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Famous Painters Blogroll

Anguissola, Three Sisters Playing Chess and Phillip II of Spain

Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri

BonheurPlowing in the Nivernais

Bonheur, The Horse Fair

Botticelli Primavera

Caravaggio, Fashion and Art History

CaravaggioConversion of St. Paul

Caravaggio, Young, Sick Bacchus and Basket of Fruit

Caravaggio, Cardsharps and Fortune Teller

Caravaggio, Taking of Christ (Kiss of Judas)

Cave Paintings

Cezanne, Bathers

Cezanne, Card Players

Cezanne, Most Famous Paintings 

Copley, Paul Revere

David, Death of Marat 

David, Death of Socrates

David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps

de Kooning, Retrospective at MoMA (Part I)

de Kooning,Excavation and Painting, 1948 

de KooningWoman I

Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People  

Diebenkorn, The Ocean Park Series

Duncanson, Robert Seldon.  Art History Welcomes Duncanson 

Durer, The Four Apostles

El Greco, Burial of Count Orgaz

FontanaPortrait of a Noblewoman

Frankenthaler, Color Field Painting and Mountains and Sea

Gentileschi, Artemisia.  Judith Beheading Holofernes

Gentileschi, Artemisia.  Self-Portrait as an Allegory of Painting 

Ghent Altarpiece.  

Ghent Altarpiece via zoom

GiorgioneThree Philosophers 

Goya, Family of Charles IV

Goya, The Third of May 1808 

Hals, The Laughing Cavalier

Ingres, Grande Odalisque and Portrait of Madame Moissetier

Kahlo, Renowned Frida Kahlo Paintings.  

Angelica Kauffmann.  Self-Portrait Torn Between Music and Painting and David Garrick.  

Leonardo, Painter at the Court of Milan, National Gallery, London 

Leonardo, La Bella Principessa 

Leonardo, Benois Madonna andMadonna Litta 

Leonardo, Savior of the World(Salvator Mundi) 

Leonardo, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne

Leyster, Famous Female Painters 

ManetA Bar at the Folies-Bergere

Manet, Luncheon in the Studio

Manet, The Old Musician

Manet, Street Singer

MantegnaDead Christ

Matisse Paintings, In Search of True Painting

Matisse, The DanceThe Music

Matisse, The Cone Collection

Matisse, The Red Studio

Matisse, The Yellow Dress

Michelangelo, Crucifixion with the Madonna

Michelangelo, Famous Paintings

Michelangelo, La Pieta with Two Angels (latest attribution?)

Michelangelo, St. John the Baptist Bearing Witness

Modersohn-Becker, Famous Female Painters

Monet, Waterlilies

Morisot, Famous Paintings

MorisotMore Famous Paintings

O'Keeffe, Jack in the Pulpit

Picasso, Girl Before a Mirror

Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

Picasso, Portrait of Gertrude Stein

Picasso, Las Meninas

Poussin, Assumption of the Virgin

Raphael, Sistine Madonna

Rembrandt, Aristotle with a Bust of Homer 

Rembrandt, Night Watch

Rembrandt, Self-Portrait at an Early AgeJeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt, The Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild

Rubens, Venus and Adonis

Sargent, Madame X

Steen, The Christening Feast 

Tanner, The Banjo Lesson and The Thankful Poor

Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne

Titian, Man with a Glove

Titian, Nymph and Shepherd, Allegory of Prudence, Jacopa Strada, St. Jerome, Slaying of Marysas

Titian, Rape of Europa

Uccello, Battle of San Romano

van der Weyden, St. Luke Drawing the Virgin

van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait

van Eyck, Adoration of the Lamb

van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece

van Gogh, The Potato Eaters

van GoghMemory of Garden at Etten; Tatched Cottages; White House

van Gogh,  Portrait of Madam Trabuc; Morning: Going Out

van Gogh, Starry Night

Velazquez, Juan de Pareja

Vermeer, The Kitchen Maid

Vermeer, The Allegory of Painting

VermeerGirl with the Red Hat

Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans

Warhol, Marilyn Diptych and Gold Marilyn 

Famous Paintings by Art Museums - ebooks

Learn about famous paintings to see in these art museums:

Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY). One of those intimate, small art museums with a stellar collectionFamous Paintings at Albright-Knox. 

Louvre Museum, (Paris): one of the largest art museums in the world! Know which Louvre paintings not to miss in this sortable ebook. 

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City): download the ebook, Famous-Paintings-Metropolitan-Museum, to learn its must-see masterpieces.

National Gallery (London): with 2300 famous paintings alone in its European painting section, discover highlights to see!  Famous-Paintings-National-Gallery

Washington, D.C. Art Museums: Explore forty famous paintings in Washington, DC in this article.

Most Popular Posts

Michelangelo PaintingsThe Torment of Saint Anthony; The Manchester Madonna;Holy Family (Doni Tondo); and Entombment

Cave Paintings: explore this prehistoric art in Spain and France.

Picasso's Las Meninas: 58 Picasso paintings inspired by Velazquez's Las Meninas

Ghent Altarpiece: the van Eyck masterpiece, one of the most famous artworks ever made. 

Survey of Renaissance Paintings: want to know what Renaissance paintings were all about? Start with 20 of its most famous painters in this sweeping survey! 

Discover more of readers' favorite art history blog posts. 

Female Artists

While we long for the time when artists are artists and genderless, that time isn't yet here.

These are a few of the female artists who've left lasting legacies in the history of painting:

Sofonisba AnguissolaThree Sisters Playing ChessPhillip II of Spain

Rosa Bonheur.  Plowing in the Nivernais.  Horse Fair.

Lavinia Fontana. Portrait of a Noblewoman.

Helen Frankenthaler. Color Field Painting and Mountains and Sea. 

Artemisia Gentileschi.  Judith Beheading Holofernes.  Self-Portrait as an Allegory of Painting.

Frida Kahlo.  Frida and Diego Rivera.  The Two Fridas.  The Love Embrace of the Universe. 

Angelica Kauffmann.  Self-Portrait Torn Between Music and Painting.  David Garrick.

Judith Leyster.  Self-Portrait.  The Proposition. 

Paula Modersohn-Becker. Self-Portrait with an Amber Necklace. Still Life with Goldfish. 

Berthe Morisot.  Refuge in Normandy.  The Cradle. 

Georgia O'Keeffe. Jack in the Pulpit Series. 

Survey of Female Artists

Art History Other

Art History Blogs

ArtDaily: daily breaking news about art museums and art history.

Art Blog by Bob: this brilliant art history blogger also writes Picture This on Big Think.

Art History Resources. Unwieldly but informative.

Mother of all Art & Art History Links: extensive list of online art history resources (including images, research resources, and art history depts.)

smARThistory. Think online art history textbook.  Brilliant. 

Three Pipe Problem.  In its author's words, "Art.  History.  Mystery"

Your Daily Art: an art history blog by Martha Lattie (a guest blogger here!)

Art History Beyond Europe

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Famous Paintings Reviewed

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Famous Paintings: Family of Charles IV

  
  
  

An art history blog post from Famous Paintings Reviewed.

One of the most famous paintings by Goya (1746 - 1828) -- and a splendid example of how art paintings capture history - is his Family of Charles IV.  When Goya created Family of Charles IV, he was 54, had been deaf for seven years, and had recently been appointed first painter to the Spanish king, Charles IV.

Goya was heavily influenced by the famous artwork of the Spanish Royal Collection, as seen by the inclusion of his own self-portrait with his patrons (that's Goya in the 

goya family of charles IV

Francisco Goya.  The Family of Charles IV, 1800.  Oil on canvas, 9' 2" by 11'.  Museo del Prado, Madrid.

shadows, toiling on a massive canvas) - this Goya portrait evokes Velazquez's own portrait captured in one of the most well known Velazquez paintings, Las Meninas (below), of the family of King Philip IV of Spain.

velazquez-las-meninasIn the left foreground of Family of Charles IV, resplendent in a blue, embroidered costume, is Ferdinand, Prince of the Asturias.  He was heir to the throne but nonetheless

Velazquez.  Las Meninas, 1656.  Oil on canvas. 10' 7" by 9' .5".  Museo del Prado, Madrid.

orchestrated a coup d'etat against his parents in 1808.  After the occupying French forces were ousted by the Duke of Wellington -- the horror of this reign is captured in one of the most memorable Goya paintings, Executions of the Third of May, 1808 --  Ferdinand assumed the throneand reigned as a despot.  Among his deplorable acts were eliminating free speech, and banishing liberals -- including Goya, who fled in 1824 to Bordeaux, France, where he remained in exile until his death in 1828. 

All of the court members are identifiable, with one notable exception - the woman to Ferdinand's left, with her face averted, is a stand-in for his future, yet-to-be-determined wife. In the center of the canvas looms the queen, Maria Luisa.  Although Spain was a devoutly Roman Catholic country during these years, Maria Luisa and her paramour, the politican Manuel Godoy, essentially ruled Spain (with their illicit affair memorialized in this famous artwork). To Maria Luisa's left is the king himself, who, despite lavish clothing laden with awards and jewelry, was a weak and ineffectual ruler.

Some art historians contend that this Goya painting is an expose of Spain's royal family, depicting them, Marilyn Stokstad notes, "as common, ugly, and inept."  Stokstad disagrees, observing that the royal family approved Goya's preliminary sketches.  Further, it seems highly unlikely that Goya would so publicly or permanently disparage his patrons.  "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" was true even two centuries ago!

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Masterpiece Cards

Read about and see more Goya paintings (and works from over 200 other famous painters) in Masterpiece Cards

This set of 250 art history flashcards spans Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings, providing an overview of the history of painting. 

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