The Marathon Boy, 340-330 B.C.

The Marathon Boy or Ephebe of Marathon is a Greek bronze sculpture found in the Aegean Sea in the bay of Marathon in 1925.

It is conserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens where it is dated to around 340-330 BC.

The Museum suggests that the subject is the winner of an athletic competition.

Valentin de Boulogne | The Crowning with thorns, 1620

This masterpiece of Baroque naturalism is among the first known works painted by Valentin de Boulogne, Caravaggio’s most accomplished French follower and arguably his greatest acolyte.

Painted in Rome in 1615 or shortly thereafter, it shows to what extent and how quickly the Frenchman had absorbed Caravaggio’s radical innovations.

Valentin de Boulogne | The Crowning with thorns, 1620 (detail) | Sotheby's

Antonio Canova | Paolina Borghese, 1805-1808

The reclining Paolina Borghese as Venus Victrix in the center of the room holds an apple in her hand, evoking the Venus Victrix in the judgement of Paris, who was chosen to settle a dispute between Juno (power), Minerva (arts and science) and Venus (love).

The same subject was painted on the ceiling by Domenico de Angelis (1779), framed by Giovan Battista Marchetti's tromp d'oeil architecture, and was inspired by a famous relief on the façade of the Villa Medici.

This marble statue of Pauline in a highly refined pose is considered a supreme example of the Neoclassical style.

Sleeping Hermaphroditus / L'Ermafrodito dormiente

The ambivalence and voluptuous curves of this figure of Hermaphroditus, who lies asleep on a mattress sculpted by Bernini, are still a source of fascination today.

His body merged with that of the nymph Salmacis, whose advances he had rejected, Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, is represented as a bisexed figure.

The original that inspired this figure would have dated from the 2nd century BC, reflecting the late Hellenistic taste for the theatrical.

Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities: Hellenistic Art (3rd-1st centuries BC) Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities - Musée du Louvre.

Winslow Homer | Summer Night / Notte d'estate, 1890

Winslow Homer started his career as a graphic reporter during the American Civil War, before going on to paint scenes of army life and the rural world with the Naturalist precision which then prevailed in American painting.

After a stay in Paris, Homer used an Impressionist palette for a while then developed a personal style midway between Realism and Symbolism.

Summer Night perfectly expresses this synthesis and may be considered one of the first masterpieces of American art still in search of its identity.

Winslow Homer | Summer Night / Notte d'estate, 1890 | Musée d'Orsay

Lord Frederic Leighton | Cymon and Iphigenia, 1884

Cymon and Iphigenia is an oil on canvas painting by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA.

The painting does not bear a date but was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1884.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, purchased it at a Christie's auction in London in 1976.

Carlo Crivelli | Santa Maria Maddalena, 1480

With Carlo Crivelli, the so-called "International Gothic" style experienced its final flowering in Italy.

This perfectly preserved panel was painted towards the end of his career.

It served as the altarpiece of a provincial church dedicated to Mary Magdalene in the sparsely populated rural area of the Marches where Crivelli lived. | Source: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Carlo Crivelli | Mary Magdalene, 1480 | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Narcissus by Boltraffio and after Boltraffio, 1500-1510

Narcissus at the Fountain is a 1500-1510 oil-on-panel painting by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, now in the Uffizi, in Florence.

A copy is held in the National Gallery, London.

Both works show a young man in profile, interpreted as Narcissus due to his downward gaze.

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | Narcissus at the Fountain | Uffizi Gallery, Florence