jsloan Renganeschi's Saturday Night, oil on canvas. John Sloan often explored the leisure activities of working-class women and the changing social mores of the 20th century. Here, he focused on three women who sit together at the central table of a popular Italian restaurant in New York City. In showing the women celebrating a night out on the town, he emphasized their newfound freedom to socialize in public spaces without the need for male escorts.

114 years ago

wshirlaw Self-Portrait, oil on canvas.

148 years ago

greni Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, oil on canvas. Guido Reni was the most famous and successful Italian painter of his day. This painting depicts Salome receiving the head of John the Baptist on a platter, the gruesome reward she chose for having pleased her stepfather, Herod, by performing a seductive dance. This episode from the New Testament had long been popular in Italian art thanks to its combination of religiosity, violence, and eroticism.

388 years ago

scolman Old Tower at Avignon, oil on canvas. Depicting a 14th-century fortress in southern France, Samuel Colman's Old Tower at Avignon captures the romance of the age-old structure amid sunlight, storm clouds, and reflections on the Rhône River. An accomplished landscapist, Colman began his career depicting New England scenery, as did his contemporaries among the Hudson River School, the dominant style of landscape painting in mid-19th-century America.

151 years ago

gmorland Trepanning a Recruit, oil on canvas.

236 years ago

aamcevoy Rue Winterbotham Carpenter, oil on canvas.

106 years ago

avivarini Saint Peter Martyr Exorcizing a Woman Possessed by a Devil, tempera on panel.

578 years ago

elascaux Chartres Cathedral, oil on canvas.

96 years ago

tintoretto Tarquin and Lucretia, oil on canvas.

447 years ago

cosjemillais Isolde, oil on panel.

150 years ago

lalhermitte The Harvesters, oil on canvas.

137 years ago