A Regatta on the Grand Canal

A Regatta on the Grand Canal, Venice, Canaletto, 1740

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars, Sandro Botticelli, 1485 

An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life

An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life, Harmen Steenwyck, 1640

"This type of painting is called a 'vanitas', after the biblical quotation from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (1:2): 'Vanitas vanitatum... et omnia vanitas', translated 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'. The books symbolise human knowledge, the musical instruments (a recorder, part of a shawm, a lute) the pleasures of the senses. The Japanese sword and the shell, both collectors' rarities, symbolise wealth. The chronometer and expiring lamp allude to the transience and frailty of human life. All are dominated by the skull, the symbol of death."

Head of William Feaver

Head of William Feaver, 2003 collection, Frank Auerbach

Rue Saint-Denis, Celebrations of the 30 June, 1878

Rue Saint-Denis, Celebrations of the 30 th June, 1878, Claude Monet 

La Fornarina

La Fornarina, Raphael

The Little Peasant ( Le Petit Paysan )

The Little Peasant, Amedeo Modigliani,1918

The Gouden Leeuw at the Battle of Texel

The Gouden Leeuw at the Battle of Texel, Willem van de Velde the Younger, 1687

End of the Working Day

End of the Working Day, 1887, Jules Breton

Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner,1914

The Last Supper

The Last Supper, Tintoretto,1579-81

Three Graces

Three Graces, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino ( Raphael) 1505

La belle ferronnière

La belle ferronnière, Leonardo da Vinci, 1490

St Jerome in the Wilderness

St Jerome in the Wilderness, unfinished , Leonardo Da Vinci, Vatican 

St. John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist, Leonardo da Vinci, 1516

Virgin of the Rocks:

Louvre version: 

Leonardo da Vinci,1486

London Version: 

Leonardo Da Vinci, 1508

Though it's argued the London version was painted by his apprentices and not Leonardo himself

John the Baptist

John the Baptist, Andrea del Sarto,1528

The Last Supper

The marvellous Last Supper, Jacapo Tintoretto, 1594

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk, Claude Monet, 1912

Baptism of Christ

Baptism of Christ, 1475, Andrea del Verrochio, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Carl Gustav Carus

Carl Gustav Carus, Johann Carl Rössler, 

Empirical Construction : Istanbul

Empirical Construction, Julie Mehretu, Istanbul

Rape of Sabine Women

Rape of Sabine Women, Sabinae raptae, Pietra da Cortona 

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Beheading of St John the Baptist, Caravaggio, 1608, Oil on Canvas, St Johns Co- cathedral , Valetta 

Logik Der Frauen

Logik Der Frauen , Female Logic, 1965, Konrad Klapheck 

Landscape near Murnau with Locomotive

Vasily Kandinsky, Landscape near Murnau with Locomotive (Landschaft bei Murnau mit Lokomotive), 1909. Oil on board, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

The Beguiling of Merlin

The beguiling of Merlin, Edward Burn-Jones

St Augustine in his Study

St Augustine in his Study, Vittore Carpaccio, 1502, Venice

One of the nine paintings by Carpaccio at Scuola

Madonna

Madonna or Loving Woman, Edvard Munch, 1894-95 ( The National Gallery of Norway version )

Spring Series:The White Orchard

The White Orchard, Vincent van Gogh, 1888.

And, Happy Birthday Vincent!

Spring Series: The Pink Orchard

The Pink Orchard, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Spring Series: Peach Tree in Blossom

Peach Tree in Blossom, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Spring Series: Flowering Peach Trees

Flowering Peach Trees, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Spring Series: Irises

Irises, Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

Spring Series: Almond Blossom

Almond Blossom, Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

Winter Landscape

Winter Landscape, Alexey Savrasov 1873

Syria by the sea...

Syria by the sea, Frederic Edwin Church ( 1873) 

The biggest argument for visiting Detroit in my view. 

Here's what Geoff Dyer wrote about it ' ....It wasn’t van Gogh that did it for me that afternoon, but Frederic Edwin Church. The painting was called Syria by the Sea (1873) and showed ruined columns of antiquity bathed in the elegiac light of the declining sun. A caption explained that the painting depicted ‘a civilization in ruins, succumbing to the forces of nature. The crumbling buildings, overgrown with vegetation, symbolize nature’s power over humanity and its structures.’

Windmill on a Polder Waterway

Windmill on a Polder Waterway ( In the month of July), Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriel, 1889

Still life with oysters, a rummer, a lemon and a silver bowl

Still life with oysters, a rummer, a lemon and a silver bowl (1634), Willem Claeszoon Heda

One of the most captivating still life paintings Ive seen. The detail is mega-impressive. ( Eg the light from the window reflected on the glass, the intricate work of the pewter, silky texture of the crumpled tablecloth)

The Buddha

The Buddha, Odilon Redon, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam,1904

Het Rokin te Amsterdam

Het Rokin te Amsterdam, George Hendrik Brietner 

The Blue Dress

The Blue Dress, Kees Von Dongen

Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass with a Book

~Vincent Van Gogh 

The Nightmare

The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli

Isabella d'Este

Isabella d'Este, Leonardo da Vinci. The recently found painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Lady with an Ermine:

Lady with an Ermine, Leonardo da Vinci

Managed to see it last week; equally engrossing as his other women. This also means I have seen all of four Vinci's women. 

Die Skatspieler

Skat Players, 1920, Otto Dix.

Prager Straße

Prager Staße or the Prague Street, 1920,  Otto Dix one of the great arts to come out of WW1. Dix, who was a first world war veteran, celebrated the idea of the war as a force - bravery that made the conflict and lack of bigotedness in it. This was in an age when wars were generally seen as an exercise of strength and will. However, over the next few years, upon witnessing the untold suffering and indignity imposed by the war, Dix began to transform his views and started painting scenes to capture its horror along with the social and political turmoil building within the post world war Germany.

Prague Street ( 1920)  depicts a scene at the leading fashion street in Dresden, Germany. Before a glass showroom of a shop displaying mannequins,and artificial limbs, like in other Dix plantings, two grotesque and crippled veterans are shown begging. A woman dressed in apparent expensive pink outfit along with a dog walks past without glancing at them. A stray dog loiters in the corner.One of the boards, perhaps belonging to the veteran, displays a sign Juden Raus! ( Jews Out)

The painting though not exceptional in terms of technique or innovation of the age ( 20s) , it almost amounts to a photograph of political precision. 

Devant le théâtre du Vaudeville, Paris

Devant le théâtre du Vaudeville, Paris, 1900, Jean Béraud