I was captivated by the chiaroscuro lighting in this, my favorite masterpiece. Honthorst successfully demonstrates how the only light source comes from the Holy Child. His style was greatly influenced by Caravaggio, who was also a master of light and shadow. Notice the high contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the painting. I love how he presents this point of view so we can see the expression and light on the faces of those adoring baby Jesus, who is turned away from us. What an excellent example of how the use of shadows make light the focal point. ~ Caryn Esplin ~

The windmill rises up majestically, defying the dark rain clouds and overshadowing the castle and the church of Wijk bij Duurstede. The River Lek flows in the foreground. This painting is world famous, and rightly so. In this impressive composition, Ruisdael united all the typical Dutch elements – the low-lying land, the water and the expansive sky – manipulating them to converge on the equally characteristic Dutch watermill.  ~ Rijksmuseum ~

Rembrandt’s largest, most famous canvas was made for the Arquebusiers guild hall. This was one of several halls of Amsterdam’s civic guard, the city’s militia and police. Rembrandt was the first to paint figures in a group portrait actually doing something. The captain, dressed in black, is telling his lieutenant to start the company marching. The guardsmen are getting into formation. Rembrandt used the light to focus on particular details, like the captain’s gesturing hand and the young girl in the foreground. She was the company mascot. ~Rijksmuseum ~

Vincent moved to Paris in 1886, after hearing from his brother Theo about the new, colourful style of French painting. Wasting no time, he tried it out in several self-portraits. He did this mostly to avoid having to pay for a model. Using rhythmic brushstrokes in striking colours, he portrayed himself here as a fashionably dressed Parisian. ~Rijksmuseum ~

Although painted from memory, this masterpiece depicts the view outside Van Gogh’s sanitarium room window at Saint-Remy-de-Provence in France. The work shows the artist’s interest in astronomy and a study made by the Griffith Park Observatory demonstrated that Vincent represented the Moon, Venus, and several stars in the exact position they occupied that clear night.

This painting is the first version of three similar paintings which are referred to as Bedroom in Arles and were simply titled The Bedroom by Vincent. The three paintings can be differentiated by the pictures hanging on the wall to the right.

The frescoes that we are contemplating here introduce us into the world of the contents of the Revelation. The truths of our faith speak to us here from all sides. From them human genius took its inspiration undertaking to clothe them in forms of incomparable beauty. ~ Vatican Museums ~

The sibyls were female seers from antiquity who were thought to have predicted the coming of Christ, and this sibyl appears startled as she turns her head away from her prophetic scroll and gazes into the future.

The Delphic Sibyl was the voice of Apollo, the greek god of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine, and it has been suggested that the four colors in her garments represent Earth, Water, Fire, and Air — the basic elements of life. ~ Lauren Mitchell Ruehring ~

The church is built on Vatican Hill, across the Tiber river from the historic center of Rome. The location is highly symbolic: this was the site where Saint Peter, the chief apostle, died a martyr and where he was buried in 64 AD. St. Peter is considered the first pope, so it made perfect sense for the papacy to build the principal shrine of the Catholic church here. ~ A View on Cities ~

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome.

The fountain is worldwide famous but many people do not know the history and the secrets hidden behind its construction. It is time to do justice to this extraordinary masterpiece of Italian art.

In 1553, Veronese was summoned to Venice where he gave free rein to his decorative talent in vast canvases that blended masterful composition, splendid contemporary costumes, and luminous colors. The Wedding Feast at Cana graced the refectory designed by Palladio for the Benedictine monastery on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore. With masterly freedom of interpretation, Veronese transposed the biblical episode to the sumptuous setting of a Venetian wedding. ~ Louvre ~

The history of the Mona Lisa is shrouded in mystery. Among the aspects which remain unclear are the exact identity of the sitter, who commissioned the portrait, how long Leonardo worked on the painting, how long he kept it, and how it came to be in the French royal collection.

The portrait may have been painted to mark one of two events – either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa’s hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her pleated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status. ~ Louvre ~

The winged goddess of Victory standing on the prow of a ship overlooked the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. This monument was probably an ex-voto offered by the people of Rhodes in commemoration of a naval victory in the early second century BC. The theatrical stance, vigorous movement, and billowing drapery of this Hellenistic sculpture are combined with references to the Classical period-prefiguring the baroque aestheticism of the Pergamene sculptors. ~ Louvre ~