Rubens derived great insight into European politics from his diplomatic missions, and never ceased to promote peace. He used Allegory of the Outbreak of War to express his horror at the Thirty Years War and promote his message of peace.

Greuze's Village Wife echoes Rousseau's writings, which placed emotions above reason as the most natural of human expressions. The painting's sentimental tone is characterized by the simplicity seen in the peasant's rustic, unadorned dwelling and its depiction of this happy climax to a rural romance. It promotes a moral message that happiness is the reward of natural virtue.

One of the most curious elements of Diego Velazquez' Las Meninas is the inclusion of a small mirror in the middle of the painting, on the back wall of the room, showing the King and Queen of Spain. This directly references a similar object in the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, painted over two hundred years before Velazquez' creation of Las Meninas.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Las_Meninas,_by_Diego_Velázquez,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg

Etching such as this one, Self-Portrait with Saskia, served two functions for an artist like Rembrandt. While some would be sold at a much lower cost than large-scale paintings, they also allowed Rembrandt to practice techniques he utilized in paintings. Rembrandt made a large number of self-portraits throughout his career, each of which had different poses, but all showed his hallmarks such as  heightened contrast of light and dark elements and a revealing view of his subject, each of which are showed in this etching.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Self-portrait_with_Saskia.jpg

The Oath of the Horatii presents three brother from the Horatius clan making an oath to their father that they will fight three brothers from the rival city of Alba Longa. This story, in which only one brother survived, but the brothers' task of defeating their rivals was ultimately achieved, was quite popular as a Roman lesson about honor and patriotism. During the late eighteenth century, many intellectuals throughout Europe looked back to Classical sources for guidance, resulting in the philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment and the artistic style known as Neoclassicism.

Artwork from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacques-Louis_David,_Le_Serment_des_Horaces.jpg

Ancient Greek and Roman statuary was largely based on three concepts: Greco-Roman mythology, statues of political leaders, and exercises on the ideal form. In Greek mythology, Hercules, the half-man, half-god hero, was tasked with various chores to allow him to enter the realm of the gods. One of the most famous ones was that Hercules had to defeat the multiheaded serpent known as the Hydra.

The ancient Greeks saw the male nude form as the ultimate perfection in aesthetics, making it one of the most common subjects of Greek art. One of the key examples of this thought process is "The Dying Gaul," which portrays a dying Gaul, a man who was not Greek, laid out in perfect tension to show his body. This affection for the male nude was picked up by Renaissance and neoclassical artists, as demonstrated by works like Michelangelo's "David."

Roman sculpture was originally derived from Greek sculpture, which was highly refined and desired a pleasing aesthetic of minute detail. Roman sculptors took this to another level, by focusing on an extreme realism, which showed every imperfection in their subjects. Romans believed a person sitting for a sculpture portrait wished an honest portrayal that could show their full virility and nobility.

Based on the figural representation, this sculpture is likely a Greek creation from either the high Classical or Hellenistic period. Take careful note of the nudity, the musculature and the expression on his face, all pointing to Greek dramatic sculpture. That, coupled with the green tinge, suggests the sculpture must be bronze, as that was the material of choice for Greek sculptors. 

The piece is most definitely Greek in origin, given its bronze make and athletic depiction of man. The man is idealized and muscular, beautiful after the Hellenistic fashion. Like many of the Greek piece of the time, he is an athlete, meant to demonstrate the power of the human form at its finest. He is not, though, the Discobolus, Greek for discus- thrower.