The old masters may not appear to have much in common with the self-described "transvestite potter" and explorer of British taste, Grayson Perry.
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But this year some of the world's greatest artists of the past and present will gather in Sydney for the first time.
On Wednesday, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) announced that Perry will attend the December 10 opening of his most comprehensive art show yet, Grayson Perry: My Pretty Little Art Career.
Known for his light touch and sense of humour – including his work the Rosetta Vase, a large urn that depicts the artist as a baby with the words "vanity" in his belly and "celebrity" across his bottom – Perry will host a series of films and documentaries in Sydney.
As part of the activities around the exhibition, the public will be able to design their own pots.
Perry has always been difficult to categorise. The MCA's chief curator, Rachel Kent, said the artist had a "unique, satirical yet tender take on society".
He is married to Philippa Perry, a psychotherapist, and likes to dress as his "alter ego", Claire.
A winner of the prestigious Turner Prize, Perry started as a potter because he was unable to afford other art classes. He is now best known for his large tapestries depicting taste and class in Britain, and his television series, All in the Best Possible Taste.
Ms Kent said his formidable presence and "flamboyant, accessible aesthetic" blurred the divide between high art and popular culture.
The Perry exhibition is one of two blockbusters expected to bring visitors to Sydney as part of this year's Sydney international art series. It also includes The Greats: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland, which opens on October 24 at the Art Gallery of NSW.
The art gallery's director, Michael Brand, said "it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to see many of the artists whose names have been engraved on the exterior walls of the gallery for more than 100 years.
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, by Diego Velazquez.
These include Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez and Gainsborough, but only Gainsborough's works are represented in the gallery's permanent collection.
Like Perry, many of the greats challenged conventions in their times.
The AGNSW's senior curator of European art, Richard Beresford, said Velazquez's An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, for instance, had a "focus and intensity on realism that was completely new in art at the time".
Sir Henry Raeburn's Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch had become Scotland's Mona Lisa, a continual subject of debate about why it had become an icon of Scottishness.
Since the international art series began in 2010, it has attracted more than 1.4 million visitors to Sydney.