Leonardo

I would be interested in seeing more of the works of da Vinci. I saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre many years ago. I saw the Ginevra de' Benci portrait in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. a few years ago. The picture below does not do it justice — it is much brighter and more luminescent, especially in the flesh tones.

Ginevra de' Benci

Of his paintings:
The Annunciation in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Benoi Madonna and the Madonna Litta in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Mona Lisa, the Virgin of the Rocks, Saint John the Baptist, La belle ferronnière and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Louvre
Lady with an Ermine in the National Museum, Kraków
Virgin of the Rocks in the National Gallery, London
The Madonna of the Yarnwinder in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Of his unfinished paintings:
The Adoration of the Magi in the Uffizi
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness in the Vatican Museum
Portrait of a Musician in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan

Of his drawings:
Portrait of Isabella d'Este in the Louvre
Head of a Woman in the Galleria Nazionale, Parma
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London


His famous self-portrait of 1510 is in the Royal Library in Turin.

See a list of his works on Wikipedia.

Salvador Dali

Though Dali is mostly known for his surrealist images of dripping clocks, exploded figures and juxtaposed items, he occasionally painted a realistic depiction.
I have a print of one of his still-lifes: The Basket of Bread. It shows his great talent in stylized realism. This is not the mere photographic reproduction found in super-realist art, but is an essentialized depiction.

The Basket of Bread

Many of his paintings are located in two museums: St. Petersburg, Florida and Figueres, Catalonia in Spain. The famous "Persistence of Memory" (aka, the melting clocks) is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Contemporary Realist Artists

There are an increasing number of talented contemporary artists. One is Linda Mann who specializes in still lifes.

Her website shows many of her works and a discussion of her creative process.

John William Waterhouse

Another great of the 19th century was John William Waterhouse, known notably for The Lady of Shalott, Cleopatra, Dolce far Niente, Ophelia, Miranda, Ulysses and the Sirens, and The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius.

There is an excellent biography of Waterhouse on the Art Renewal website, and a good gallery of his works on Wikipedia.

The Lady of Shalott

Dolce far Niente

The Favourites of Emperor Honorius

A touring Waterhouse exhibition was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2009. Of the many paintings there, the ones I particularly remember seeing are The Lady of Shalott, Dolce far Niente, and The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius.

Photos courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The great academic painter of the 19th century was William-Adolphe Bouguereau, known notably for The Birth of Venus, The Rapture of Psyche, Seated Bather, Young Girl Defending Herself against Eros, Charity, Nymphs and Satyr, Le Repos, The Nut Gatherers, Evening Mood, Temptation, and The Bohemian.

He was ignored through most of the 20th century, though there was increasing interest beginning in the late 20th century to today.

From Bouguereau and the Real 19th Century by Fred Ross:
"In 1900 at the Universal Exposition in Paris, it is reported that Degas and Monet were approached by a newspaper reporter who asked who, in their opinion, would most likely be considered the greatest 19th century French artist in the year 2000. After a brief debate, both agreed on one man - William Bouguereau."

There is an excellent biography of Bouguereau on the Art Renewal website. An extensive catalogue of his works can be found on the Wikimedia page.

The Shepherdess

Locations by country:

BELGIUM
Bather - Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Gent

POLAND
Venus and Cupid - Museum of John Paul II Collection, Warsaw

ARGENTINA
The Toilet of Venus - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires

JAPAN
Little Girl - National Museum of Western Art, Taito

FRANCE
A Bacchant and a Goat - Musee des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
The Day of the Dead - Musee des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
Head of a Woman - Musee d'Hazebrouck, Hazebrouck
Saint Louis Rendering Justice - Basilique Sainte-Clotilde, Paris
Spring - Basilique Sainte-Clotilde, Paris
Disdain - École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Portrait of Charles Garnier - École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Study for 'Zenobia Found by Shepherds on the Banks of the Araxes' - École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Half Length Figure - École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Birth of Venus - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Study for 'Orestes Pursued by the Furies' - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Compassion! - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Regina Angelorum - Musee du Petit Palais, Paris
Equality before Death - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
The Oreads - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Zenobia Found by Shepherds on the Banks of the Araxes - Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris
The Flagellation of Our Lord Jesus Christ - Cathedral of La Rochelle, La Rochelle
Odysseus and Eurycleia - Musee des beaux-arts de La Rochelle, La Rochelle
The Virgin of Consolation - Les Musees de la Ville de Strasbourg, Strasbourg
Thérésa - Musee des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes

AUSTRALIA
The Seated Madonna - Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

CANADA
Portrait of the Artist - Montreal Museum of Arts, Montréal, PQ

USA
The Nymphaeum - The Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA
Portrait of Monsieur M. - Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA
The Broken Pitcher - The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
The Virgin with Angels - Museum at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Glendale, CA
Young Shepherdess - San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
Manon Lescaut - Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Donkey Ride - Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
Daydreams - Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
The Little Knitter - Appleton Museum of Art, Florida University, Ocala, FL
The Knitter - Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, IL
A Dream of Spring - Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Nymphs and Satyr - Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Work Interrupted - Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
On the Rocky Beach - Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
Peace - Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Springtime - Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
Meditation - Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
Woman with Iris - Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
Art and Literature - Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
The Virgin, Baby Jesus and Saint John the Baptist - Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Tender Thoughts - Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Beside the Seaside - Dahesh Museum, New York, NY
Young Girl Going to the Fountain - Dahesh Museum, New York, NY
The Proposal - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Young Mother Gazing at Her Child - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Breton Brother and Sister - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Elder Sister - The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Young Priestess - Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Little Beggars - Syracuse University Art Collection, Syracuse, NY
The Madonna of the Roses - The Gould Mansion Tarrytown, Tarrytown, NY
Young Girl Defending herself against Cupid - North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Venus with Doves - Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
Rest - Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
A Calling - Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Inspiration - Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
The Song of the Nightingale - Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Shepherdess - The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
Nature's Fan - Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
The Haymaker - Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cupid and Psyche - York Museums Trust, York, PA
Girl with an Apple - Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
Pieta - Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
The Elder Sister - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Admiration - San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
The Battle of the Centaurs and Lapithae - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Little Brother - Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Raspberry Girl - St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St Johnsbury, VT
Going to the Bath - St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St Johnsbury, VT
Homer and His Guide - Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
The Little Sulk - Rahr-West Museum, Manitowoc, WI