From the mysterious 30,000-year-old cave paintings to more recent works, KUADROS chose the most important works of art in history and where in the world they can be admired.
1. Leonardo da Vinci - The Fetus in the Womb (1510-13 AD)
In the Fetus in the Uterus Leonardo expresses the human condition in a few words. In fact, his interpretation of the womb resembles a split horse-chestnut nut. Inside is the beginning of naked humanity. Five hundred years ago, this artist and scientist was able to portray the human mystery with a wonder that is not religious but biological and that he considers humanity as a fact of nature. It is for some critics one of the most beautiful works of art in the world.
2. Caravaggio - The Beheading Of Saint John The Baptist (1608 AD)
In The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Caravaggio shows a moment of assassination in a prison courtyard. The executioner has drawn a knife to cut the last sinews and skin from John the Baptist's neck. A person watches from a barred window at the horrifying moment. Around him is sepulchral gloom. In the painting Caravaggio explicitly shows human cruelty.
Purchase a reproduction of The Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist at the Kuadros store.
3. Self Portrait With Two Circles - Rembrandt
In Rembrandt's Self-Portrait in Two Circles the viewer is looking at Rembrandt , while he is also looking at him. It seems to be looking into the soul of the viewer and sensing every flaw, even judging you. This is one of the most extraordinary examples of the largest series of self-portraits ever painted, perhaps the crowning achievement of one of the most celebrated artists in the European tradition.
Acquire a reproduction of the Self-Portrait with Two Circles in the Kuadros store
4. Chauvet Cave Paintings (30,000 BC)
Who painted these realistic animal portraits?
What is known is that from very early on Homo Sapiens made clear his intellect and his taste for art. Our ancestors left their mark with these paintings that are as beautiful and clever as any masterpiece created since.
5. Las Meninas - Diego Velazquez (AD 1656)
For more than 350 years, art lovers have been fascinated by Las Meninas . This oil painting by Diego Velázquez is a nuanced depiction of life at the court of King Philip IV of Spain. It is perhaps one of the most important paintings in the entire history of Western art. This 1656 masterpiece continues to influence artists today.
Acquire a reproduction of Las Meninas in the Kuadros store
6. The Prisoners - Michelangelo (1519-34 AD)
Michelangelo's Prisoners or Slaves were commissioned for the tomb of Pope Julius II, but were never completed. The ensemble, including the dying and rebellious slaves in the Louvre, along with the statue of Moses in the final, reduced version of the tomb finally erected in Rome, is the world's largest unfinished masterpiece. But Michelangelo did not leave things unfinished out of laziness. You see in the prisoners the struggle to get out of the rough stone, in a unique expression of the human condition.
7. Sculpture of Khafre (2800 BC)
The painter Francis Bacon concluded that the ancient Egyptians were the best artists of all, and Kuadros agrees with him. No work supports that claim better than this sculpture of Pharaoh Khafre, in black diorite with white veins, his head embraced by the falcon god Horus. The sculpture possesses a concentrated force and unmatched presence for 5,000 years.
8. Riace warriors (mid 5th century BC)
The Riace Warriors, also called the Riace Bronzes, are two life-size Greek bronze statues of naked, bearded warriors. The statues were discovered by Stefano Mariottini in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Riace Marina, Italy, on August 16, 1972.
The statues are currently in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in the Italian city of Reggio Calabria.
9. The School Of Athens - Raphael Sanzio
Raphael's fresco The School of Athens has come to symbolize the union of art, philosophy, and science that was a hallmark of the Italian Renaissance. Painted between 1509 and 1511, it is located in the first of the four rooms designed by Raphael, the Stanza della Segnatura
Acquire a reproduction of The School of Athens in the Kuadros shop
10. The Trevi Fountain
At 26 meters high and 20 meters wide, in the Baroque style, built in the 18th century, this fountain in Rome, Italy, is one of the largest of its kind. The god Neptune is led by his chariot and his minions on either side. The reading of the animals symbolizes the serenity and pure spontaneity of the sea.
Kuadros fans thank Salvi, who started the work, and Pannini, who finished it in 1762, for gifting us with this marvelous work of art of incalculable beauty.
KUADROS, a famous painting on your wall.
