-
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas is an oil on canvas painted by Caravaggio around 1601 or 1602. This painting is housed in the Sanssouci Picture Gallery in Potsdam, Germany. This painting is also known as Doubting Thomas, as is shows the skepticism of Saint Thomas about the resurrection of Jesus. This is clear in the painting, as Thomas's face shows surprise as Jesus holds his hand, guiding it to his wound. -
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Hamlet is a tragedy that was written by William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602. The play was published in Shakespeare’s First Quarto in 1603 and was first performed on stage in 1609. The play, set in Denmark, shows the revenge Prince Hamlet seeks against his uncle, Claudius, at the insistence of the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, who knows of his brother's betrayal. Hamlet is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature. -
L'Orfeo
L'Orfeo is an opera, written by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio that was composed between the Renaissance and the Baroque era. Based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, it tells the story of his descent into Hades and his futile attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back into the living world. It was written in 1607 for a court performance during Carnival. Though Monteverdi's L'Orfeo is one of the earliest operas, it is still regularly performed. -
The Loves of the Gods
The Loves of the Gods is a fresco cycle that was designed by the Bolognese artist Annibale Carracci in 1608. The frescoes are located in the Farnese Gallery, which is now the French Embassy, in Rome, Italy. The frescoes were greatly admired at the time and were later considered to illustrate a significant change in painting style as it shitted from sixteenth-century Mannerism to the style of the seventeenth century, Baroque and Classicism. -
The Entombment
The Entombment is an oil on canvas painted by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens around 1612. In the painting, Rubens depicts the moment after the Crucifixion and before the Resurrection when Christ is placed into the tomb. He is seen being supported by those closest to him in life. The Entombment was meant to make the viewer's religious experience personal and encourage the faithful to imagine the physical horror of Christ's Crucifixion. -
Saint Peter's Basilica
Construction of St. Peter’s Basilica, also called New St. Peter’s Basilica, present basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City (an enclave in Rome), was begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 under Paul V. It is designed as a three-aisled Latin cross with a dome at the crossing, directly above the high altar, which covers the shrine of St. Peter the Apostle. The edifice—the church of the popes—is a major pilgrimage site. -
Qingbian Mountains
The Qingbian Mountains is ink on a hanging paper scroll created by Chinese painter, scholar, calligrapher, and art theorist Dong Qichang of the later period of the Ming Dynasty. This painting was created around 1617 and is located in the Cleveland Museum of Art. -
Vase with Flowers
Vase with Flowers is an oil on canvas painted by Dutch artist Ambrosius Bosschaert around 1618. The painting is located in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Netherlands. Bosschaert was a pioneer in the history of Dutch still lifes and a painter of joyful flower bouquets. He had an unerring awareness of composition and delighted in combining flowers with a wide variety of colors and shapes to create a pleasing and uplifting visual experience. -
Melancholy
Melancholy is an oil on canvas painted by Italian artist Domenico Fetti around 1620, and it is housed in the Musee du Louvre in Paris. Melancholy was painted at the very end of Fetti’s life, and it is a picture touched with foreboding. Fetti’s Melancholy broods alone in a ruined and barren landscape, among gloomy, earthen colors. Her attention is focused on a skull, that inescapable emblem of mortality, reminding us that all we achieve as humans is impermanence. -
David
David is a life-size marble sculpture that was completed in 1624 by Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sculpture was commissioned to decorate the villa of Cardinal Scipione Borghe, where it still resides today as part of the Galleria Borghese. The subject of the work is the biblical David, about to throw the stone that will bring down Goliath. Compared to earlier works on the same theme, the sculpture broke new ground in its implied movement and its psychological intensity. -
Apollo and Daphne
Apollo and Daphne is a life-size Baroque marble sculpture by Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1622 and 1625. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the work depicts the climax of the story of Daphne and Apollo in Ovid's Metamorphoses. When Apollo pursued Daphne, driven by his lust, she ran away in panic, calling to her father the river God to help her. He heeded her prayer by transforming her into a laurel tree. -
Shah Mosque
The Shah Mosque, also known as Jaame' Abbasi Mosque or Imam Mosque after Iranian revolution, is a mosque in Isfahan, Iran. It was built during the Safavid Empire, ordered by Abbas I of Persia. Its construction began in 1611 and was completed in 1629, and its splendor is mainly due to the beauty of its seven-color mosaic tiles and calligraphic inscriptions. It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of Iranian architecture and an excellent example of Islamic-era architecture of Iran. -
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is an oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. The painting was completed in 1632 and is housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. The painting is regarded as one of Rembrandt's early masterpieces. In the painting, Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is pictured explaining the musculature of the arm to medical professionals. Some of the spectators are various doctors who paid commissions to be included in the painting. -
Job and his Wife
Job and his Wife is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Georges de La Tour that was started in 1632 and finished in 1635. This painting is housed in the Musee Departmental des Vosges in France. In the painting, Job is shown, having lost wealth, health, and family, sitting naked in misery, while Job’s wife makes it clear that she feels as if her husband is to blame for all their afflictions. La tour’s painting shows a husband and wife irrevocably separated by different theologies. -
The Allegory of Wealth
Wealth is an oil on canvas painting created by French artist Simon Vouet between 1630 and 1635. This painting is located in the Musee de Louvre in Paris. Baroque artists like Vouet felt very much at home with the allegory. It enabled them to create new worlds full of grandiose and imaginary personages, while still maintaining the seriousness of a moral message. Wealth is a particularly delightful example of allegory, as it shows that wealth goes beyond money and can be found in family. -
View of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil
View of Dordrecht from the Dordtse Kil is an oil on panel by Jan van Goyen and was crafted in 1644. This painting is housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Jan van Goyen, one of the greatest early Dutch landscape artists, was particularly adept at suggesting the various moods of the land in different seasons and weather conditions. The subtle range of ochers and grays, the hovering clouds, and the limpid sails create a tranquil atmosphere. -
Ecstacy of Saint Teresa
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is the central white marble sculpture set in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. It was designed and completed between 1647 and 1652 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an Italian sculptor who also designed the setting of the Chapel in marble, stucco, and paint. It is generally considered to be one of the sculptural masterpieces of the High Roman Baroque era. It pictures Teresa of Ávila. -
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 42-acre complex. Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643, but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects and cost an estimated 32 million rupees. -
Las Meninas
Las Meninas is an oil on canvas painting by Diego Velazquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. The painting was completed in 1656 and is housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. At the most basic level, the painting is a group portrait. At the same time, it is a painting about art, illusion, reality. Because of these complexities, Las Meninas has been one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting -
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil on canvas painting completed by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer around 1665. It is a tronie of a girl with a headscarf and a pearl earring. The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Netherlands, since 1902. In 2014, Dutch astrophysicist Vincent Icke raised doubts about the material of the earring and argued that it looks more like polished tin than pearl based on reflection and size. -
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem written in blank verse by English poet John Milton. The first version of the poem, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. It is considered to be Milton's major work by critics, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men.” -
Palace of Versailles
First built by Louis XIII in 1623 as a hunting lodge of brick and stone, the edifice of the Palace of Versailles was enlarged into a royal palace by Louis XIV. The first phase of the expansion, between 1661 and 1678, was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau. It culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which encompassed Louis XIII's original building on the north, south, and west. -
The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, and it has also been cited as the first novel written in English. The book is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator. The allegory's protagonist, Christian, is an everyman character, and the plot centers on his journey from his hometown, the "City of Destruction," to the "Celestial City." -
Perseus Turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone
Perseus Turning Phineas and his Followers to Stone is a oil on canvas painting created by Italian artist Luca Giordano. The painting was created in the early 1680s and is located in the National Gallery in London. This painting depicts the story of Greek hero Perseus and his rescued love Andromeda. Giordano's painting is romantic drama, the epic, the blockbuster, brought miraculously to life with enormous boldness. -
Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. It is thought that Purcell’s opera was composed around 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her. A monumental work in Baroque opera, Dido and Aeneas is remembered as one of Purcell's foremost theatrical works.
