Diana the huntress is resting with her court of Nymphs in a clearing in the woods when she is attacked by a group of Satyrs. Rubens turned this painting into a virtuoso exercise in composition. In the [+]
In the foreground, Diana holds a bow in her left hand while extracting an arrow from her quiver with the right. The moon appears over her forehead, and behind her, a fragment of the Zodiac includes th [+]
Saint Kitts, Nevis and Sint Eustatius, are Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. After their occupation by the French and English in 1627, they became home bases for pirates. The Spanish expedition [+]
This episode, which illustrates Hercules’s death, was narrated in great detail by Baltasar de Victoria, who tells how the hero killed Nessus the centaur for having attempted to rape Hercules’s bride, [+]
Francesco Albani was a much favoured pupil of Annibale Carracci. His success was partially due to mythological paintings such as The toilet of Venus (P1) and The judgement of Paris (P2), whose refined [+]
Venus, the Roman goddess of Love and Beauty, is accidentally wounded by one of her son Cupid´s arrows, which triggers her passion for Adonis. This love story ends with the tragic death of the he [+]
Over the course of his career, Jusepe de Ribera Spanish repeatedly explored certain devotional subjects, among them Saint Bartholomew, Mary Magdalene, Saint Jerome, and Saint Sebastian. The latter is [+]
Titian´s first contribution to the Camerino d´Alabastro was prompted by the death in October 1587 of Fra Bartolommeo from whom Alfonso d´Este had commissioned a Worship of Venus one year previously an [+]
Hercules wades effortlessly across the powerful Euenos River while his wife, the beautiful Deianira, requires the aid of the centaur Nessus to do so. While ferrying her across, the centaur attempts to [+]
A model for the tapestry on the same subject that belongs to a series of eight about the Greek hero. The Story of Achilles is smaller than other projects by Rubens, but the quality of its sketches, mo [+]
Youth portrait of Victor Amadeo II of Savoy (1666-1732) husband of Ana María de Orleans (1669-1728) and brother-in-law, therefore of Queen María Luisa de Orleans. The person portrayed wo [+]
This painting depicts the battle of Fleurus, near Brussels, which pitted troops from the Catholic League commanded by General Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba against Protestant Union soldie [+]
Jupiter was so taken with Ganymede´s beauty that he transformed into an eagle to carry him off to Mount Olympus, where he became his cup-bearer. Rubens drew this story from the classical poet, Ovid´s [+]
Guido Reni`s painting shows a young Cupid facing the viewer, with the seashore behind him, his left leg bent and left foot resting on a slab of stone. Cupid raises his left hand to a dove and with his [+]
Guido Reni`s painting shows a young Cupid facing the viewer, with the seashore behind him, his left leg bent and left foot resting on a slab of stone. Cupid raises his left hand to a dove and with his [+]
As he is painted here, Eros is mischievous. Praxiteles, as far as we know, first represented him in a sculpture, around 370-60 BCE; he showed him nude in his sleep, and another time standing, with a b [+]
Apollo fights the terrible Python to free beautiful Andromeda, who was destined to be one of the victims of this monster. She is sketched in behind the beast. In the air, Cupid shoots his arrows into [+]
This set of paintings on the five senses (Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch) was one of the most successful collaborations of Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel “the Elder”. Rubens placed his figure [+]