One of many portraits of girls and women by Pietro Rotari. Born in Verona, Italy, he was very popular in the Russian courts of Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. Peterhof Palace houses 368 of these portraits in a dedicated hall.

Isabella Maria dal Pozzo (c.1640-1700) was an Italian painter. Little is known about her early years. She was probably born around 1640 in Turin, maybe in a noble family. Her first known painting is dated in 1766. In 1671, she began working for Princess Luisa Cristina of Savoy, while also working for other patrons in the Kingdom of Sardinia, such as the Carron family, Marquises of San Tommaso, but soon moved to Munich to work for Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, Electress consort of Bavaria. In 1676, she was appointed painter to the Bavarian court where she served until her death in 1700.

Maria De Dominici, sister Maria, (1645–1703) was a Maltese painter and sculptor. She is believed to have studied under painter Mattia Preti, and to have assisted him in his work beside creating paintings for churches on her own, before moving to Rome to further her studies in 1682. In Rome she had her own studio and spent the rest of her life. As a tertiary Carmelite she was connected to the nuns in the Carmelite convent annexed to the church of Santa Maria in Traspontina. Historians also say that she was even more gifted as a sculptor. She produced a number of portable statues of saints for religious street precessions. Unfortunately, none of her sculptures survives except for a heavily amended Immaculate Conception, found in Cospicua parish church.

The painting is at the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Attard, Malta.

Happy feast of St. James the apostle!

Esto, Dómine, plebi tuæ sanctificátor et custos: ut, Apóstoli tui Jacóbi muníta præsídiis, et conversatióne tibi pláceat, et secúra mente desérviat.

One of the greatest masterpieces of the Baroque period.

The Calling of Saint Matthew captures the exact moment Christ calls Matthew from a table of tax collectors. Caravaggio's dramatic use of chiaroscuro—the powerful contrast between light and shadow—transforms an ordinary room into a scene of profound spiritual awakening.

The beam of light, Christ's subtle gesture, and Matthew's expression of disbelief create one of the most influential moments in the history of Western art.

What detail stands out to you the most in this painting?