Great Paintings OF All Time

Leda and the Swan (Correggio)

Leda and the Swan is an oil on canvas painting from 1530–31 by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows three scen...

Leda and the Swan is an oil on canvas painting from 1530–31 by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows three scenes of Leda's seduction by Jupiter who has taken the form of a swan. Their first meeting is shown on the right hand side and their lovemaking in the centre, where Leda sits with the swan between her thighs, guiding him with her left hand. They are accompanied to their left by Cupid with his bow and two cupids with flutes. The third scene (again on the right hand side) is the swan flying away whilst Leda gets dressed. Leda and the Swan was a common subject in 16th-century art.

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The Hunt Breakfast (Courbet)

The Hunt Breakfast is a large oil on canvas painting completed in 1858 by the French Realism painter Gustave Courbet which is now in the collection of...

The Hunt Breakfast is a large oil on canvas painting completed in 1858 by the French Realism painter Gustave Courbet which is now in the collection of the Wallraf–Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany. It was painted in Germany during a long stay by the artist in Frankfurt and has probably never left the country. The picture depicts an al fresco meal by a deer hunting party and is an early example of the Realism genre of which Courbet was a pioneer. Realism demanded that such genuine events, as distinct from highly structured imaginary mythological or religious compositions, should be faithfully recorded, as it was in this case.

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