This is perhaps the greatest painting I've ever seen in person. I trekked to NYC twice to view it's grandeur as the centerpiece of the Met's Delft show in 2001. No reproduction can come close to capturingThe Art of Painting's subtlety and luminescence. Some would argue it's not Vermeer's best work, which speaks volumes of his superlative oeuvre.

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I know, I know...all the the art critics out there cringe at this somewhat kitschy image. Yes, God the Father's head has been unceremoniously cropped off, but there is no more technically brilliant a passage than Christ's transparent body prismatically diffusing the backlighting. Dali's cloth rendering was clearly influenced by the work of Francisco de Zurbaran. I've included his Apparition of the Apostle St. Peter to St. Peter Nolasco for example.
                 

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This rather obscure work from the National Gallery captivated my interest particularly for it's Autumnal tone. You can almost feel the chilly breeze rustling through the trees.  Bocklin, a late 19th Century Swiss artist, is noted primarily for his multiple versions of "Isle of the Dead".

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Bronzino's highly theatric painting is crammed full of Mannerist figures and symbols. However, I believe it is the varied and opulent textures, in conjunction with it's mythical allusions,  that gives this work such distinctiveness.

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