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Painting story
The Song of the Lark by Jules Breton
A young woman stops in a field at dawn to listen to birdsong. Explore Jules Breton’s The Song of the Lark, its meaning, its journey to Chicago and…
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 Goldfinch by Fabritius
The Goldfinch shows a small bird chained by one leg to its feeding box on a whitewashed wall, looking at the viewer, with the painter's signature…
Painting story
Flaming June by Frederic Leighton
Flaming June shows a young woman asleep on a marble bench in a dress of transparent orange silk, curled into a square canvas, with the sunset sea…
Painting story
The Death of Socrates by David
The Death of Socrates shows the philosopher in his Athenian prison in 399 BC, one finger raised as he finishes his argument for the immortality of…
Painting story
The Cardsharps by Caravaggio
The Cardsharps shows a well-dressed boy absorbed in his cards while an older accomplice reads his hand over his shoulder and signals to a young…
Painting story
The Ninth Wave by Aivazovsky
Shipwreck survivors cling to a broken mast as dawn lights a towering wave. Explore Aivazovsky’s The Ninth Wave, its maritime legend and the…
Painting story
Whistlejacket by George Stubbs
Whistlejacket shows a chestnut Arabian racehorse rearing at life size against an empty ochre ground, with no rider, tack, landscape or story.…
Painting story
The Gleaners by Millet
The Gleaners shows three peasant women bent double in a harvested field, picking up the single ears of wheat the reapers have left, while the…
Painting story
Woman with a Parasol by Monet
Look closely at Monet’s Woman with a Parasol: Camille and Jean, the green parasol, wind, coloured shadows and the original in Washington.
Painting story
The Coronation of Napoleon by David
The Coronation of Napoleon shows the moment on 2 December 1804 when Napoleon, already crowned, raises a crown over the kneeling Josephine in…
Painting story
The Death of Marat by David
The Death of Marat shows the revolutionary journalist Jean-Paul Marat dead in his medicinal bath on 13 July 1793, the pen still in his hand and…
Painting story
The Swing by Fragonard
The Swing shows a young woman in pink silk at the top of her swing in an overgrown garden, one slipper flying off her foot, while a young man…
Painting story
Primavera by Botticelli
Primavera shows nine figures from classical myth in an orange grove on a carpet of flowers: the wind Zephyr seizing the nymph Chloris, who becomes…
Painting story
Saturn Devouring His Son by Goya
Saturn Devouring His Son shows the old god crouched in darkness, eyes wide with terror, tearing at the headless body of one of his children. Goya…
Painting story
The Third of May 1808 by Goya
The Third of May 1808 shows French soldiers executing Madrid's rebels by lantern light on the hill of Príncipe Pío, the night after the Dos de…
Painting story
Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David
Napoleon Crossing the Alps shows Bonaparte, First Consul of France, calm on a rearing horse as he points his army up the Great St Bernard Pass in…
Painting story
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Bruegel
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus shows a ploughman, a shepherd and a ship going about their business on a bright coast while Icarus, who has just…
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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.
