Loading cart…
No products in the cart.
Painting story
Bubbles by John Everett Millais
Millais painted his grandson watching a soap bubble in 1886; Pears soap turned the picture into one of the most famous adverts of its time.
Famous Paintings, Explained
The stories behind famous paintings, the painters who made them, and the movements that shaped them. Every work here can be recreated by hand in oil on canvas.
Latest articles
Painting story
Medea by Evelyn De Morgan
The sorceress Medea walks through a marble palace with a small vase of poison, troubled rather than raging, in De Morgan’s 1889 painting.
Painting story
Ulysses and the Sirens
Ulysses strains at the mast while bird-women Sirens swoop around his deaf crew: Waterhouse’s 1891 scene from the Odyssey.
Painting story
Ulysses and Argus by Briton Rivière
Ulysses and Argus depicts the moment from the Odyssey of Homer in which the long-absent hero, returned to Ithaca in disguise, is recognised only…
Painting story
Ecce Homo by Antonio Ciseri
Seen from behind, Pilate presents the scourged Christ to the crowd while his wife turns away: Antonio Ciseri’s Ecce Homo of 1871.
Artist guide
Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky Paintings
Russian Realism · Russian · 1868 to 1945
Artist guide
Edwin Henry Landseer Paintings
Victorian Romanticism · British · 1802 to 1873
Painting story
The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais
A blind musician turns her face to the sun while her sister looks back at a double rainbow: Millais’s Pre-Raphaelite picture of the senses.
Painting story
Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward
Discover Luke Fildes’s 1874 Casual Ward: a winter queue, children, admission tickets and the Victorian system behind a night’s shelter.
Painting story
Aurora Triumphans
Explore Aurora Triumphans by Evelyn De Morgan: dawn loosening her bonds, departing Night, red-winged trumpeters and the artist’s recovered authorship.
Painting story
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott sets out on her last journey, candles guttering at the bow: Waterhouse’s 1888 painting of Tennyson’s poem.
Painting story
Sympathy by Briton Rivière
A girl sent to the stairs in disgrace and the bull terrier who comforts her: Rivière’s much-loved Sympathy of 1877.
Artist guide
Antonio Ciseri Paintings
Academic Realism · Swiss-Italian · 1821 to 1891
Artist guide
John William Waterhouse Paintings
Pre-Raphaelite · British · 1849 to 1917
Painting story
The Love Potion by Evelyn De Morgan
A sorceress in gold pours a red potion beside her books of magic and a black cat, while lovers embrace outside the window.
Painting story
The Doctor by Luke Fildes
A doctor watches over a sick child through the night in a poor cottage: Luke Fildes’s The Doctor, painted in 1891 for Henry Tate.
Painting story
Ophelia by Millais
Ophelia shows Shakespeare's heroine floating in a stream among wild flowers, still singing as she drowns, painted by John Everett Millais in 1851…
Painting story
Adoration of the Shepherds
Explore Honthorst’s 1622 Adoration of the Shepherds in Cologne: the radiant child, Mary, praying hands, Joseph and the ox in a dark stable.
Top 10 artists
All artists A to Z
Top paintings
See the Top 100
Keep exploring
Curated collectionsOdyssey, Magic and Witchcraft, Famous Women, Landscapes and more.Artists A to ZEvery painter in the catalogue, with an archive of their works.Art movementsRenaissance to Expressionism: what defines each and who led it.Top 100 most famous paintingsThe ranked list, with the story behind every entry.
