Inscribed on the two letters in front of the sitter: ' Al Rdo monsig Juliano proton... aptico/ dgmo S.... / a Padua/al borgo dogni santj' (' To the most reverend Monsignor Giuliano, Apostolic Notary, most noble [ Lord, who one addresses] at Padua, at the town of Ogni Santi'). The sitter identified in the inscription is Giovanni Giuliano. There are records of his activity in Venice between 1504-18. His features can be compared with a medal at Brescia (Museo, Civico). There were twelve ' Protonotaries Apostolic', consisting of senior prelates who registered papal legislation & directed the process of the canonisation of saints. This work may have been painted in Padua or possibly in Bergamo in about 1530-40. ...

This late work is known in several other versions. The story is taken from the New Testament (Matthew 21: 12-13), when Jesus 'cast out all them that sold & bought... overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, & the seats of them that sold the doves' i ...

The subject of the purification of the Temple is taken from the New Testament (Matthew 21: 12-13). Jesus drives the traders out of the Temple in Jerusalem, accusing them of turning a house of prayer into a den of thieves. The work is based on figure drawings by Michelangelo. There is no known model for the architecture, but the pillars are modelled on some famous antique examples in Saint Peter's in Rome. Although Michelangelo made few easel paintings, he is known to have distributed drawings for works which were subsequently painted by other artists. No finished drawing by Michelangelo is known for this design but there are small sketches of the figures. ...

The Queen came to Solomon to see if what she had heard of his wisdom & wealth was true (I Kings 10: 1-13). She is depicted with her followers kneeling before him on the steps, left of centre. The main concern of the painter may have been the classical b ...

This is one of a number of oil studies for the artist's ' Bathers at Asnières' of 1884. Several of these studies were painted near Asnières in north-west Paris, & the design of this study is close to the finished painting. The picture retains the quality of an open-air sketch, but the detail is carefully delineated with small touches of paint. ...

The subject of this painting is taken from the New Testament (John: 11). At the request of the sisters Martha & Mary, Jesus visits the grave of their brother Lazarus & raises him from the dead. This work was painted for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici in Rome in competition with Raphael's ' Transfiguration', now in the Vatican Gallery. It was subsequently taken to the Cathedral of Narbonne, the see of the patron. Some of the main figures are based on drawings which Michelangelo supplied for the guidance of Sebastiano. The painting was purchased from the Angerstein collection. ...

The subject is taken from Ovid's ' Metamorphoses', which tells how Europa was carried away from Tyre by the god Zeus who had transformed himself into a bull. This painting was highly esteemed in the 18th & early 19th century, but for most of the 20th-century was considered as a reduction & reversal of Veronese's painting in the Doge's Palace, Venice. However, it is certainly an autograph by Veronese & may represent an earlier conception of this subject. ...

Europa was the daughter of Agenor, King of Tyre. Zeus fell in love with her & transformed himself into a docile bull in order to abduct her from the shore where she was playing. She climbed on his back & they swam away to Crete. She bore him three sons, Minos, Rhadamanthys & Sarpedon. The myth, with its dark erotic undertones, was one of the most popular classical subjects for 17th-century paintings, although the inclusion of Cupid makes this example rather unusual. Europa is shown at the moment when her disquiet at being abducted begins to turn to love. The painting was made for King Wladislaw of Pol&, shortly before 1640, & its luminous tonality, studied elegance & strong pale colouring are typical of Reni's late style. ...

Ganymede, a beautiful shepherd boy, was snatched from the hillside by Zeus in the form of an eagle & carried off to Mount Olympus. The painting's original shape was an irregular octagon. It was made as a ceiling painting for a distinguished lawyer in Maz ...

Amnon, a son of King David, desired his half-sister Tamar. Faking illness, he asked her to come & cook for him, & then raped her. He was later killed in revenge by Tamar's brother Absalom (2 Samuel 13). ...