The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant & placed it in the temple of the idol Dagon in Ashdod, but the Lord caused the idol to be smashed & its worshippers to be plague-stricken. Old Testament (I Samuel 5: 1-6). On the left are the Ark of the Covenant & the broken idol of Dagon. This is a copy of Poussin's original of 1630-1 (Paris, Louvre), but with differences in the background. These differences may reflect an earlier idea for the background in Poussin's picture. ...

The Pont de la Tournelle is in the middle distance, & towards the right is the apse of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. The tower in front of the Pont de la Tournelle is the remains of the Pont de Constantine, before the Pont Sully was built in its place. Le ...

The scene may depict the upper part of the Gorges de Chauderon, above Montreux in Switzerl&. This identification is supported by an old label on the back of the canvas. Courbet collaborated with numerous pupils, especially in his later years, & he oft ...

In the New Testament, all the gospel accounts (e.g. Matthew 3: 1-12) describe Saint John the Baptist preaching in the Jordan valley to large crowds from Jerusalem & the surrounding countryside. However, the Flemish-style landscape setting here is more r ...

Stevens specialised in paintings of fashionably dressed young women. This picture, with its modest scale & intimate subject, is typical of his work. The artist painted this subject on at least five occasions. One version was exhibited in 1866 but this o ...

The Virgin comes to the temple in accordance with the Old Testament law of Purification of women after giving birth. She brings the infant Christ who is presented to the Priest Simeon. On the pillars are statues of the Old Testament figures Moses & Dav ...

The Presentation in the Temple is recounted in the the New Testament (Luke 2: 22-39). Mary & Joseph bring the child Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to God where he is received by Simeon. God had revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. The pair of turtledoves at the foot of the altar have been presented for sacrifice. The painting was made for Bartolomeo Fabri of Centoon, & was one of the artist's most celebrated works. It was returned to Guercino as part settlement of a debt & hung above his bed until he sold it in 1660 to the learned Frenchman Raphael Dufresne. The composition, with its clearly defined planes & diffuse light, shows the influence of Domenichino's Roman works. ...

This & ' The Building of the Trojan Horse', also in the Collection, are part of a series of sketches illustrating a famous passage from Virgil's ' Aeneid' (Book 2): the Trojans, who worship the horse, bring the Greek gift into the City. Later the Greek so ...

Christ carries the cross, on his way to Golgotha. Behind him is Simon of Cyrene, who helps to bear the weight of the cross. The fainting Virgin is supported by the three other Maries. Saint John the Evangelist, beside her, wrings his hands (Matthew 27: 30-3). The painting formed the central panel of the predella below an altarpiece of the Virgin & Child with Saints made for Santa Antonio, Perugia, in about 1504-5, & now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Other parts of the predella exist in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) & London (Dulwich Picture Gallery). ...

Identifiable with an altarpiece mentioned by Vasari (1550) as painted for the church of San Gallo, Florence. He implies it was one of Ridolfo's earliest important commissions, & noted that it included portraits. Some of the heads are modelled on those invented by Leonardo da Vinci for his Battle of Anghiari. The picture probably dates from not long after 1504. ...