One elder presses a finger to his lips while Susanna turns on her seat and lifts her face upward. In Susanna and the Elders by Peter Paul Rubens, her extended leg crosses the foreground as the two men lean close behind her. They are judges threatening to accuse her of adultery unless she agrees to […]
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A small island, a neoclassical temple, and columns reflected in the water: the Temple of Asclepius is a distinctive stop on a walk through Villa Borghese in Rome. Also known as the Temple of Aesculapius, it looks ancient but was built in the 18th century as part of the park’s landscape garden.
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A young woman holds a small unicorn against her lap, its single horn rising beside her red sleeve. Raphael’s Lady with a Unicorn, also known as Portrait of a Young Woman with a Unicorn, is a portrait in Rome’s Borghese Gallery. Before twentieth-century restoration, the same woman appeared as Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
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Caravaggio’s Boy with a Basket of Fruit, in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, shows a young man holding a wicker basket filled with fruit and leaves. His head tilts to one side, and his loose white shirt leaves one shoulder bare. Light catches his face, shoulder, and the fruit, while shadows separate the grapes and folds of fabric.
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Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath, displayed in Room 8 of the Borghese Gallery in Rome, shows the young David holding Goliath’s severed head by the hair. His sword is lowered, and his gaze rests on the defeated giant.
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Caravaggio’s Young Sick Bacchus shows a young man wearing an ivy wreath and holding green grapes. His body turns away while his face looks toward the viewer. Light catches his bare shoulder against the dark background.
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Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love shows two similar-looking women beside a carved stone sarcophagus filled with water. One wears a white dress; the other is nude, with drapery across her lap and a lamp raised in one hand. Between them, Cupid stirs the water.
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Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit shows a wicker basket filled with fruit and leaves, set against a pale background. The basket projects slightly over the ledge beneath it, while blemished fruit and curling leaves interrupt the impression of abundance. These details give the still life its tension between ripeness and decay.
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The Apollo of Veii, also known as Apulu, is an Etruscan statue made of painted terracotta around 510–500 BCE. It depicts Apollo advancing toward Heracles in a dispute over a sacred deer. Originally placed on the roof of the Temple of Minerva at Veii, the statue formed part of a larger mythological scene.
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La Fornarina by Raphael is a Renaissance portrait painted around 1520 and housed at Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Its title is commonly translated as “the baker’s daughter.” The woman is traditionally identified as Margherita Luti, Raphael’s reputed lover.
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