Allegory of Painting

Frans van Mieris the Elder, Pictura (An Allegory of Painting), Dutch, 1661, Oil on copper, 12.7 x 8.9 cm

I'm always drawn to paintings where the subject is painting itself. 

Source: Source: J. Paul Getty Museum

Swan in Action

Jan Asselyn (?)  The Threatened Swan, c. 1650 Oil on canvas, 144 x 171 cm 

Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Nocturne Scene

Oswald Achenbach, Fireworks in Naples, 1875 Oil on canvas, 66 x 102 cm 

The term 'Old Masters' typically refers to painters active prior to 1800*. This painting is from 1875. 

Source: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Salomon Adler with Jeweled and Feathered Hat

Salomon Adler, Self-Portrait, c. 1650

Musical Moment

Dirck van Baburen, Man Playing a Jew's Harp, 1621. Oil on canvas, 65 x 53 cm

Source: Centraal Museum, Utrecht

Painters Self-Portrait and Painting within Painting

Pieter Jansz van Asch, Self-Portrait,  Oil on panel, 52 x 44 cm.

Painting within painting.

Source: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch Vessels on the Sea at Amsterdam, c. 1708 Oil on canvas, 66 x 80 cm.

Tempestuous clouds looming over cutting edge sea vessels of the early 18th century.

Source: Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Jacob van Ruisdael, Landscape with a Wheatfield

Jacob van Ruisdael, Landscape with a Wheatfield, Dutch, about late 1650s - early 1660s, Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 18 in.

This 17th century work by Jacob van Ruisdael seems to anticipate the later work of American painter Thomas Hart Benton, with its serpentine handling of the wheat fields and winding roads.

Source: Source: J. Paul Getty Museum

The Evolution of Family

Johann Zoffany, John, Fourteenth Lord Willoughby de Broke, and his Family, English, about 1766, Oil on canvas, 40 1/8 x 50 1/8 in.

Note the Romantic landscape painting. A painting within a painting.

Source: Source: J. Paul Getty Museum

Expressions, Joseph Decruex's Self-Portrait

Joseph Ducreux, Self-Portrait, Yawning, 1783, Oil on canvas, 46 3/8 x 35 3/4 in.

Source: J. Paul Getty Museum

Tiepolo and Alexander the Great

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Alexander the Great and Campaspe in the Studio of Apelles, 1740. Oil on canvas

Source: J. Paul Getty Museum