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Europe 1300-1800

  • Browse this content
  • Beginner’s guide to the Early Modern period
    • Classic, classical, and classicism explained
    • Printmaking in Europe, c. 1400−1800
  • A beginner’s guide to the Renaissance
    • Browse this topic
    • Expanding the Renaissance: a Smarthistory initiative
    • Tiny timeline: global Europe
    • The Medieval and Renaissance Altarpiece
    • Patrons and patronage
      • Why commission artwork during the renaissance?
      • Types of renaissance patronage
    • Artists and workshops
      • The Italian renaissance court artist
      • The status of the artist in renaissance Italy
      • Female artists in the renaissance
      • The role of the workshop in Italian renaissance art 
    • Images of African Kingship, Real and Imagined
    • A primer for Italian renaissance art
    • Humanism in renaissance Italy
    • Humanism in Italian renaissance art
    • Introduction to gender in renaissance Italy
    • An introduction to the renaissance nude
      • Sex, Power, and Violence in the Renaissance Nude
      • Confronting power and violence in the renaissance nude
    • Materials and Techniques
      • Gold-ground panel painting
      • Quarrying and carving marble
      • Carving marble with traditional tools
      • Renaissance Watercolours: materials and techniques
  • Italy and Spain in the 14th century:
    Late Gothic
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    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • Introduction to Late Gothic art
      • Distorting the Madonna in Medieval art
      • The Black Death
      • The conservator’s eye: Taddeo Gaddi, Saint Julian
      • Remaking a fourteenth-century triptych
    • Florence
      • Browse this content
      • A beginner’s guide
        • Florence in the Late Gothic period, an introduction
        • Dante’s Divine Comedy in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance art
      • Cimabue
        • Virgin and Child Enthroned, and Prophets (Santa Trinità Maestà)
        • Santa Trinita Madonna and Child Enthroned
        • Cimabue and Giotto compared
      • Giotto
        • The Ognissanti Madonna and Child Enthroned
        • St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata
        • Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel
        • The Arena Chapel (and Giotto’s frescos) in virtual reality
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 1 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 2 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 3 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 4 of 4)
        • The Entombment of Mary
      • A rare embroidery made for an altar at Santa Maria Novella
      • Laudario of Sant’Agnese
      • Andrea Pisano, Reliefs for the Florence Campanile
      • The Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) in Florence
    • Siena
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      • Siena in the Late Gothic, an introduction
      • Duccio
        • Maestà
        • Heaven on earth— The Rucellai Madonna
        • The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea
      • Ambrogio Lorenzetti
        • Palazzo Pubblico frescos: Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government
        • Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
      • Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin
      • Simone Martini
        • Annunciation
        • Maestà
        • Saint Louis of Toulouse
    • Pisa, Pistoia and Rome
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      • Nicola Pisano, Pulpit, Pisa Baptistery, and Giovanni Pisano, Slaughter of the Innocents, Pulpit, Sant’Andrea church, Pistoia (Italy)
      • Giovanni Pisano, Pisa Pulpit
      • Pietro Cavallini, The Last Judgment
    • Spain
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      • Joshua ibn Gaon, a decorated Hebrew Bible (MS. Kennicott 2)
      • Ferrer Bassa and the murals of Pedralbes
      • The Prato Haggadah
      • Hebrew Bible
      • Elisha ben Abraham Cresques and the Farhi Bible
      • Catalan Atlas
  • Italy in the 15th century:
    Early Renaissance
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    • A beginner’s guide
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      • How to recognize Italian Renaissance art
      • Illustrating a Fifteenth-Century Italian Altarpiece
      • The study of anatomy
      • Contrapposto explained
      • Alberti’s revolution in painting
      • Linear perspective
        • Linear Perspective: Brunelleschi’s Experiment
        • How one-point linear perspective works
        • Early applications of linear perspective
    • Central Italy
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      • Florence in the Early Renaissance
      • Painting
        • Gentile da Fabriano
          • Adoration of the Magi
          • Adoration of the Magi (reframed)
        • Masaccio
          • Virgin and Child Enthroned
          • The Holy Trinity
          • Tribute Money and Expulsion, Brancacci Chapel
          • Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden in the Brancacci Chapel
        • Fra Angelico
          • The Annunciation and Life of the Virgin (c. 1426)
          • The Annunciation (c. 1438-47)
        • Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano
        • Fra Filippo Lippi
          • Madonna and Child with Two Angels
          • Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement
          • Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration
        • Benozzo Gozzoli, The Medici Palace Chapel frescoes
        • Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, an early image of enslaved people in renaissance Florence
        • Domenico Veneziano, Saint Lucy Altarpiece
        • Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of Ten Nudes or (Battle of Nude Men)
        • Ghirlandaio, Life of the Virgin
        • Cassone with the Conquest of Trebizond
        • Sandro Botticelli
          • La Primavera (Spring)
          • The Birth of Venus
          • Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici
          • Fashion and a Portrait of a Young Woman
          • Dissecting Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi
          • Mariko Mori on Botticelli’s The Annunciation
        • Perugino
          • Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter
          • Perugino, Decemviri Altarpiece
          • Perugino & Napoleon’s appropriation of Italian cultural treasures
        • Piero della Francesca
          • The Baptism of Christ
          • Flagellation of Christ
          • Resurrection
          • Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino
        • Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell
      • Sculpture and architecture
        • Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac
        • Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, East Doors of the Florence Baptistry
        • Filippo Brunelleschi
          • Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo
          • Dome of the Cathedral of Florence
          • Pazzi Chapel
          • Santo Spirito
        • Orsanmichele and Donatello’s Saint Mark, Florence
        • Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints
        • Donatello
          • St. Mark
          • Saint George
          • Feast of Herod
          • Madonna of the Clouds
          • David
          • Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata
          • Mary Magdalene
        • Andrea della Robbia’s bambini at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
        • Leon Battista Alberti
          • Palazzo Rucellai
          • Alberti, Façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence
          • Sant’Andrea, Mantua
        • Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici
    • Northern Italy: Venice, Ferrara, and the Marches
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      • A beginner’s guide
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        • Venetian art, an introduction
        • Oil paint in Venice
        • Devotional confraternities (scuole) in Renaissance Venice
        • Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius): inventor of the modern book
        • Venetian glass, an introduction
        • Saving Venice
      • Venetian architecture
        • Ca’ d’Oro
        • Palazzo Ducale
      • Carlo Crivelli
        • Do you speak Renaissance? Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child
        • The Annunciation with Saint Emidius
      • Gentile Bellini, Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II
      • Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini, Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria
      • Giovanni Bellini
        • St. Francis in the Desert (or St. Francis in Ecstasy)
        • Brera Pietà
        • San Giobbe Altarpiece
        • San Zaccaria Altarpiece
        • Giovanni Bellini and Titian,The Feast of the Gods
      • Vittore Carpaccio, Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Rialto Bridge, and Black gondoliers
      • Andrea Mantegna
        • St. James Led to his Execution
        • San Zeno Altarpiece
        • Saint Sebastian
        • Dormition (or Death) of the Virgin
        • Camera Picta (Camera degli Sposi)
        • Dead Christ
      • Pisanello, Leonello d’Este
      • Sala dei Mesi (Hall of the Months) at Palazzo Schifanoia
      • Cosmè Tura, Roverella Altarpiece
      • Guido Mazzoni
        • Mazzoni and Renaissance Emotions
        • Lamentation in Ferrara
        • Head of a Man
      • Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
  • Italy in the 16th century:
    High Renaissance and Mannerism
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    • A beginner’s guide
      • Toward the High Renaissance, an introduction
      • The Sack of Rome in 1527
      • Mannerism, an introduction
      • Renaissance woman: Isabella d’Este
      • The Medici collect the Americas
      • Medici porcelain, a failed experiment
      • Preparatory drawing during the Italian renaissance, an introduction
      • Galileo Galilei
      • Galileo and the science of nature
    • Central and Northern Italy
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      • Nicola da Urbino, a dinner service for a duchess
      • Verrocchio, David with the Head of Goliath
      • Leonardo da Vinci
        • About Leonardo
        • Leonardo’s Letter to the Duke of Milan
        • Leonardo: Anatomist
        • Leonardo and his drawings
        • Adoration of the Magi
        • The Virgin of the Rocks
        • The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist (Burlington House Cartoon)
        • Last Supper
        • Mona Lisa
        • Mona Lisa (from HENI Talks)
      • Michelangelo
        • Tiny timelines: Michelangelo in context
        • About Michelangelo
        • Who was Michelangelo?
        • Pietà
        • David
        • The many meanings of Michelangelo’s David
        • The Tomb of Pope Julius II
          • Unfinished business—Michelangelo and the Pope
          • Slaves
          • Moses
        • Taddei Tondo
        • The Sistine Chapel & Michelangelo
          • Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
          • Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso)
          • Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel
        • Medici Chapel (New Sacristy)
        • Laurentian Library
        • Replicating Michelangelo
      • Raphael
        • Raphael, an introduction
        • Marriage of the Virgin
        • Madonna of the Goldfinch
        • La belle jardinière (Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist)
        • School of Athens
        • The Alba Madonna
        • Portrait of Pope Julius II
        • Galatea
        • Pope Leo X
      • Donato Bramante
        • Tempietto, Rome
        • Saint Peter’s Basilica
      • Jacopo Pontormo, Entombment (or Deposition from the Cross)
      • Parmigianino
        • Madonna of the Long Neck
        • Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
      • Rosso Fiorentino, The Dead Christ with Angels
      • Benvenuto Cellini
        • Salt Cellar
        • Perseus with the Head of Medusa
      • Sofonisba Anguissola
        • Self-Portraits
        • Infanta Catalina Micaela with a Marmoset
      • Bronzino
        • An Allegory with Venus and Cupid
        • Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo with her son Giovanni
        • A chapel for Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence 
      • Giambologna, Abduction of a Sabine Woman
    • Venice
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      • Beginner’s guide
        • Greek painters in renaissance Venice
      • Synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto
      • Giorgione
        • The Tempest
        • Three Philosophers
        • The Adoration of the Shepherds
      • Titian
        • Pastoral Concert
        • Noli me Tangere
        • Assumption of the Virgin
        • Madonna of the Pesaro Family
        • Bacchus and Ariadne
        • Titian, Isabella d’Este (Isabella in Black)
        • Two portraits of Pietro Aretino
        • Venus of Urbino
        • Christ Crowned with Thorns
        • Diana and Actaeon
        • Titian and Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Pietà
      • Correggio
        • Jupiter and Io
        • Assumption of the Virgin
      • Paolo Veronese
        • The Family of Darius before Alexander
        •  The Dream of Saint Helena
        • Feast in the House of Levi
        • Transcript of the trial of Veronese
      • Jacopo Tintoretto
        • The Miracle of the Slave
        • The Finding of the Body of Saint Mark
        • The Origin of the Milky Way
        • Last Supper
      • Andrea Palladio
        • La Rotonda
        • Teatro Olimpico
  • Northern Europe in the 15th century:
    Northern Renaissance
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    • A beginner’s guide
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      • The Medieval and Renaissance Altarpiece
      • An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the fifteenth century
      • Introduction to Fifteenth-century Flanders
      • Introduction to Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century
      • Northern Renaissance art under Burgundian rule
      • The role of the workshop in late medieval and early modern northern Europe
      • Biblical Storytelling: Illustrating a Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Altarpiece
      • The Norfolk Triptych and how it was made
    • Burgundian and adjacent territories
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      • Fit for a duke: Broederlam’s Crucifixion Altarpiece
      • Claus Sluter and Claus de Werve
        • The Well of Moses
        • Mourners
      • Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg
        • Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
        • The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
      • Campin and his workshop
        • Robert Campin, Christ and the Virgin
        • Workshop of Robert Campin, Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece)
      • Jan van Eyck
        • The Ghent Altarpiece
        • Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban (Self-Portrait?)
        • The Madonna in the Church
        • The Arnolfini Portrait
        • The question of pregnancy in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait
      • Petrus Christus
        • A Goldsmith in his Shop
        • Portrait of a Young Woman
      • Rogier van der Weyden
        • Deposition
        • Crucifixion Triptych
        • The Last Judgment
        • The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning
        • Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin
      • Hugo van der Goes
        • Hugo van der Goes, Portinari Altarpiece
        • Hugo van der Goes, The Adoration of the Kings (Monforte Altar)
      • Stefan Lochner, Madonna of the Rose Bower
      • Hans Memling, Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove
      • The Holy Thorn Reliquary of Jean, duc de Berry
    • England, France, and Tyrol
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      • England
        • The Harrowing of Hell
      • France
        • Portraits of Christine de Pizan in The Queen’s Manuscript
        • Christine de Pizan and a City of Ladies
        • Enguerrand Quarton(?), Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
        • Martin Schongauer, Madonna of the Rose Bower
        • The Unicorn Tapestries
      • Tyrol
        • Michael Pacher, St. Wolfgang Altarpiece
    • Baltic region
      • Hermen Rode, Saints Nicholas and Victor Altarpiece
      • St. George and the Dragon, Storkyrkan Stockholm
  • Northern Europe in the 16th century:
    Renaissance and Mannerism
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    • An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the sixteenth century
    • Inventing “America” for Europe: Theodore de Bry
    • Theodor de Bry, “Their sitting at meate”
    • Johannes Stradanus and Theodoor Galle, “The Discovery of America”
    • Netherlands
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      • Hieronymus Bosch
        • The Garden of Earthly Delights
        • Last Judgment Triptych
      • Gerard David, The Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor
      • Jan Gossaert, Saint Luke Painting the Madonna
      • Pieter Bruegel the Elder
        • The Dutch Proverbs
        • The Tower of Babel
        • Hunters in the Snow (Winter)
        • Peasant Wedding
      • Pieter Aertsen, Meat Stall
      • Bernard van Orley and Pieter de Pannemaker, The Last Supper
      • Boxwood pendant miniature in wood and feathers
    • Germany and England
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      • Albrecht Dürer
        • Who was Albrecht Dürer?
        • The Triumphal Arch
        • Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto); Six Studies of Pillows (verso)
        • Self-Portrait (1498)
        • Self-portrait (1500)
        • The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
        • The Large Piece of Turf
        • Adam and Eve
        • Melencolia I
        • Decoding art: Dürer’s Melencolia I
        • What is Melencolia?
        • The Four Apostles
        • Dürer’s woodcuts and engravings
      • Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece
      • Lucas Cranach the Elder
        • Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, Saint Maurice
        • Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
        • Adam and Eve
        • Cupid complaining to Venus
        • Judith with the Head of Holofernes
      • Hans Holbein the Younger
        • About Hans Holbein the Younger
        •  The Ambassadors
        • The Merchant Georg Gisze
        • Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan
      • Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Issus
      • Gerhard Emmoser, Celestial globe with clockwork
      • Portraits of Elizabeth I: Fashioning the Virgin Queen
      • Hunters in a Landscape tapestry
      • The conservator’s eye: a stained glass Adoration of the Magi
      • Conservation: portrait miniatures
      • Conserving the Wolsey Angels
    • France
      • The Gallery of Francis I at Fontainebleau (and French Mannerism)
      • Follower of Bernard Palissy, rustic platter
  • Reformation & Counter-Reformation
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    • The Protestant Reformation
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 1 of 4): Setting the stage
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 2 of 4): Martin Luther
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 3 of 4): Varieties of Protestantism
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 4 of 4): The Counter-Reformation
    • The Council of Trent and the call to reform art
    • Henry VIII and the Reformation
    • Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
    • Iconoclasm in the Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century
  • Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries:
    Renaissance
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    • Beginner’s guide
      • Renaissance in Spain, an introduction
      • The Rise and Fall of the Avis Dynasty in Portugal, an introduction
      • Spoons from West Africa in Renaissance Lisbon
    • 15th century
      • Fifteenth-century Spanish painting, an introduction
      • The Master of Belmonte, St. Michael Defeats the Devil
      • The Morata Master, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin
      • The Sopetrán Lamentation in wood
      • Bartolomé Bermejo, Piedad with Canon Lluís Desplà
      • Gil de Siloé
        • Saint James the Greater
        • Tomb of Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal
        • Façade of San Gregorio, Valladolid
      • Treasure from Spain, lusterware as luxury
      • Royal monastery of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
    • 16th century
      • Juan de Flandes
        • A miraculous appearance for a queen: Christ Appearing to His Mother
        • Marriage at Cana
      • The Cantino Planisphere
      • Alonso Berruguete
        • Apostle or Saint, bringing the figure to life
        • Abraham and Isaac
      • Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina, Head of Christ
      • The Tower of Belém
      • Belém Monstrance
      • Gold S. Vincente of João III
      • Alejo Fernández, The Virgin of the Navigators
      • University of Alcalá de Henares
      • Sacred geometry in a mudéjar-style ceiling
      • El Escorial
      • El Greco
        • Burial of the Count Orgaz
        • View of Toledo
        • Adoration of the Shepherds
  • 17th century:
    Baroque
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    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • Baroque art, an introduction
      • How to recognize Baroque art
      • Introduction to the Global Baroque
      • What is genre painting?
      • Francis Bacon and the Scientific Revolution
    • Italy
      • Restoring ancient sculpture in Baroque Rome
      • Gian Lorenzo Bernini
        • Pluto and Proserpina (or The Rape of Proserpina)
        • David
        • Apollo and Daphne
        • Baldacchino, Saint Peter’s
        • Bust of Medusa
        • Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
        • Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter)
        • St. Peter’s Square
        • Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Rome
      • Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome
      • Annibale Carracci
        • Christ Appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way
        • Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
      • Caravaggio
        • Narcissus at the Source
        • Calling of St. Matthew
        • The Conversion of St. Paul (or The Conversion of Saul)
        • Crucifixion of St. Peter
        • The Supper at Emmaus
        • Deposition (or Entombment)
        • Death of the Virgin
        • The Flagellation of Christ
        • Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-century Europe
      • Guido Reni, Aurora
      • Artemisia Gentileschi
        • Judith Slaying Holofernes
        • Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
        • Conversion of the Magdalene
      • Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding her Thigh
      • Guercino, St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin
      • Il Gesù, Rome
      • Andrea Pozzo
        • Glorification of Saint Ignatius
        • St. Ignatius Chapel, Il Gesù, Rome
      • The altar tabernacle, Pauline Chapel, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
      • Pierre Le Gros the Younger, Stanislas Kostka on His Deathbed
    • Spain and Portugal
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      • A Still Life of Global Dimensions: Antonio de Pereda’s Still Life with Ebony Chest
      • Juan Sanchez de Cotán, Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber
      • Diego Velázquez
        • The Waterseller of Seville
        • Los Borrachos (The Drunks), also known as The Triumph of Bacchus
        • Vulcan’s Forge
        • The Surrender of Breda
        • Juan de Pareja
        • Las Meninas
      • Francisco de Zurbarán, The Martyrdom of Saint Serapion
      • Jusepe de Ribera, The Martyrdom of Saint Philip
      • Juan Martínez Montañés and Francisco Pacheco, Christ of Clemency
      • Pedro de Mena, Ecce Homo and Mater Dolorosa
      • Juan Martínez Montañés, St. John the Baptist
      • The Abduction of Helen Tapestry
      • Juan de Pareja, The Calling of Saint Matthew
      • Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables
      • Josefa de Óbidos, Christ Child as Salvator Mundi
      • Jerónimo de Balbás, Altar of the Kings (Altar de los Reyes)
    • Flanders
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      • Peter Paul Rubens
        • Mulay Ahmad
        • Elevation of the Cross
        • The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus
        • The Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de’ Medici
        • Arrival (or Disembarkation) of Marie de Medici at Marseilles
        • The Apotheosis of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency of Marie de’ Médici
        • Venus, Mars and Cupid
        • The Consequences of War
        • Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower
      • Anthony van Dyck
        • Charles I at the Hunt
        • Samson and Delilah
    • Dutch Republic
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      • Model of the Dutch East India Company ship “Valkenisse”
      • The Dutch art market in the 17th century
      • Symbolism and meaning in Dutch still life painting
      • Why make a self-portrait?
      • Van Mander rewrites art history
      • Porcelain, gold, and the Dutch East India Company
      • Fashioning luxury from a coconut cup
      • Osias Beert, Still Life with Various Vessels on a Table
      • Anthony van Dyck, Self-Portrait as Icarus with Daedalus
      • Frans Hals
        • Singing Boy with Flute
        • Malle Babbe
        • The Women Regents
      • Rembrandt
        • The Artist in His Studio
        • The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp
        • The Night Watch
        • Self-Portrait with Saskia
        • Girl at a Window
        • Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses
        • Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
        • Bathsheba at Her Bath
        • Abraham Francen
        • Self-Portrait (1659)
        • Self-Portrait with Two Circles
        • The Jewish Bride
        • Christ Preaching (Hundred Guilder Print)
      • Judith Leyster
        • The Proposition
        • Self-Portrait
      • Early Dutch Torah Finials
      • Michaelina Wautier, The Five Senses
      • Willem Kalf, Still Life with a Silver Ewer
      • Gerrit Dou, A Woman Playing a Clavichord
      • Johannes Vermeer
        • The Glass of Wine
        • Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
        • Woman Holding a Balance
        • Girl with a Pearl Earring
        • The Art of Painting
      • Saenredam, Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem
      • Jan Steen, Feast of St. Nicholas
      • Jacob van Ruisdael
        • View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds
        • The Jewish Cemetery
      • Andries Beeckman, The Castle of Batavia and Dutch colonialism
      • Frans Post, Landscape with Ruins in Olinda
      • Rachel Ruysch
        • Fruit and Insects
        • Flower Still-Life
      • Jan van Huysum, Vase with Flowers
      • Conserving Jacob van Walscapelle’s Flowers in a Glass Vase
      • Huis ten Bosch (House in the Woods)
      • The Great Atlas, Dutch edition
      • The Town Hall of Amsterdam
      • Asia in Holland, 17th century Delftware
      • A Dutch doll house
    • France and England
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      • France
        • Nicolas Poussin
          • Et in Arcadia Ego
          • Landscape with Saint John on Patmos
        • Antoine or Louis Le Nain, Peasant Family in an Interior
        • Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XIV
        • Louis le Vau, André le Nôtre, and Charles le Brun, Château de Versailles
        • Claude Perrault, East façade of the Louvre
      • England
        • Anthony van Dyck
          • Charles I with M. de St. Antoine
          • Equestrian Portrait of Charles I
        • Charles I as art collector
        • John Michael Wright, The Coronation Portrait of Charles II
        • The Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace
        • Different Places: Japanese porcelain with English gilt-bronze mounts
        • Wooldridge, Indians of Virginia
  • c. 1700 – 1775:
    Rococo
    • Browse this content
    • Rococo art, an introduction
    • The Formation of a French School: the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
    • Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera
    • François Boucher, Madame de Pompadour
    • The Tiepolo Family
    • Élisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun
      • Self-Portrait
      • Self-Portrait with her Daughter
      • Madame Perregaux
    • Jean-Honoré Fragonard
      • The Swing
      • The Progress of Love: The Meeting
    • Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Village Bride
    • Bernard II van Risenburgh, Writing table
    • Architecture in 18th-century Germany
    • Joachim Michael Salecker, Cup with cover with Hebrew inscriptions
    • Maria Sibylla Merian
      • Maria Sibylla Merian, an introduction
      • Maria Sybilla Merian’s Metamorphosis of a Small Emperor Moth on a Damson Plum
        Getty Conversations
  • Central and Eastern Europe in the 17th–18th century
    • The Gwoździec Synagogue
    • Meissen Porcelain Animals
      Getty Conversations
  • Britain in the 18th century
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    • Wren, Saint Paul’s Cathedral
    • William Hogarth
      • A Rake’s Progress
      • Marriage a-la-Mode
    • Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews
    • Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery
    • Sir Joshua Reynolds
      • Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse
      • Portrait of Syacust Ukah
    • William Hoare, A Portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo
    • Josiah Wedgwood: Tycoon of Taste
    • Wedgwood factory, The Pegasus Vase
    • Mary Delany and cut flowers
    • A map of Kolkata in 1785
  • Late 18th century:
    Neoclassicism
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    • Neoclassicism, an introduction
    • The Age of Enlightenment, an introduction
    • Jacques-Louis David
      • Oath of the Horatii
      • The Death of Socrates
      • The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons
      • Study for The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons
      • The Death of Marat
      • The Intervention of the Sabine Women
      • Napoleon Crossing the Alps
      • The Emperor Napoleon in His Study in the Tuileries
    • Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures
    • Anne-Louis Girodet, The Sleep of Endymion
    • Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of Madeleine
    • Antonio Canova
      • Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious
      • Penitent Magdalene
    • Pierre-Alexandre Barthélémy Vignon, Church of La Madeleine
    • Jacques-Germain Soufflot, The Panthéon (Church of Ste-Geneviève), Paris
    • J. Schul, Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom 
  • Spain and Portugal in the 18th century
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    • Portraits of Francisca Ramírez de Laredo and Antonio de Ulloa
    • Carlos Julião, watercolor manuscript

Europe 1300-1800

  • Browse this content
  • Beginner’s guide to the Early Modern period
    • Classic, classical, and classicism explained
    • Printmaking in Europe, c. 1400−1800
  • A beginner’s guide to the Renaissance
    • Browse this topic
    • Expanding the Renaissance: a Smarthistory initiative
    • Tiny timeline: global Europe
    • The Medieval and Renaissance Altarpiece
    • Patrons and patronage
      • Why commission artwork during the renaissance?
      • Types of renaissance patronage
    • Artists and workshops
      • The Italian renaissance court artist
      • The status of the artist in renaissance Italy
      • Female artists in the renaissance
      • The role of the workshop in Italian renaissance art 
    • Images of African Kingship, Real and Imagined
    • A primer for Italian renaissance art
    • Humanism in renaissance Italy
    • Humanism in Italian renaissance art
    • Introduction to gender in renaissance Italy
    • An introduction to the renaissance nude
      • Sex, Power, and Violence in the Renaissance Nude
      • Confronting power and violence in the renaissance nude
    • Materials and Techniques
      • Gold-ground panel painting
      • Quarrying and carving marble
      • Carving marble with traditional tools
      • Renaissance Watercolours: materials and techniques
  • Italy and Spain in the 14th century:
    Late Gothic
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    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • Introduction to Late Gothic art
      • Distorting the Madonna in Medieval art
      • The Black Death
      • The conservator’s eye: Taddeo Gaddi, Saint Julian
      • Remaking a fourteenth-century triptych
    • Florence
      • Browse this content
      • A beginner’s guide
        • Florence in the Late Gothic period, an introduction
        • Dante’s Divine Comedy in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance art
      • Cimabue
        • Virgin and Child Enthroned, and Prophets (Santa Trinità Maestà)
        • Santa Trinita Madonna and Child Enthroned
        • Cimabue and Giotto compared
      • Giotto
        • The Ognissanti Madonna and Child Enthroned
        • St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata
        • Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel
        • The Arena Chapel (and Giotto’s frescos) in virtual reality
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 1 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 2 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 3 of 4)
        • Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 4 of 4)
        • The Entombment of Mary
      • A rare embroidery made for an altar at Santa Maria Novella
      • Laudario of Sant’Agnese
      • Andrea Pisano, Reliefs for the Florence Campanile
      • The Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) in Florence
    • Siena
      • Browse this content
      • Siena in the Late Gothic, an introduction
      • Duccio
        • Maestà
        • Heaven on earth— The Rucellai Madonna
        • The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea
      • Ambrogio Lorenzetti
        • Palazzo Pubblico frescos: Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government
        • Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
      • Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin
      • Simone Martini
        • Annunciation
        • Maestà
        • Saint Louis of Toulouse
    • Pisa, Pistoia and Rome
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      • Nicola Pisano, Pulpit, Pisa Baptistery, and Giovanni Pisano, Slaughter of the Innocents, Pulpit, Sant’Andrea church, Pistoia (Italy)
      • Giovanni Pisano, Pisa Pulpit
      • Pietro Cavallini, The Last Judgment
    • Spain
      • Browse this content
      • Joshua ibn Gaon, a decorated Hebrew Bible (MS. Kennicott 2)
      • Ferrer Bassa and the murals of Pedralbes
      • The Prato Haggadah
      • Hebrew Bible
      • Elisha ben Abraham Cresques and the Farhi Bible
      • Catalan Atlas
  • Italy in the 15th century:
    Early Renaissance
    • Browse this content
    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • How to recognize Italian Renaissance art
      • Illustrating a Fifteenth-Century Italian Altarpiece
      • The study of anatomy
      • Contrapposto explained
      • Alberti’s revolution in painting
      • Linear perspective
        • Linear Perspective: Brunelleschi’s Experiment
        • How one-point linear perspective works
        • Early applications of linear perspective
    • Central Italy
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      • Florence in the Early Renaissance
      • Painting
        • Gentile da Fabriano
          • Adoration of the Magi
          • Adoration of the Magi (reframed)
        • Masaccio
          • Virgin and Child Enthroned
          • The Holy Trinity
          • Tribute Money and Expulsion, Brancacci Chapel
          • Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden in the Brancacci Chapel
        • Fra Angelico
          • The Annunciation and Life of the Virgin (c. 1426)
          • The Annunciation (c. 1438-47)
        • Paolo Uccello, Battle of San Romano
        • Fra Filippo Lippi
          • Madonna and Child with Two Angels
          • Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement
          • Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration
        • Benozzo Gozzoli, The Medici Palace Chapel frescoes
        • Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child, an early image of enslaved people in renaissance Florence
        • Domenico Veneziano, Saint Lucy Altarpiece
        • Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of Ten Nudes or (Battle of Nude Men)
        • Ghirlandaio, Life of the Virgin
        • Cassone with the Conquest of Trebizond
        • Sandro Botticelli
          • La Primavera (Spring)
          • The Birth of Venus
          • Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo il Vecchio de’ Medici
          • Fashion and a Portrait of a Young Woman
          • Dissecting Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi
          • Mariko Mori on Botticelli’s The Annunciation
        • Perugino
          • Perugino, Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter
          • Perugino, Decemviri Altarpiece
          • Perugino & Napoleon’s appropriation of Italian cultural treasures
        • Piero della Francesca
          • The Baptism of Christ
          • Flagellation of Christ
          • Resurrection
          • Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino
        • Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell
      • Sculpture and architecture
        • Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac
        • Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, East Doors of the Florence Baptistry
        • Filippo Brunelleschi
          • Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo
          • Dome of the Cathedral of Florence
          • Pazzi Chapel
          • Santo Spirito
        • Orsanmichele and Donatello’s Saint Mark, Florence
        • Nanni di Banco, Four Crowned Saints
        • Donatello
          • St. Mark
          • Saint George
          • Feast of Herod
          • Madonna of the Clouds
          • David
          • Equestrian Monument of Gattamelata
          • Mary Magdalene
        • Andrea della Robbia’s bambini at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
        • Leon Battista Alberti
          • Palazzo Rucellai
          • Alberti, Façade of Santa Maria Novella, Florence
          • Sant’Andrea, Mantua
        • Michelozzo, Palazzo Medici
    • Northern Italy: Venice, Ferrara, and the Marches
      • Browse this content
      • A beginner’s guide
        • Browse this content
        • Venetian art, an introduction
        • Oil paint in Venice
        • Devotional confraternities (scuole) in Renaissance Venice
        • Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius): inventor of the modern book
        • Venetian glass, an introduction
        • Saving Venice
      • Venetian architecture
        • Ca’ d’Oro
        • Palazzo Ducale
      • Carlo Crivelli
        • Do you speak Renaissance? Carlo Crivelli, Madonna and Child
        • The Annunciation with Saint Emidius
      • Gentile Bellini, Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II
      • Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini, Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria
      • Giovanni Bellini
        • St. Francis in the Desert (or St. Francis in Ecstasy)
        • Brera Pietà
        • San Giobbe Altarpiece
        • San Zaccaria Altarpiece
        • Giovanni Bellini and Titian,The Feast of the Gods
      • Vittore Carpaccio, Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Rialto Bridge, and Black gondoliers
      • Andrea Mantegna
        • St. James Led to his Execution
        • San Zeno Altarpiece
        • Saint Sebastian
        • Dormition (or Death) of the Virgin
        • Camera Picta (Camera degli Sposi)
        • Dead Christ
      • Pisanello, Leonello d’Este
      • Sala dei Mesi (Hall of the Months) at Palazzo Schifanoia
      • Cosmè Tura, Roverella Altarpiece
      • Guido Mazzoni
        • Mazzoni and Renaissance Emotions
        • Lamentation in Ferrara
        • Head of a Man
      • Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
  • Italy in the 16th century:
    High Renaissance and Mannerism
    • Browse this content
    • A beginner’s guide
      • Toward the High Renaissance, an introduction
      • The Sack of Rome in 1527
      • Mannerism, an introduction
      • Renaissance woman: Isabella d’Este
      • The Medici collect the Americas
      • Medici porcelain, a failed experiment
      • Preparatory drawing during the Italian renaissance, an introduction
      • Galileo Galilei
      • Galileo and the science of nature
    • Central and Northern Italy
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      • Nicola da Urbino, a dinner service for a duchess
      • Verrocchio, David with the Head of Goliath
      • Leonardo da Vinci
        • About Leonardo
        • Leonardo’s Letter to the Duke of Milan
        • Leonardo: Anatomist
        • Leonardo and his drawings
        • Adoration of the Magi
        • The Virgin of the Rocks
        • The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist (Burlington House Cartoon)
        • Last Supper
        • Mona Lisa
        • Mona Lisa (from HENI Talks)
      • Michelangelo
        • Tiny timelines: Michelangelo in context
        • About Michelangelo
        • Who was Michelangelo?
        • Pietà
        • David
        • The many meanings of Michelangelo’s David
        • The Tomb of Pope Julius II
          • Unfinished business—Michelangelo and the Pope
          • Slaves
          • Moses
        • Taddei Tondo
        • The Sistine Chapel & Michelangelo
          • Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
          • Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso)
          • Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel
        • Medici Chapel (New Sacristy)
        • Laurentian Library
        • Replicating Michelangelo
      • Raphael
        • Raphael, an introduction
        • Marriage of the Virgin
        • Madonna of the Goldfinch
        • La belle jardinière (Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist)
        • School of Athens
        • The Alba Madonna
        • Portrait of Pope Julius II
        • Galatea
        • Pope Leo X
      • Donato Bramante
        • Tempietto, Rome
        • Saint Peter’s Basilica
      • Jacopo Pontormo, Entombment (or Deposition from the Cross)
      • Parmigianino
        • Madonna of the Long Neck
        • Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
      • Rosso Fiorentino, The Dead Christ with Angels
      • Benvenuto Cellini
        • Salt Cellar
        • Perseus with the Head of Medusa
      • Sofonisba Anguissola
        • Self-Portraits
        • Infanta Catalina Micaela with a Marmoset
      • Bronzino
        • An Allegory with Venus and Cupid
        • Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo with her son Giovanni
        • A chapel for Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence 
      • Giambologna, Abduction of a Sabine Woman
    • Venice
      • Browse this content
      • Beginner’s guide
        • Greek painters in renaissance Venice
      • Synagogues in the Venetian Ghetto
      • Giorgione
        • The Tempest
        • Three Philosophers
        • The Adoration of the Shepherds
      • Titian
        • Pastoral Concert
        • Noli me Tangere
        • Assumption of the Virgin
        • Madonna of the Pesaro Family
        • Bacchus and Ariadne
        • Titian, Isabella d’Este (Isabella in Black)
        • Two portraits of Pietro Aretino
        • Venus of Urbino
        • Christ Crowned with Thorns
        • Diana and Actaeon
        • Titian and Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Pietà
      • Correggio
        • Jupiter and Io
        • Assumption of the Virgin
      • Paolo Veronese
        • The Family of Darius before Alexander
        •  The Dream of Saint Helena
        • Feast in the House of Levi
        • Transcript of the trial of Veronese
      • Jacopo Tintoretto
        • The Miracle of the Slave
        • The Finding of the Body of Saint Mark
        • The Origin of the Milky Way
        • Last Supper
      • Andrea Palladio
        • La Rotonda
        • Teatro Olimpico
  • Northern Europe in the 15th century:
    Northern Renaissance
    • Browse this content
    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • The Medieval and Renaissance Altarpiece
      • An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the fifteenth century
      • Introduction to Fifteenth-century Flanders
      • Introduction to Burgundy in the Fifteenth Century
      • Northern Renaissance art under Burgundian rule
      • The role of the workshop in late medieval and early modern northern Europe
      • Biblical Storytelling: Illustrating a Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Altarpiece
      • The Norfolk Triptych and how it was made
    • Burgundian and adjacent territories
      • Browse this content
      • Fit for a duke: Broederlam’s Crucifixion Altarpiece
      • Claus Sluter and Claus de Werve
        • The Well of Moses
        • Mourners
      • Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg
        • Limbourg brothers, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
        • The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
      • Campin and his workshop
        • Robert Campin, Christ and the Virgin
        • Workshop of Robert Campin, Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece)
      • Jan van Eyck
        • The Ghent Altarpiece
        • Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban (Self-Portrait?)
        • The Madonna in the Church
        • The Arnolfini Portrait
        • The question of pregnancy in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait
      • Petrus Christus
        • A Goldsmith in his Shop
        • Portrait of a Young Woman
      • Rogier van der Weyden
        • Deposition
        • Crucifixion Triptych
        • The Last Judgment
        • The Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist Mourning
        • Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin
      • Hugo van der Goes
        • Hugo van der Goes, Portinari Altarpiece
        • Hugo van der Goes, The Adoration of the Kings (Monforte Altar)
      • Stefan Lochner, Madonna of the Rose Bower
      • Hans Memling, Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove
      • The Holy Thorn Reliquary of Jean, duc de Berry
    • England, France, and Tyrol
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      • England
        • The Harrowing of Hell
      • France
        • Portraits of Christine de Pizan in The Queen’s Manuscript
        • Christine de Pizan and a City of Ladies
        • Enguerrand Quarton(?), Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
        • Martin Schongauer, Madonna of the Rose Bower
        • The Unicorn Tapestries
      • Tyrol
        • Michael Pacher, St. Wolfgang Altarpiece
    • Baltic region
      • Hermen Rode, Saints Nicholas and Victor Altarpiece
      • St. George and the Dragon, Storkyrkan Stockholm
  • Northern Europe in the 16th century:
    Renaissance and Mannerism
    • Browse this content
    • An introduction to the Northern Renaissance in the sixteenth century
    • Inventing “America” for Europe: Theodore de Bry
    • Theodor de Bry, “Their sitting at meate”
    • Johannes Stradanus and Theodoor Galle, “The Discovery of America”
    • Netherlands
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      • Hieronymus Bosch
        • The Garden of Earthly Delights
        • Last Judgment Triptych
      • Gerard David, The Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor
      • Jan Gossaert, Saint Luke Painting the Madonna
      • Pieter Bruegel the Elder
        • The Dutch Proverbs
        • The Tower of Babel
        • Hunters in the Snow (Winter)
        • Peasant Wedding
      • Pieter Aertsen, Meat Stall
      • Bernard van Orley and Pieter de Pannemaker, The Last Supper
      • Boxwood pendant miniature in wood and feathers
    • Germany and England
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      • Albrecht Dürer
        • Who was Albrecht Dürer?
        • The Triumphal Arch
        • Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto); Six Studies of Pillows (verso)
        • Self-Portrait (1498)
        • Self-portrait (1500)
        • The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
        • The Large Piece of Turf
        • Adam and Eve
        • Melencolia I
        • Decoding art: Dürer’s Melencolia I
        • What is Melencolia?
        • The Four Apostles
        • Dürer’s woodcuts and engravings
      • Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece
      • Lucas Cranach the Elder
        • Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, Saint Maurice
        • Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
        • Adam and Eve
        • Cupid complaining to Venus
        • Judith with the Head of Holofernes
      • Hans Holbein the Younger
        • About Hans Holbein the Younger
        •  The Ambassadors
        • The Merchant Georg Gisze
        • Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan
      • Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Issus
      • Gerhard Emmoser, Celestial globe with clockwork
      • Portraits of Elizabeth I: Fashioning the Virgin Queen
      • Hunters in a Landscape tapestry
      • The conservator’s eye: a stained glass Adoration of the Magi
      • Conservation: portrait miniatures
      • Conserving the Wolsey Angels
    • France
      • The Gallery of Francis I at Fontainebleau (and French Mannerism)
      • Follower of Bernard Palissy, rustic platter
  • Reformation & Counter-Reformation
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    • The Protestant Reformation
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 1 of 4): Setting the stage
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 2 of 4): Martin Luther
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 3 of 4): Varieties of Protestantism
    • Introduction to the Protestant Reformation (part 4 of 4): The Counter-Reformation
    • The Council of Trent and the call to reform art
    • Henry VIII and the Reformation
    • Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)
    • Iconoclasm in the Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century
  • Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries:
    Renaissance
    • Browse this content
    • Beginner’s guide
      • Renaissance in Spain, an introduction
      • The Rise and Fall of the Avis Dynasty in Portugal, an introduction
      • Spoons from West Africa in Renaissance Lisbon
    • 15th century
      • Fifteenth-century Spanish painting, an introduction
      • The Master of Belmonte, St. Michael Defeats the Devil
      • The Morata Master, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin
      • The Sopetrán Lamentation in wood
      • Bartolomé Bermejo, Piedad with Canon Lluís Desplà
      • Gil de Siloé
        • Saint James the Greater
        • Tomb of Juan II of Castile and Isabel of Portugal
        • Façade of San Gregorio, Valladolid
      • Treasure from Spain, lusterware as luxury
      • Royal monastery of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
    • 16th century
      • Juan de Flandes
        • A miraculous appearance for a queen: Christ Appearing to His Mother
        • Marriage at Cana
      • The Cantino Planisphere
      • Alonso Berruguete
        • Apostle or Saint, bringing the figure to life
        • Abraham and Isaac
      • Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina, Head of Christ
      • The Tower of Belém
      • Belém Monstrance
      • Gold S. Vincente of João III
      • Alejo Fernández, The Virgin of the Navigators
      • University of Alcalá de Henares
      • Sacred geometry in a mudéjar-style ceiling
      • El Escorial
      • El Greco
        • Burial of the Count Orgaz
        • View of Toledo
        • Adoration of the Shepherds
  • 17th century:
    Baroque
    • Browse this content
    • A beginner’s guide
      • Browse this content
      • Baroque art, an introduction
      • How to recognize Baroque art
      • Introduction to the Global Baroque
      • What is genre painting?
      • Francis Bacon and the Scientific Revolution
    • Italy
      • Restoring ancient sculpture in Baroque Rome
      • Gian Lorenzo Bernini
        • Pluto and Proserpina (or The Rape of Proserpina)
        • David
        • Apollo and Daphne
        • Baldacchino, Saint Peter’s
        • Bust of Medusa
        • Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
        • Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter)
        • St. Peter’s Square
        • Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Rome
      • Francesco Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome
      • Annibale Carracci
        • Christ Appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way
        • Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
      • Caravaggio
        • Narcissus at the Source
        • Calling of St. Matthew
        • The Conversion of St. Paul (or The Conversion of Saul)
        • Crucifixion of St. Peter
        • The Supper at Emmaus
        • Deposition (or Entombment)
        • Death of the Virgin
        • The Flagellation of Christ
        • Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-century Europe
      • Guido Reni, Aurora
      • Artemisia Gentileschi
        • Judith Slaying Holofernes
        • Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
        • Conversion of the Magdalene
      • Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding her Thigh
      • Guercino, St. Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin
      • Il Gesù, Rome
      • Andrea Pozzo
        • Glorification of Saint Ignatius
        • St. Ignatius Chapel, Il Gesù, Rome
      • The altar tabernacle, Pauline Chapel, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
      • Pierre Le Gros the Younger, Stanislas Kostka on His Deathbed
    • Spain and Portugal
      • Browse this content
      • A Still Life of Global Dimensions: Antonio de Pereda’s Still Life with Ebony Chest
      • Juan Sanchez de Cotán, Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber
      • Diego Velázquez
        • The Waterseller of Seville
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      • Johannes Vermeer
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        • Woman Holding a Balance
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        • The Art of Painting
      • Saenredam, Interior of Saint Bavo, Haarlem
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        Getty Conversations
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    • Carlos Julião, watercolor manuscript

Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting

by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris

Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting, 1666-69, oil on canvas, 130 x 110 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Cite this page as: Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, "Johannes Vermeer, The Art of Painting," in Smarthistory, December 11, 2015, accessed September 22, 2023, https://smarthistory.org/johannes-vermeer-the-art-of-painting/.
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