Old Masters: A journey through 16th- and 17th-Century European painting

Between the 16th and 17th centuries, European painting broadened its scope and redefined its expressive possibilities. Court portraiture perfected the depiction of rank and authority; naturalism introduced a new immediacy to the human figure; and in the former Low Countries, still life and architectural painting established themselves as genres in their own right. These transformations were complemented by other forms of pictorial innovation, in which the fantastic, the grotesque, and the everyday coexisted with religious subjects. Behind this diversity lay distinct political, social, and economic realities, which shaped both the preferences of patrons and the production and circulation of the