Vitruvian Man
1492 · Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
Leonardo fixed Vitruvius's old problem by moving the centers, so that the navel governs the circle and the groin governs the square.
★ 8.7
The Art canon
Sourced and hung.
Every work chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 704 works or filter by movement, subject, place, and artist.
Browse all 704 works or filter by movement, subject, place, and artist.
The Tempest
1508 · Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
A soldier, a nursing woman, and lightning over the town beyond. Nobody has explained what connects them, and Giorgione died young leaving few certain works.
★ 8.6
The Assumption of the Virgin
1518 · Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice
Titian was barely thirty when Venice saw this go up over the Frari altar, the Virgin swept into a storm of red and blue.
★ 8.4
Lamentation
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Two mourners sit with their backs turned to pull us in, and the angels overhead double over. Giotto frescoed it in the Arena Chapel at Padua.
★ 8.3
The Crucifixion of Christ
1565 · Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice
Twelve meters of wall where the whole business of execution goes on at once, one thief still being hauled upright at the side.
★ 7.8
The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Torches and spears bristle against the sky, and at the still center Judas wraps Christ in his yellow cloak and meets his eye.
★ 7.6
The Last Supper (Tintoretto)
1594 · Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
The table runs off on a steep diagonal into a smoky hall where servants clear plates and the lamp smoke thickens into angels.
★ 7.6
Adoration of the Magi (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Giotto had watched Halley's Comet in 1301 and painted the Star of Bethlehem as a comet, apparently the first artist to do it.
★ 6.3
Christ Entering Jerusalem (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Boys climb the trees to break off palm branches while the procession moves along a stage-like ledge under deep blue. Padua, around 1305.
★ 6.1
The Road to Calvary (Tiepolo)
1740 · Sant'Alvise, Venice
Even the Passion gets Tiepolo's airy color and snapping banners, the whole shoving procession swept upward toward Golgotha as theater.
★ 6.1
St. George and the Princess
1438 · Sant'Anastasia (Verona), Verona
A white Gothic city, a horse shown daringly from behind, and two hanged men on a gallows in the corner of the fairy tale.
★ 6.1
The Massacre of the Innocents (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Herod gestures from a balcony while soldiers pull babies out of their mothers' arms. Giotto carries the horror on the mothers' faces alone.
★ 5.4
The Nativity (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
The Virgin lies on the hillside and turns to lay her son in the manger, looking at his face. No gold, just a cold blue sky.
★ 5.2
Ecce Homo (Matsys)
1526 · Palazzo Ducale, Venice
Christ stands with his eyes lowered while the faces around him are twisted into snarls. Matsys made ugliness do the moral work.
★ 4.8
Marriage at Cana
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
A steward tastes from a bowl and a portly servant tends the jars, and the miracle goes by almost without anyone noticing.
★ 4.6
The Ascension
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Christ's fingertips cross out of the human part of the picture and blur into light, which is the whole event in one detail.
★ 4.6