Crespi was the direct heir of the Carracci as a painter of everyday life, & played an important role in developing a taste for such scenes among his contemporaries. His interest in peasant subjects dates from his stay in Florence in 1709. This painting & its companion ' Musicians' probably date from shortly after this. This painting is in the Bolognese tradition of depicting street-vendors, showing a peasant selling bread carried by a donkey. Like its companion, this picture has been cut down at the left & the top edges. ...

Both spent several years in Italy & made drawings of the countryside around Rome. In this painting he employs a high viewpoint which creates a wide vista. The branches & leaves of the trees, some tinged by sunlight, are painted with the kind of painstaking detail possible on a copper panel. It was probably painted shortly after Both's return to Utrecht from Italy in about 1641-3. ...

The painting shows the mythological winged horse Pegasus striking the ground with his hoof & thus causing the fountain of Hippocrene to flow. The story comes from Ovid's ' Metamorphoses' (V, 312: 36, 374: 430). Surrounding Pegasus are the Muses, singing a ...

Create your own bespoke print of Pintoricchio’s Penelope with the Suitors from our collection. About this painting Penelope with the Suitors, about 1509 © The National Gallery, London This painting joined our collection in 1874 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. ...

It is probable that this scene was the last of the seven scenes from the life of Christ that formed part of a long rectangular altarpiece, painted on a single plank of wood. The altarpiece may have been made for a Franciscan church at Rimini or Sansepolcro. ' Pentecost' represents the twelve apostles gathered together after Christ's Ascension into Heaven. The Holy Spirit is shown descending on them in the form of a dove & tongues of fire, granting them the power to speak in many languages (Acts 2: 3). In the foreground, men from different nations marvel at hearing the apostles' words in their own language. All seven pieces of the altarpiece still exist. The other six scenes are the ' Nativity with Epiphany' (Metropolitan Museum, New York); the ' Presentation in the Temple' (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston); the ' Last Supper' & the ' Crucifixion' (both Alte Pinakothek, Munich); the ' Entombment' (Berenson Collection, Settignano); & the ' Descent into Limbo' (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). ...

The 12 main panels of the altarpiece, one of the largest to be commissioned in 14th-century Florence, are in the National Gallery Collection. The predella shows scenes from the life of Saint Peter & is dispersed in different collections. The painting was commissioned for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, probably by the Albizzi family. The accounts of 1370 show that a certain Niccolò, probably Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, designed the altarpiece. It was probably painted by Jacopo di Cione & assistants. It was completed in 1371. In the centre of the composition are Christ & the Virgin, dressed in white & gold, & seated upon a canopied throne surrounded by angels. The panels to each side are densely crowded with saints; to the left a prominent Saint Peter carries a model of San Pier Maggiore. The middle tier of the altarpiece, which would have been supported by heavy buttresses, showed (from left to right) the Nativity, the Adoration of the Kings, the Resurrection, the Maries at the Sepulchre, the Ascension & Pentecost. In the three pinnacles above, the Trinity appeared in the centre with adoring angels on each side. A later, more fluent, Florentine version of the theme is ' The Coronation of the Virgin' by Lorenzo Monaco. ...

While a musician plays music held by a companion, lovers stroll in the park behind. This is thought to be after an original, stated to have been on panel, that was engraved by B. Baron in the oeuvre grave in 1730. It is now presumed to be the picture in ...

Perseus flies in to rescue Andromeda who is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to placate the sea monster sent by Poseidon to destroy her native country. Ovid, Metamorphoses (IV, 783-960). This is an old copy with slight variations of an original by Reni (Pa ...

Create your own bespoke print of Luca Giordano’s Perseus turning Phineas & his Followers to Stone from our collection. About this painting Perseus turning Phineas & his Followers to Stone, about 1660 © The National Gallery, London This painting joined our collection in 1983 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. ...

Phineus & his followers interrupted the wedding feast of Perseus & Andromeda; Perseus turned them to stone by means of the Gorgon's head (Ovid, ' Metamorphoses' 5). The painting was once catalogued as by a follower of Poussin, & more recently as the w ...