The Nightmare
Artist: William Raddon, after Henry Fuseli
A docent-led reading of William Raddon's 1827 etching and engraving after Henry Fuseli's composition The Nightmare, showing a sleeping woman, a crouching demon and a ghostly horse's head.
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The Birth of Venus
Artist: Sandro Botticelli
A docent-led reading of Botticelli's Birth of Venus in tempera on canvas, circa 1485. The tour follows Venus's arrival on Cyprus, the winds and the waiting figure, and explains how the shell, the gilded hair and the flowering cloak carry the painting's celebration of love and beauty.
The Card Players
Artist: Paul Cézanne
A docent-led reading of Cézanne's Courtauld painting of two farm workers absorbed in a card game, and how its pared-down composition carries the artist's attachment to Provence.
Self Portrait at the Age of 63
Artist: Rembrandt
Rembrandt painted himself in the final months of his life, at sixty-three, in a work whose concentrated surface, shadowed background, and ambiguous half-smile have made it one of his most discussed late self-portraits. This short tour looks closely at what he chose to put in, what he painted out, and how the National Gallery's curators read the result.
Wheatfield with Crows
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
A docent-led reading of Van Gogh's wide, stormy wheatfield at Auvers-sur-Oise, built from the Van Gogh Museum's object record and curatorial interpretation. The account distinguishes the painting's documented subject and colour structure from the popular legend that it was his farewell, and explains what the museum does and does not support.
The Gates of Hell
Artist: Auguste Rodin
A docent-led look at Rodin's monumental bronze portal at the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, where figures of the damned crowd around a seated thinker and three shades. The article distinguishes what is visible from what is documented and what remains uncertain about this particular cast.
Showing 55 to 60 of 156 artworks.