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Painting story
Girl with a Watering Can by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
A little girl in a blue dress holds a watering can and daisies on a garden path: Renoir’s much-loved painting of 1876.
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.
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Painting story
The Swing
Explore Renoir’s The Swing: the watching child, woman’s glance, blue bows and dappled sunlight in his 1876 Impressionist garden scene.
Painting story
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Meet the people in Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party and explore its setting, table, composition and revised details through real crops.
Painting story
The Concert by Johannes Vermeer
Three musicians in a quiet room, a brothel scene on the wall: Vermeer’s Concert, stolen from Boston in 1990 and never found.
Painting story
Woman with a Water Pitcher by Johannes Vermeer
A young woman opens a window with one hand and rests the other on a gilded pitcher, bathed in cool light: Vermeer at the Met.
Painting story
Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid by Johannes Vermeer
A lady writes, her maid gazes out of the window and a crumpled letter lies on the floor: Vermeer’s late picture, stolen twice.
Painting story
The Love Letter by Johannes Vermeer
Seen through a dark doorway, a maid hands her mistress a letter: Vermeer’s late scene of love, music and a household interrupted.
Painting story
The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer
A scholar pauses with his dividers and looks to the window: Vermeer’s 1669 picture of a mind at work, signed and dated on the wall.
Painting story
View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer
Vermeer’s Delft seen across the harbour under a great sky: the Schiedam and Rotterdam Gates, a sunlit church tower and Proust’s yellow wall.
Painting story
The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer
A scholar reaches for a celestial globe in the light of a window: Vermeer’s 1668 companion to The Geographer, now in the Louvre.
Painting story
The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer
A kitchen maid pours milk in Vermeer’s quiet masterpiece of about 1660: sparkling bread, an ultramarine apron and a bare, light-filled wall.
Painting story
Woman in Blue Reading a Letter
Explore Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter: the unreadable message, two hands, lapis-lazuli blue and map in the Rijksmuseum painting.
Painting story
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer by Rembrandt van Rijn
Aristotle rests his hand on a bust of Homer, a gold chain across his chest: Rembrandt’s meditation on fame and wisdom, painted in 1653.
Painting story
The Jewish Bride by Rembrandt van Rijn
A couple joined by a tender gesture of the hands, painted in thick gold and red: Rembrandt’s late masterpiece that Van Gogh adored.
Painting story
Portrait of Jan Six by Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt’s 1654 portrait of his friend Jan Six, painted with astonishingly free brushwork, still owned by the Six family in Amsterdam.
Painting story
Self-Portrait with Two Circles by Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt at about sixty, palette in hand, in front of two mysterious circles: one of his greatest late self-portraits, free to see at Kenwood.
Painting story
Belshazzar's Feast by Rembrandt van Rijn
A glowing hand writes on the wall as King Belshazzar turns in terror: Rembrandt’s dramatic feast in the National Gallery.
Painting story
The Anatomy Lesson
Dr Tulp demonstrates the muscles of a dead man’s arm to seven surgeons: the group portrait that made the young Rembrandt famous.
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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.
