Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs, Frederic William Burton, watercolor and gouache, 37 x 24 in. (95 x 61 cm), in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. Link is to a Wikipedia page with access to a large image.

Taken from a medieval ballad is the story of Hellelil, who falls in love with her bodyguard, Hildebrand. This is to the displeasure of her father, who sends Helleli’s seven brothers to kill Hildebrand. Much unpleasantness ensues.

Burton has chosen a tender and poignant moment of their last embrace. The scene is intimate, almost claustrophobic. We are in the cramped space of the turrest stairs with the fated pair. The emotion is palpable.

The artists has used watercolor and gouache to great effect, in an approach that could be easily mistaken for oil in reproduction. The painting is so popular in Ireland that it is put on scheduled display, unlike most works on paper that are only seen on special occasions years apart.

Portrait of a Lady of the Court Playing the Tambourine, Pierre Désiré Guillemet, oil on canvas, 39×31 in. ( 96 x 79 cm), link is to Google Art Project, downloadable version on Wikimedia Commons.

French painter Pierre Désiré Guillemet was known for his paintings in the Orientalist style. Like many paintings in that genre, there is a fascination with the details of dress and an emphasis on how different it was from the European standards of the time. Novelty and the allure of different cultures were key to the appeal.

Guillemet has gone into the details and pattern of the fabric with a high degree of finish.

Water Garden, Childe Hassam, oil on canvas, 24 x 36″ (61 x 91 cm), in the collection of the Matropolitan Museum of Art.

The Met doesn’t provide large version of this image; I found one on masterapollon.com, a site that sells reproductions, from this page.

American Impressionism took many forms, Hassam is here using the broken color approach the French painters pioneered to great effect in allowing our eyes to glide over the irises bordering a lily pond.