Collection · Lesser-known paintings

Hidden Masterpieces: Paintings You Won’t Find in Every Top Ten

Everyone knows the Mona Lisa. Fewer people have met Odysseus’s old dog Argos, a smiling Devil from Kraków or a young man playing chess against Satan for his soul. These are the paintings our readers keep discovering: strong stories, painters history half forgot, and pictures that look as good on a wall today as when they were made. Each one has a full essay and a print.

The paintings

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   1

   Argos and Odysseus

   Briton Riviere

   Briton Riviere's 1872 painting shows Homer's saddest scene: after 20 years away, the only one who recognizes Odysseus is his dying dog, Argos.

   Read the essayGet a print
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   2

   Allegory of Satan

   Ludwik Stasiak · National Museum in Kraków

   Ludwik Stasiak's 1900 Devil has no horns or fire, just a crown, a smile, and a throne built from the skulls of church, crown, and army.

   Read the essayGet a print
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   3

   Le Precurseur

   Eugene Trigoulet · Musée Paul-Dini

   Trigoulet's Le Precurseur (1894): the beheading of John the Baptist, a cross of blood, a head that shines, and where to see the painting.

   Read the essayGet a print
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   4

   The Chess Players

   Moritz Retzsch

   Moritz Retzsch's The Chess Players, known as Checkmate: a young man plays the Devil for his soul, and the legend of one more move.

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   5

   The Literary Quintet

   Wilhelm Menzler

   Wilhelm Menzler's The Literary Quintet (1910): five women on a garden terrace, one reading aloud. What the painting shows and why.

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   6

   Perseus and Andromeda

   Charles Napier Kennedy

   Kennedy's Perseus and Andromeda (1890) paints Ovid's rescue as a kiss above the slain sea monster. The myth, the details and the print.

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7. 
   7

   Christ on the Cross

   Carl Bloch · Frederiksborg Castle

   Carl Bloch’s Christ on the Cross (1870), oil on copper for the Frederiksborg oratory after the 1859 fire.

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   8

   Jesus and Peter on the Water

   Gustave Brion

   Discover Gustave Brion’s dramatic 1863 painting of Jesus rescuing Peter from the stormy sea and the meaning behind its powerful imagery.

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   9

   The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism

   Gustave Dore · Art Gallery of Hamilton

   Gustave Dore's 1868 Triumph of Christianity over Paganism - Christ, falling gods, and a huge allegory now at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

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    10

    The Lamplighter

    Erik Henningsen

    Erik Henningsen's The Lamplighter (c. 1895): a Copenhagen street at dusk, one worker lighting the lamp while the city keeps walking.

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    11

    Heaven and Hell

    Octave Tassaert

    Tassaert's Heaven and Hell (c. 1850), Cleveland Museum of Art: angel, demon and a woman who may be France after 1848. What it shows and means.

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    12

    Shipwrecked (Náufragos)

    Joaquín Bárbara y Balza · Prado

    Bárbara y Balza's Shipwrecked (1896): a fisherman beside his drowned companions. What it shows, Spanish social realism, where to see it.

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    13

    Adieu!

    Alfred Guillou

    Alfred Guillou's Adieu! (1892), Quimper: a Breton fisherman's last kiss to his drowned son in a shipwreck. What it shows and the painter behind it.

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    14

    Alcibiades Being Taught by Socrates

    François-André Vincent · Musée Fabre

    Vincent's Alcibiades Being Taught by Socrates (Musée Fabre): what the painting shows, who the two men were, and why the lesson failed.

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    15

    Pyramus and Thisbe

    Pierre Gautherot

    Gautherot's Pyramus and Thisbe (1799): Ovid's story of the Babylonian lovers, what the painting shows, and its link to Romeo and Juliet.

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    16

    Vanitas Still Life

    François van Daellen · National Gallery of Art

    François van Daellen’s Vanitas Still Life (c. 1650): skull, femur, books, and candle smoke in a postcard-sized Dutch cabinet picture at the NGA.

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    17

    The Meeting on the Turret Stairs

    Frederic William Burton · National Gallery of Ireland

    Frederic William Burton's 1864 watercolour, voted Ireland's favourite painting, freezes a doomed farewell from a medieval Danish ballad.

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    18

    Diogenes and Alexander

    Giovan Battista Langetti · Querini Stampalia

    Langetti's Diogenes and Alexander in Venice: the Cynic who told the king to move out of his sun, the tenebrosi and the story behind it.

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