Self-expression was his absolute priority ... Michelangelo: David (1502-1504)Photograph: Murdo Macleod/Staff and agenciesPainterly intensity ... Claude Monet: The Japanese Footbridge at Giverny (1918-24) Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesChivalrous dreams ... Antonio Pisanello: St George and the Princess (c1437-8) Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/PR
Enchanted environment ... Nicolas Poussin: Et in Arcadia Ego (late 1630s)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/PRIndestructibly famous ... Raphael: The Sistine Madonna (c1512-1514) Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesCrisp symbols float in a perfumed mist ... Odilon Redon: Portrait of Gauguin (1903-05)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesBleakly awaiting the end of time ... Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (1000-1650)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesUnparalleled ... Rembrandt: Self-Portrait, Holding His Palette, Brushes and Maulstick (1663)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesFragmenting movement of light ... Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Dance at La Moulin Galette (1876) Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/PRThe Maya: Portrait of King Bird Jaguar (7th-8th century)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/PRMedieval art: Gargoyles of Notre Dame (13th-19th century)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesPaleolithic art: Paintings in Lascaux cave (c13,000 years old)Photograph: Sissie Brimberg/National Geographic/GettyA masterpiece of fluid, beautifully composed sculpture ... Pheidias (and workshop?): The Parthenon frieze (c440BC-435BC)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/AgenciesAncient Middle East: Ishtar Gate from Babylon (c577BC)Photograph: Bridgeman Art Library/Agencies
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