Objects, images, descriptions and audio guide.
Two magnificent lions arrived at a pond, and the male turns back, sensing that something has alerted the deer. From a hunting lodge, a princess aims her musket in their …
Two figures sit conversing in a thatched cottage. This painting illustrates two poetic lines: My guest came to sit beyond the dust, In a narrow room, we talked about the…
At the age of 22, Bonington achieved overnight success at the official (state sponsored) Paris exhibition known as Salon. Two years later, in 1826, he journeyed to Venic…
A king enjoys a stormy evening in the women’s quarters of the palace. A woman guards the door; another holds the royal fly whisk. He gestures toward two women playing in…
Eastman Johnson portrayed Genio Scott (1806–1879) as a gentleman of means wearing an informal, yet stylish robe in his New York residence. Scott had a successful career …
The Sat Sai is a poetry collection describing the beauty of women in a range of emotional states. The heroine of this poem sits against a tree that is in full flower. No…
Cazin exhibited this painting at the Paris Salon of 1876, marking the start of his official career. It depicts a boatyard in the artist's native Boulogne, a port city on…
This young man is possibly a member of the Sforza household, the ruling family of Milan during the Renaissance. He wears a plaquette on his hat indicating his nobility a…
This handscroll shows the second half of an odd tale in which a ne’er-do-well seeks the path to quick fortune and learns the art of musical flatulence. Prior to a major …
This portrait both testifies to Goya’s friendship with Cuervo and presents the sitter as a cutting-edge intellectual. Director of the Royal Academy of San Fernando, the …
Before a rustic inn, a group of villagers converse, embrace, and dance to a bagpiper’s tune. Teniers was one of many Netherlandish artists whose paintings celebrate the …
Located about 40 miles north of New York City, Haverstraw Bay is the widest point on the Hudson River. During the 1860s, it was a prime area for shad fishing, and Giffor…
Susuki grass has a seasonal association with autumn in the Japanese visual and literary tradition. It is one of the “Seven Flowers of Autumn,” along with bush clover, ar…
The twenty paintings in this double album by Chen Hongshou include landscapes, figures, and flowers. It also has one leaf featuring a woman, an often-used subject not fo…
One day the king’s son caught sight of a woman washing her hair and fell in love with her. She was actually a Brahmin, a Hindu priest, who had a magic pearl of transform…
Bacher was the first artist from Cleveland to achieve international renown, and this portrait of his wife exemplifies the Impressionist style he adopted after studying i…
Painted at age 68, this landscape is one of Xiao Yuncong’s most mature works. Extraordinary in its combination of fine details with bold brushstrokes and bluish washes, …
During the 1880s, the Netherlands became a magnet for several American artists, among them Walter MacEwen. His most famed painting, The Ghost Story , presents a group of…
The hustle and bustle of eager customers in a crowded bistro is captured in this painting. One can almost hear the loud chatter and shouts of orders being called to the …
The poem written on the painting comes from The Tales of Ise , a 10th-century poetic narrative of love: In autumn the wild geese cry And chrysanthemums are in flower, Ye…
In this late afternoon view of Boston Harbor, Lane masterfully evoked the diffuse quality of sunlight reflecting off water. The artist was a son of a shipbuilder, so per…
Henry Raeburn created this likeness of fellow Edinburgh native Hugh Hope before Hope departed for India, where he worked as a civil servant for the renowned East India C…
Radha appears in the center, applying an ornament in the mirror. She and her friends do not realize that Krishna is watching from a second-story window. Her attendants h…
The Hindu festival of Holi, which celebrates the arrival of spring, is a time of play that encourages reckless joy and abandon. The women cheekily dress Krishna as one o…