Gustave Courbet | Jo, La Belle Irlandaise, 1866

Gustave Courbet | Jo, the Beautiful Irishwoman | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The "beautiful Irishwoman" depicted in this painting is Joanna Hiffernan (born 1842/43), mistress and model of the artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)🎨, and perhaps subsequently Courbet’s lover.

Although dated 1866, the picture was likely undertaken in 1865, when the two men painted together at the French seaside resort of Trouville; Courbet wrote of "the beauty of a superb redhead whose portrait I have begun".

He would paint three repetitions with minor variations. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802) | Drawings

Gaetano Gandolfi🎨 was a painter, draughtsman, sculptor and etcher of the late Baroque and early Neoclassic period, active in Bologna, part of an Italian family of artists.

As a student at the Accademia Clementina he won two medals🎨 for sculpture and four medals for his drawings.

Throughout his life he remained actively involved in the affairs of the Accademia Clementina, where he taught a class in life drawing. He was a gifted draughtsman, and his drawings were highly prized by contemporary collectors.

Paul Cézanne al Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paul Cézanne | Giocatori di carte, 1890-92

Tra il 1890-1896, Cézanne intraprese un ambizioso progetto di pittura dedicato al tema dei giocatori di carte. Arruolò dei contadini delle terre di famiglia, vicino ad Aix-en-Provence, come modelli.

Basandosi su numerosi studi preparatori, l’artista realizzò cinque composizioni che ampliano, sfidandole, le raffigurazioni tradizionali di questo tema, popolare fin dal Seicento. Pare che questa tela sia stata la prima della serie.

Dopo aver dipinto una successiva versione di grandezza doppia rispetto alla prima che comprendeva una nuova figura, un bambino in piedi, nelle tre versioni seguenti Cézanne eliminò i particolari superflui, raffigurando soltanto due giocatori, che si affrontano a viso duro attraverso il tavolo. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Giovanni Bellini | Madonna and Child, 1470

Artist: Giovanni Bellini🎨 (Italian High Renaissance painter, ca.1430-1516)

Date:ca. 1470

Medium: Tempera, oil, and gold on wood

Dimensions: 21 1/4 x 15 3/4 in. (54 x 40 cm) (31 x 26 inches framed)

Classification: Paintings

Current location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This early work by the Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini, reveals the profound influence of his brother-in-law, the Paduan master Andrea Mantegna🎨, both in the figure types and the inclusion of the garland.

Guido Cagnacci | The Death of Cleopatra, 1645-55

Artist: Guido Cagnacci (Italian, Santarcangelo di Romagna 1601-1663 Vienna)

Date: ca. 1645-55

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 37 3/8 × 29 1/2 in. (95 × 75 cm)

Current location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue in Gallery 637

The subject, from Plutarch's Lives (1st century A.D.), is Cleopatra's suicide by an asp bite following the defeat of her beloved Mark Antony at the battle of Actium.

It provided Guido Cagnacci (Italian Baroque Era painter, 1601-1663) with an erotically charged and emotionally engaging action that appealed to the Baroque🎨 imagination, whether in poetry, theater or painting.

Claude Monet | Palm trees at Bordighera, 1884 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monet first visited Italy’s southern coast with Renoir in December 1883. Shortly thereafter, he returned alone to paint, writing his dealer that working "à deux" was constraining.

This scene and The Valley of the Nervia reflect Monet’s excitement at the new motifs offered by the region’s palm trees and mountains. For this view, he ventured from his hotel in Bordighera and looked across the Bay of Ventimiglia toward the Alps on the French border.

The dazzling colors challenged him to "dare to use all the tones of pink and blue", although what he truly needed was a "palette of diamonds and jewels". | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Alfred Stevens | In the Studio, 1888

The beautiful sitters, art along the walls, open portfolio, and prominent mirror symbolize the artistic practice of Stevens, who was celebrated for his portrayals of chic and charming women.

On the easel is his painting of the biblical temptress Salomé (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels).

The female protagonists of In the Studio pose a counterpoint to the male-dominated French art world, which presented many barriers to women artists, and particularly those undertaking ambitious figural subjects.

Stevens encouraged the careers of a number of women pupils and colleagues, most notably the sculptor and actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923).| © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Claude Monet | Le Parc Monceau, 1876

Situated on the boulevard de Courcelles in Paris and surrounded by fashionable town houses, the Parc Monceau was planned in the late eighteenth century in the form of an English garden.

Monet painted three views of the park in the spring of 1876.

This one, shown at the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, focuses on the swaths of green grass and blooming trees.

The building visible at left in this painting also appears in two works from 1878, including one in the Museum’s collection. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Claude Monet | The Parc Monceau, 1876 | Metropolitan Museum of Art