This is an old copy of ' The Bridgewater Madonna' (Sutherland collection, on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland), which is probably a painting made by Raphael in 1508. ...

This painting is unfinished. Christ is seen indicating a passage in the book held by the Virgin which one pair of angels contemplates. The others study a scroll, perhaps given to them by John the Baptist. The book & scroll may carry prophecies of Christ ...

This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated & powerful young men. At the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic & the Holy See. The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books & instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial & various other instruments used for understanding the heavens & measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic & a terrestrial globe. In the top left corner a crucifix is partly visible, Dinteville wears the Order of St Michel & on his cap is a brooch ornamented with a skull. The mosaic floor is based on a design in Westminster Abbey. Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony. In the foreground is the distorted (anamorphic) image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected. ...

This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated & powerful young men. At the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, Bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic & the Holy See. The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books & instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial & various other instruments used for understanding the heavens & measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic & a terrestrial globe. In the top left corner a crucifix is partly visible, Dinteville wears the Order of St Michel & on his cap is a brooch ornamented with a skull. The mosaic floor is based on a design in Westminster Abbey. Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony. In the foreground is the distorted (anamorphic) image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected. ...

This is the only surviving example of a female nude by Velázquez. The subject was rare in Spain because it met with the disapproval of the Church. Venus, the goddess of love, was the most beautiful of the goddesses, & was regarded as a personification of female beauty. She is shown here with her son Cupid, who holds up a mirror for her to look both at herself & at the viewer. ' The Rokeby Venus' is first recorded in June 1651 in the collection of the Marqués del Carpio, son of the First Minister of Spain. It was probably made for the Marqués & was presumably displayed privately, thus avoiding the censure of the Spanish Inquisition. In the Carpio collection, Velázquez's painting was paired with a 16th-century Venetian picture of a naked nymph in a landscape seen from the front. The painting is known as ' The Rokeby Venus' because it was in the Morritt Collection at Rokeby Hall in Yorkshire before its acquisition by the Gallery. ...

This mythological subject depicts Diana, the Virgin goddess of hunting, discovering that one of her chaste attendant nymphs, Callisto, is pregnant by Jupiter. Diana set her dogs onto Callisto in order to kill her, but she narrowly escapes & is rescued b ...

Create your own bespoke print of Titian’s Diana & Callisto from our collection. About this painting Diana & Callisto, 1556
- 1559
...

The shepherd Endymion, renowned for his beauty, was sent to sleep by the moon goddess Selene so that she might embrace him unobserved. Selene later became identified with the goddess Diana. Subleyras trained in France, but in 1728 he went to Rome where he ...

The presence of the hounds suggest that the woman may be the goddess & huntress Diana. One would, therefore, expect the figure behind the tree to be Actaeon but it looks more like a satyr. This painting was once thought to be by Rembrandt himself but it ...

Create your own bespoke print of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s Dido building Carthage from our collection. About this painting Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire, 1815 © The National Gallery, London This painting joined our collection in 1856 With our custom print service, you can order your own fully customised reproduction from the National Gallery Collection & exhibitions. Choose your own size, print material & frames & have your masterpiece delivered straight to your door. ...