Danaé

Rembrandt began this in 1636, at the height of his Amsterdam success, and kept reworking it for years. The woman on the bed is Danaë, locked away by her father, reaching toward a warm golden light spilling in from the left, which is the god Zeus arriving as a shower of gold. Rembrandt first gave her the face of his wife, Saskia, then later altered the features toward another woman in his household. What makes it unusual is that he left out the actual rain of coins that painters normally used, and let the light itself carry the whole meaning, falling across her raised hand and her body. For most of its life it has been one of the treasures of the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Then in 1985 a man threw sulphuric acid over it and slashed it twice with a knife, ruining much of the face, arm and legs. Restorers spent 12 years bringing it back under the microscope, choosing not to repaint but to fill and retouch the damage inch by inch.