GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING

ARTIST: JOHANNES VERMEER

This intriguing favorite often gets compared with the “Mona Lisa.” Besides the stylistic differences, technically “Girl
With a Pearl Earring” isn’t even a portrait, but a “tronie” – a Dutch word for a painting of an imaginary figure with
exaggerated features. The oil on canvas masterpiece is brilliant in its simplicity. The girl – wearing a blue and gold
turban and an oversized pearl earring – is the entire focus with only a dark backdrop behind her.

LAS MENINAS

ARTIST: DIEGO VELAZQUEZ

Madrid is the only city in this roundup where you’ll find two of the most 10 famous paintings, the first being “Guernica” at No.
5 and “Las Maninas” here at No. 9. Housed at the popular (and vast) Prado, “Las Meninas” is not only Diego Velázquez`s most
famous painting, it’s also one of his largest. The complexity of the work has fascinated art critics and the public for centuries.
The painting does double duty as a portrait. It serves as a group portrait of Spanish royalty, but it’s also a self-portrait of
Velázquez himself at work (on the left).
 SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE
ARTIST: TIZIANO VECELLI

The current name of the painting was not given by Titian himself, but appeared only two centuries later. The composition of
the painting caused a lot of controversy among scientists, but in the end it was possible to prove that it was a gift for the
wedding of the Venetian aristocrat Nicolo Aurelio and the widow Laura Bagarotto. The dress of an earthly girl imitates a
wedding dress. The landscape in the background is also symbolic: the road uphill is a symbolic wish of prudence and loyalty,
the plain is for mutual understanding and peace, and the rabbits are for fertility. Among other famous art pieces, the painting
is in the Galleria Borghese in Rome.

THE ANCIENT OF DAYS

ARTIST: WILLIAM BLAKE

This popular artwork by William Blake is now in the British Museum, London. Along with the original name, two more versions
are widespread: The Great Architect or The Creation. The literal name of the painting, The Ancient of Days, is the phrase that
was used as the name of God. The main character of the painting is God at the moment of creation, who does not establish
order, but limits freedom and denotes the limits of imagination.
 THE MADONNA LITTA
ARTIST: LEONARDO DA VINCI

This masterpiece, a world classic long ago, is kept in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The present name of the painting comes
from the name of Count Litta, the owner of this painting and the family art gallery in Milan. There is a hypothesis that the
figure of the baby was not painted by Leonardo da Vinci, but belongs to the brush of one of his students. This is evidenced by
the unusual baby pose, which is different from da Vinci's artistic style.

THE SWING
ARTIST: JEAN HONORE FRAGONARD

The painting depicts an elegantly dressed young woman on a swing. A smiling young man, hiding in the bushes below and to
the left, points towards her billowing dress with hat in hand. A smiling older man, who is nearly hidden in the shadows on the
right, propels the swing with a pair of ropes, as a small white dog barks nearby. The lady is wearing a bergère hat (shepherdess
hat), as she flings her shoe with an outstretched left foot. Two statues are present, one of a putto, who watches from above
the young man on the left with its finger in front of its lips, the other of two putti is on the right beside the older man.
 GRANDE ODALISQUE
ARTIST: JEAN AUGUSTE DOMINIQUE INGRES

This eclectic mix of styles, combining classical form with Romantic themes, prompted harsh criticism when it was first shown in
1814. Critics viewed Ingres as a rebel against the contemporary style of form and content. When the painting was first shown
in the Salon of 1819, one critic remarked that the work had "neither bones nor muscle, neither blood, nor life, nor relief,
indeed nothing that constitutes imitation".[4] This echoed the general view that Ingres had disregarded anatomical realism.
[5]
Ingres instead favored long lines to convey curvature and sensuality, as well as abundant, even light to tone down the
volume.[5] Ingres continued to be criticized for his work until the mid-1820s. [3]

LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY

ARTIST: PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENIOR

The painting, combining figures, still-life, and landscape in one work, depicts a group of Renoir's friends relaxing on a balcony
at the Maison Fournaise restaurant along the Seine river in Chatou, France. The painter and art patron, Gustave Caillebotte, is
seated in the lower right. Renoir's future wife, Aline Charigot, is in the foreground playing with a small dog, an affenpinscher;
she replaced an earlier woman who sat for the painting but with whom Renoir became annoyed. [5] On the table is fruit and
wine.
 THE CREATION OF ADAM

ARTIST: MICHELANGELO

The Creation of Adam is the central element in Michelangelo’s large Sistine Chapel fresco. It is one of the most replicated
biblical paintings in history, now blazoned on anything, from placemats to umbrellas. Here God breathes life into Adam, and
the creation of man is central to the biblical creative narrative. God floats in a cloud of drapery and other human figures. He is
portrayed as an older man, draped in a simple tunic, muscular yet real. The outstretched hands connect God to man and
humanity. Michelangelo’s painting of Adam, created in the image of God, must be one of the most famous nudes in art history.
Eve, created from Adam’s rib in the biblical narrative, is believed to be the figure tucked under God’s left arm.

THE LADY OF SHALOTT

ARTIST: JHON WILLIAM WATERHOUSE

The Lady of Shalott an 1888 oil-on-canvas painting, is one of John William Waterhouse's most famous works. It depicts a scene
from Tennyson's poem in which the poet describes the plight and the predicament of a young woman, loosely based on the
figure of Elaine of Astolat from medieval Arthurian legend, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot,
isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur's Camelot.[2] Waterhouse painted three versions of this
character, in 1888, 1894 and 1915