Smart Secrets Of Great Paintings

In 1514 in Antwerp Quentin Metsys put the finishing touches to "The Gold Weigher and his Wife", depicting the intimacy of a currency exchange counter. This oil on panel, housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, appears at first glance to be a genre scene.

Painted only 7 years after the July revolution of 1848, 'L'atelier du peintre' by Gustave Courbet reflects his own very critical vision of the society of the time. Through a pronounced realism, the painter denounces the authoritarian power of Napoleon III...

Asnières, at the end of the 19th century, has the air of a seaside resort: an atmosphere well restored by Seurat, who also catches the upheavals of his time. Asnières is an industrial suburb west of Paris, irrigated by the Seine. Young workers spend their free time by the river. This is the first of Seurat's great compositions, which he finished at the age of 24.

The first miracle of Christ, turning water into wine, is transposed in Paolo Veronese's painting, "The Wedding at Cana", into a Venetian banquet. The painter's independence from Rome and the pope was sanctioned by the Inquisition, that decided to prohibit the unbridled display of his art...

A decade after the end of the Hundred Years' War, in Tours, where Charles VII had set up his court, Jean Fouquet produced a miniature inspired by the martyrdom of Saint Apolline, displaying a medieval universe of pain and violence, but with a distancing that already heralded the Renaissance.

In 1571, while the War of Religion is tearing France apart, François Clouet paints "A Lady in Her Bath". Through his technique and the choice of colors, he gives a peaceful image of his time. Official painter of Charles IX, Clouet sets lasting and drastic beauty standards...