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One-Minute Masterpieces

Most of the works in the exhibition Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace are securely dated and attributed; mostly we know which monarch bought them. But what makes them important? What do they still have to offer? What do you think makes a masterpiece?

In these one-minute videos, Royal Collection staff discuss their favourite paintings on show and how they can be understood from a particular perspective.

Rembrandt van Rijn

Agatha Bas

The use of paint

Rembrandt van Rijn

Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap

The status of the artist

Pieter de Hooch

Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room

Planning the canvas

Pieter de Hooch

Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room

Light and geometry

Parmigianino

Pallas Athene

Textures and symbols

Jacob van Ruisdael

Evening Landscape

Attention to detail

Jan Steen

A Woman at her Toilet

Sensual pleasures

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

The Farm at Laken

Peace, land and fertility


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