4, 1807 - December 9, 1870) was a German artist and glass painter. Under the tutorage of Freidrich von Gartner, director of the royal Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory, Ainmiller studied glass painting, both as a mechanical process and as an art, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1828 he was appointed director of the newly-founded royal painted-glass manufactory at Munich. The method which he gradually perfected there was a development of the enamel process adopted in the Renaissance, and consisted in actually painting the design upon the glass, which was subjected, as each colour was laid on, to carefully adjusted heating.

[Oil on canvas, 68 x 54 cm]

Paul Signac - Harbour in Marseilles [1907]

Paul Signac - Harbour in Marseilles [1907], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The pointillist technique used in this painting consists of small dotted applications of paint, and is sometimes also described as divisionism. Signac was one of a number of artists and theorists who created a scientific method of separating complex tones into pure colours, applied using identical brushstrokes arranged in a decorative mosaic, which are then combined by the eye when seen from the necessary distance. This landscape was probably composed from drawings and watercolours taken from nature, which was the artist's usual method of work.

[Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm]

Campbell Mellon - Hopton Beach

Campbell Mellon - Hopton Beach, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Campbell Mellon (1876 – 1955) was a British painter.

Gerard ter Borch II - Gallant Conversation [c.1654]

Gerard ter Borch II - Gallant Conversation [c.1654], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

A young woman in a silver-grey dress is standing with her back to us, her head tilted slightly to one side as though cautiously looking at the man sitting on the chair. The man is trying to catch her eye; the older woman appears to want to keep out of the way: she is sipping her wine while staring into her glass. This is a strange situation; what exactly is going on?

For a long time this painting was called 'Paternal Admonition'. The man was seen as a father lecturing his daughter. However, if you look closely, this cannot be right. The man is far too young to be the girl's father. And why is the large bed so obvious? In the Gemalde Gallery in Berlin there is a later, slightly smaller version of this painting. When the picture was cleaned it became clear that the man is holding a coin between his fingers. This explains a lot: the girl is apparently a prostitute and the man is a client requiring her services. 

Even without the coin it would have been clear to viewers in Gerard ter Borch’s day that this picture is a brothel scene. Other things in the painting also refer to this. On the right, behind the man's chair wanders a somewhat grubby dog. The dog and the candle on the table on the left were often used as symbols of sensuality, particularly if a bed was also depicted. This combination of a bed, dog and candle can also be found in other 'loose women' paintings, such as 'Woman at Her Toilet' by Jan Steen.

[Oil on canvas, 71 x 73 cm]

Johannes Leonhard - Gala on the Pleasure Boat

Johannes Leonhard - Gala on the Pleasure Boat, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Johannes Leonhard (1858 – 1913) was a German artist.

Henri Lebasque - Female Nude by the Window

Female Nude by the Window - Henri Lebasque, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 61 x 46.2 cm]

Henri Lebasque - Female Nude Seated

Female Nude Seated - Henri Lebasque, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

[Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 92.5 cm]

Emile Bernard - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [1885]

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Emile Bernard [1885], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

This is a portrait of the painter Emile Bernard. At the time it was done Bernard was still only a teenager, and was a student with Toulouse-Lautrec (1864 – 1901) and Van Gogh at the Atelier Cormon in Paris. Like Gauguin, another of his friends, Bernard went on to develop a radical style of painting in his Breton scenes, for which he is now best known. Bernard later recalled that it took Toulouse-Lautrec thirty-three sittings to complete this picture, ten of which were devoted to working on the background.

[Oil on canvas, 540 x 445 mm]

Guercino - Elijah Fed By Ravens [1620]

Guercino - Elijah Fed By Ravens [1620], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The inscription on the stone slab refers to a passage in the the Old Testament which describes how after prophesying a drought Elijah was instructed to hide himself by the brook of Cherith, from which he could drink and where ravens would bring him bread and meat. Guercino painted the picture in Ferrara for his patron, Cardinal Jacopo Serra, Papal Legate of Ferrara.

During this period Guercino typically gave massiveness to his subjects by making them occupy a high proportion of the picture space. Elijah is over life-size and dominates the picture. The light cuts across the massive forms, breaking them up into patches of light and dark.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri was called Guercino in reference to his pronounced squint. He was born at Cento, near Bologna. He was largely self-taught but influenced by the Carracci and particularly by Ludovico Carracci. An early commission in Bologna was the altarpiece of the 'Investiture of Saint William' (1620, Bologna, Pinacoteca). In 1621 Guercino was invited to Rome to work for Pope Gregory XV. His ceiling fresco, Aurora, was painted for the Pope's nephew (Rome, Villa Ludovisi). 

[Oil on canvas, 195 x 156.5 cm]

Gerard de Lairesse - Diana [1677]

Gerard de Lairesse - Diana [1677], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Gerard de Lairesse (Liège, 1640 or 1641 – Amsterdam, 1711), also Gérard de Lairesse, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. In the second half of the 17th Century, the pious austerity and embarrassment of riches of the Dutch in Rembrandt's age had given way to unbridled opulence, even decadence, and de Lairesse's classical French style fitted this age perfectly. It made him one of, if not the most popular painter in Amsterdam. He was frequently hired to adorn the interiors of government buildings and homes of wealthy Amsterdam businessmen with lavish trompe l'oeil ceiling and wall paintings.

[Oil on canvas, 177 x 118.5 cm]

Adam Styka - Desert Seduction

Adam Styka - Desert Seduction, a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Adam Styka was born in Poland in 1890. He completed his formal education at the French Academy of Fine Arts, Academie de Beau Arts, and painted closely under the tutelage of his father, Jan Styka. His exquisite ability of captivating and conveying to his paintings faithfully the vibrating strong colours full of contrast of the hot Sahara Desert of Northern Africa, colours harmoniously blended together, made him a master without compare and earned him the appellation, The Master of Sunlight. He died on September 23, 1959 and was buried in the Alley of the Merit in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo - Christ Healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda [1667-70]

Bartolome Esteban Murillo - Christ Healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda [1667-70], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem was periodically visited by an angel, and whoever first stepped into the water after this visit would be cured of illness. Christ visited the pool and a sick man complained to him that he was never able to get to the pool first. When Christ said to him, 'Rise, take up thy bed, and walk', the man was miraculously cured. The painting was made for the church belonging to the hospital of the Caridad (Charity) in Seville. The Caridad was a charitable brotherhood dedicated to helping the poor and sick of the city. Murillo was himself a member of the brotherhood.

Murillo painted six large pictures for the church representing six of the seven acts of charity (the seventh is represented by a sculpture which remains in place on the high altar). Two of the paintings are still in the church, while the other four, including this one, are now in various museums. This picture represents the act of visiting the sick.

[Oil on canvas, 237 x 261 cm]