This is an example of a set of works that can be used for the period of the British and French Avant-Garde (1848-1899).
The links associated with the objects listed below have been curated by Smarthistory, and include museum pages and other resources that we think are particularly helpful.
(SP) denotes specified painters
(SS) denotes specified sculptors
Painting of working life
Gustave Courbet, The Stonebreakers
Ford Madox Brown, Work
Painting of leisure
Edgar Degas, At the Races in the Countryside
- video about this work (Smarthistory)
- essay on the artist (The Met)
- object page (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
William Frith, The Derby Day
Religious painting
Paul Gauguin, Vision after the Sermon
- video about this work (Smarthistory)
- object page with essay and video (National Galleries Scotland)
- essay on the artist (The Met)
William Holman Hunt, The Light of the World (SP)
Mythological or literary works
Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus
- object page with essay (Musée d’Orsay)
- smaller version of this work (The Met)
- essay on the Salon and the French Royal Academy (The Met)
Auguste Rodin, Orpheus and Eurydice (SS)
William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the Pot of Basil (SP)
The female figure
Edouard Manet, Olympia
- video and essay about this work (Smarthistory)
- object page (Musée d’Orsay)
- essay on the artist (The Met)
Frederic Leighton, Bath of Psyche
Landscape painting
Claude Monet, Autumn Effect at Argenteuil
William Holman Hunt, Our English Coasts (SP)
- video and essay about this work (Smarthistory)
- object page with essay (Tate)
- scholarly article on this work (JSTOR — read for free)
Commemorative sculpture
Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais (SS)
Auguste Rodin, Monument to Balzac (SS)
Gilbert Scott, Albert Memorial
- object page (Kensington Gardens)
- essay on the artist (Victoria & Albert Museum)
- this work on Google Street view (Google)
Public architecture
Charles Garnier, The Paris Opera
- video and essay about this building (Smarthistory)
- virtual tour of this building (Palais Garnier)
- 360° photos of this building (Columbia University)
- 360° interactive of the interior (Google)
- 360° interactive of the exterior (Google)
Joseph Paxton, The Crystal Palace
- essay on this building (Victorian & Albert Museum)
- essays on this building (Crystal Palace Foundation)
- historic images of this building (Historic England)
Domestic architecture
Hector Guimard, Castel Beranger
- building information (Structurae)
- images and essay on this building (Mary Ann Sullivan)
- essay on this architect (Macowe Gallery)
- essay on Art Nouveau (The Met)
William Morris and Philip Webb, The Red House