Donkey in art: paintings, drawings and prints

The stubborn donkey, 1870s.

Det genstridige æsel (museum title)

Wilhelm Marstrand (Danish), pen and watercolour

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Mary’s Well at Nazareth, Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka

Mary’s Well at Nazareth, 1908.

Mária kútja Názárethben (museum title)

Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka (Hungarian), oil on canvas

Hungarian National Gallery, Hungary

The Triumph of the Innocents, William Holman Hunt

The Triumph of the Innocents, 1870–1903.

The Triumph of the Innocents (museum title)

William Holman Hunt (British), oil on canvas

Fogg Art Museum, United States

The Circumcision, 1661.

The Circumcision (museum title)

Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch), oil on canvas

National Gallery of Art, United States

Ane Hedvig Brøndum at her table, Anna Ancher

Ane Hedvig Brøndum at her table, 1910.

Ane Hedvig Brøndum sidder ved bordet (museum title)

Anna Ancher (Danish), oil on canvas

Museum Kunst der Westküste, Germany

Sketch for a scene from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass", book 4. The robber band's housekeeper tells the young girl the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Below, a pair of dolphins and a nude figure, possibly Aquarius, zodiac signs for February and January, c. 1806–1809.

Udkast til scene af Apuleus' "Det gyldne æsel" 4.bog.… (museum title)

Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish), drawing

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Landscape with Figures (Les Bohémiens), Camille Corot

Landscape with Figures (Les Bohémiens), 1872.

Landscape with Figures (Les Bohémiens) (museum title)

Camille Corot (French), oil on canvas

Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States

A Country Road with Trees and Figures (recto); Willy Lott's House (verso), John Constable

A Country Road with Trees and Figures (recto); Willy Lott's House (verso), c. 1830.

A Country Road with Trees and Figures (recto); Willy Lott's… (museum title)

John Constable (British), oil on canvas

Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom

Nativity, c. 1653.

La Nativité (museum title)

Nicolas Poussin (French), oil on canvas

Bavarian State Painting Collections, Germany

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, 1563.

Landscape with the Flight into Egypt (museum title)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Dutch), oil on panel

Courtauld Gallery, United Kingdom

Pierrot, 1718–1719.

Pierrot (museum title)

Antoine Watteau (French), oil on canvas

Department of Paintings, Louvre Museum, France

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Honoré Daumier

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, c. 1870.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (museum title)

Honoré Daumier (French), oil on canvas

Courtauld Institute of Art, United Kingdom

Mrs Ane Brøndum in the blue room, Anna Ancher

Mrs Ane Brøndum in the blue room, 1913.

Fru Ane Brøndum i den blå stue (museum title)

Anna Ancher (Danish), oil on canvas

Skagens Museum, Denmark

Rural Scene in Upper Egypt, on the banks of the Nile, John Frederick Lewis

Rural Scene in Upper Egypt, on the banks of the Nile, c. 1850.

Rural Scene in Upper Egypt, on the banks of the Nile (museum title)

John Frederick Lewis (British), graphite, black chalk, watercolor and bodycolor, heightened with white

Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom

The People's Census at Bethlehem, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

The People's Census at Bethlehem, 1566.

The People's Census at Bethlehem (museum title)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Dutch), oil on oak panel

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

On a mountain path, a peasant with a donkey talks to a girl with a basket of fruit on her head, Wilhelm Marstrand

On a mountain path, a peasant with a donkey talks to a girl with a basket of fruit on her head, after 1870.

På en bjergsti taler en bonde med æsel med en pige med kurv… (museum title)

Wilhelm Marstrand (Danish), drawing

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, 1866.

Don Quichotte et Sancho Pansa (museum title)

Honoré Daumier (French), oil on canvas

Alte Nationalgalerie, Germany

The Parc des Lions at Port-Marly, Camille Corot

The Parc des Lions at Port-Marly, 1872.

Le départ pour la promenade des lions, à Port-Marly (museum title)

Camille Corot (French), oil on canvas

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Spain

Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Ägypten. Linkes Bild der Fresken aus dem Gartensaal des Ratsherrn Karl Sarasin-Sauvain, Arnold Böcklin

Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Ägypten. Linkes Bild der Fresken aus dem Gartensaal des Ratsherrn Karl Sarasin-Sauvain, 1868.

Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Ägypten. Linkes Bild der Fresken… (museum title)

Arnold Böcklin (Swiss), fresco transferred to canvas

Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland

The Adoration of the Shepherds, Nicolas Poussin

The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1650–1657.

L'Adoration des bergers (museum title)

Nicolas Poussin (French), oil on canvas

Bavarian State Painting Collections, Germany

The Flight into Egypt, Sandro Botticelli

The Flight into Egypt, 1510.

La Fuite en Égypte (museum title)

Sandro Botticelli (Italian), oil on canvas

Jacquemart-André Museum, France

The Triumph of the Innocents, 1876–1887.

The Triumph of the Innocents (museum title)

William Holman Hunt (British), oil on canvas

Walker Art Gallery, United Kingdom

The Caravan

La Caravane (museum title)

Charles-Théodore Frère (French), oil on paper mounted on canvas

Salies Fine Arts Museum, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France

The Artist's Mother -in-Law, Ane Hedvig Brøndum, Reading a Letter, Michael Ancher

The Artist's Mother -in-Law, Ane Hedvig Brøndum, Reading a Letter, 1907.

En gammel kone, der læser et brev. Ane hedvig Brøndum… (museum title)

Michael Ancher (Danish), oil on canvas

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Elche, 1918.

Elche (museum title)

Joaquín Sorolla (Spanish), oil on canvas

The Hispanic Society of America, United States

Trees Lit by Lamps at Jajce, Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka

Trees Lit by Lamps at Jajce, 1903.

Villanyvilágította fák Jajcéban (museum title)

Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka (Hungarian), oil on canvas

Hungarian National Gallery, Hungary

Sancho Panza and Don Quixote in the mountains, Honoré Daumier

Sancho Panza and Don Quixote in the mountains, 1866.

Don Quichotte et Sancho Panca dans les montagnes (museum title)

Honoré Daumier (French), oil on wood

Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Switzerland

Country people on their way to Rome, Wilhelm Marstrand

Country people on their way to Rome, 1869.

Landboere på vej til Rom (museum title)

Wilhelm Marstrand (Danish), drawing

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

The Virgin Adoring the Child, Sandro Botticelli

The Virgin Adoring the Child, 1480–1490.

The Virgin Adoring the Child (museum title)

Sandro Botticelli (Italian), tempera on wood

National Gallery of Art, United States

The Water Wheel (Spain)

La Noria (España) (museum title)

Prilidiano Pueyrredón (Argentinian), watercolor on paper

National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Mystical Nativity, Sandro Botticelli

The Mystical Nativity, 1500.

La Nativité mystique (museum title)

Sandro Botticelli (Italian), oil on canvas

National Gallery, United Kingdom

Fotis sees her Lover Lucius Transformed into an Ass. Motif from Apeleius' The Golden Ass, Nicolai Abildgaard

Fotis sees her Lover Lucius Transformed into an Ass. Motif from Apeleius' The Golden Ass, 1809.

Tjenestepigen Fotis forfærdes over, at heksesalven… (museum title)

Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish), oil on canvas

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

The Robber Band's Housekeeper Consoles the Young Girl by Telling the Myth of Cupid and Psyche. Motif from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass", Nicolai Abildgaard

The Robber Band's Housekeeper Consoles the Young Girl by Telling the Myth of Cupid and Psyche. Motif from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass", 1808.

Røverbandens husholderske trøster den unge pige ved at… (museum title)

Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish), oil on canvas

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Scene from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass", Book 10. The Noble Lady Encourages the Donkey, Nicolai Abildgaard

Scene from Apuleius' "The Golden Ass", Book 10. The Noble Lady Encourages the Donkey, 1808–1809.

Scene af Apulejus' "Det gyldne æsel" 10.bog. Den fornemme… (museum title)

Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish), drawing

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Titania, Bottom and the Fairies, Johann Heinrich Füssli

Titania, Bottom and the Fairies, 1793–1794.

Titania liebkost Zettel mit dem Eselskopf (museum title)

Johann Heinrich Füssli (Swiss), oil on canvas

Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland

The Artist's Mother Ane Hedvig Brøndum in the Red Room, Anna Ancher

The Artist's Mother Ane Hedvig Brøndum in the Red Room, 1909.

Kunstnerens mor Ane Hedvig Brøndum i den røde stue (museum title)

Anna Ancher (Danish), oil on canvas

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Wayfaring Italian peasants, Wilhelm Marstrand

Wayfaring Italian peasants, 1869.

Vejfarende italienske landboere (museum title)

Wilhelm Marstrand (Danish), drawing

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

L'Épiphanie, 1494.

L'Épiphanie (museum title)

Hieronymus Bosch (Dutch), oil on oak panel

Prado Museum, Spain

The Adoration of the Shepherds, Le Greco

The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1605–1610.

The Adoration of the Shepherds (museum title)

Le Greco (Spanish), oil on canvas

Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States

Don Quixote and the Dead Mule, Honoré Daumier

Don Quixote and the Dead Mule, after 1864.

Don Quixote and the Dead Mule (museum title)

Honoré Daumier (French), oil on wood

Metropolitan Museum of Art, United States

Priest on a Galloping Donkey, Wilhelm Marstrand

Priest on a Galloping Donkey, c. 1870.

Præst på galopperende æsel (museum title)

Wilhelm Marstrand (Danish), pencil, brush and Indian ink

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

L'Adoration des bergers, 1609.

L'Adoration des bergers (museum title)

Caravaggio (Italian), oil

Regional Museum of Messina, Italy

The Flight into Egypt, 1658.

La Fuite en Égypte (museum title)

Nicolas Poussin (French), oil on canvas

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France

Fotis sees her Lover Lucius Transformed into an Ass. Motif from Apeleius' The Golden Ass, c. 1807–1808.

Tjenestepigen Fotis forfærdes over, at heksesalven… (museum title)

Nicolai Abildgaard (Danish), oil on canvas

Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark

Interior from the red room with the artist's mother Ane Brøndum reading, Anna Ancher

Interior from the red room with the artist's mother Ane Brøndum reading, 1910.

Kunstnerindens mor, Ane Brøndum, læsende i den røde stue (museum title)

Anna Ancher (Danish), oil on canvas

Skagens Museum, Denmark

Friars Crossing a Ford, c. 1850–1876.

Los frailes atravesando un vado (museum title)

Ignacio Merino (Peruvian), oil

Ignacio Merino Municipal Art Gallery, Peru

Holy Family in Egypt, 1655–1657.

Le Repos pendant la fuite en Égypte (museum title)

Nicolas Poussin (French), oil on canvas

Hermitage Museum, Russia

The Ramesseum at Thebes, John Frederick Lewis

The Ramesseum at Thebes, 1841–1851.

The Ramesseum at Thebes (museum title)

John Frederick Lewis (British), watercolor and gouache on paper

Yale Center for British Art, United States

The Adoration of the Magi, Sandro Botticelli

The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1478–1482.

The Adoration of the Magi (museum title)

Sandro Botticelli (Italian), oil and tempera on wood

National Gallery of Art, United States

Nativity, c. 1473–1475.

Nativité (museum title)

Sandro Botticelli (Italian), fresco

Columbia Museum of Art, United States