Portrait of Isabella d’Este in her sixties, by Titian. Originally, Titian painted a more aged Isabella, but she was so displeased with it that she made him repaint it so that she appeared forty years younger.
François de Nomé
St. Paul Preaching to the Athenians
These scenes from earliest Christian history are set amid fantasy architecture, mysteriously lit under dark skies. The small scale of the figures makes the buildings seem enormous. De Nomé has imagined ancient streetscapes of Athens and Jerusalem as lined with sculpture and rich architectural ornament. In the scene of St. Paul preaching, a circular pagan temple stands next to a lavish entrance to a synagogue, with a statue of Moses at the left that appears to be adapted from the famous Well of Moses of 1395-1404 by Claus Sluter in Dijon. De Nomé’s mixture of classical and late medieval Gothic elements from his homeland adds to the uniqueness and eccentricity of the compositions. The small size of the copper plates and the complexity of the compositions call attention to the artist’s virtuosity and skill.
Artist - Jean Fouquet (1420–1480)
Portrait of Charles VII
Circa 1445 to 1450
Oil on panel
The Wedding of the Duke of Joyeuse and Marguerite of Lorraine, 1581
The painting depicts the wedding ball of the Duke of Joyeuse and Marguerite of Lorraine, in Paris on 24 September 1581. Joyeuse was the favourite of King Henry III of France, and Marguerite was the sister of Henry’s wife, Queen Louise of Lorraine. According to the description of this picture in the 1988 catalogue of the Armada Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, the newlyweds are depicted in the centre; to the left sits Henry III beside Catherine de’ Medici and his wife, Queen Louise; behind them stand the dukes of Guise, Mayenne, and d’ Epernon (Armada, London: Penguin, 1988, ISBN 0140103015).
Edward IV York (1442-1483)
Circa 1520, posthumous portrait from original circa 1470-1475
