From 1535 To 1568

The 16th century was a time of great change in the world of art. Artists began to explore new techniques and styles, and the traditional rules of art were challenged. This period saw the rise of some of the most famous artists in history, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. It was also a time of great religious and political upheaval, which had a profound impact on the art of the time.

Saber

    This saber is fitted with one of the finest and best-preserved Islamic blades of the sixteenth century.
    The gold-inlaid decoration consists of Qur'anic inscriptions that stress the sovereignty of God and the wisdom and power of his servant Solomon.
    These appear to be clever allusions to the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

"Farhad Carves a Milk Channel for Shirin", Folio 74 from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami of Ganja

    Shirin has an ardent admirer in the talented sculptor and stonemason, Farhad.
    When Shirin desires milk from a herd of goats that graze in a distant field, Farhad sets to work cutting a channel from the goats' mountain pastureland to a pool at the foot of Shirin's palace.
    In this painting, Shirin visits Farhad upon his completion of the pool.
   At the very top of the composition, a goat cavorts in its hillside home

Fish Market

    This painting was created in 1568 and is a still life painting.
    The painting was created during the Iconoclasm, which disrupted the art market and motivated a change from purely religious to more secular themes.
    The painting is a celebration of the flourishing fish industry and also has a moralizing subtext.

The Holy Family

    The Joos van Cleve Netherlandish, Cleve ca.
   1485 - 1540/41 Antwerp and his workshop were prolific in their creation of depictions of the Holy Family
    Of the many versions of this subject produced by the master and his studio, the Lehman picture can be placed within a smaller subgroup featuring a landscape view behind Saint Joseph as well as an upright Christ Child.
    The Joos van Cleve workshop and their followers included subtle - and sometimes more dramatic - variations on this popular scene, other examples of which can be seen in the Met's collection

Portrait of a Man

    One of Tintoretto's finest formal portraits, this painting depicts an unknown sitter now believed to be a German or Flemish merchant living in Venice.
    His bowl-cut hairstyle and clean-shaven cheeks distinguish him from bearded Italian contemporaries.
    Seated in an X-frame Savonarola chair, he strikes a commanding presence gazing directly at the viewer.

The Last Supper

    Commissioned by Claude d'Urfé, Ambassador of the King of France to the Council of Trent.
    Executed by Fra Damiano da Bergamo and his assistants in the Convent of San Domenico at Bologna, and set up in the Chapel of the Château de la Bastie d'Urfé, near Lyons.
    The altarpiece, representing the Last Supper, is signed by Fra Damiano and dated 1548.

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

    The Jewish heroine Judith presents the severed head of the Assyrian general who besieged her city, having seduced and then beheaded him with his own sword.
    Appropriately, she is "dressed to kill" and wears an elaborate contemporary costume that would have appealed to Cranach's courtly patrons.
    The painter and his workshop produced several versions of this successful composition, which contrasts the gruesome head and the serene beauty of the biblical heroine.
   At the lower right is Cranach's insignia:a crowned winged serpent with a ring in its mouth

Christ's Descent into Hell