Prince Rupert (1619
- 1682) was the third son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine & Elizabeth Stuart, the ' Winter Queen', sister
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The sitter was the wife of the Austro-Hungarian ambassador at the court of Napoleon III. The portrait is based on a photograph of 1860 which the Prince & Princess used as a visiting card. The floral backdrop was the artist's own invention. ...

Each Van Gogh Sunflowers print is produced on demand on paper or canvas using the highest quality images produced at the National Gallery. You can also choose to have your Sunflowers print framed ready to hang. About Van Gogh Sunflowers This is one of four Van Gogh Sunflowers dating from August & September 1888. Van Gogh intended to decorate Gauguin's room with these Sunflowers paintings in the so-called Yellow House that he rented in Arles in the South of France. He & Gauguin worked there together between October & December 1888. The dying sunflowers are built up with thick brushstrokes to evokes the texture of the seed-heads. Van Gogh produced a replica of this painting in January 1889, & perhaps another one later in the year. The various versions & replicas remain much debated among Van Gogh scholars. More information about framed prints. ...

This painting illustrates an episode from the classical myth of Cupid & Psyche, which was originally told by Apuleius in his ' Golden Ass'. It is an early work by Fragonard, executed in 1753, the year after he had won the Prix de Rome & before his first Italian visit. An immediate success, it was exhibited with other paintings at Versailles in 1754, but later passed into obscurity with an attribution to Carle van Loo. At some date it was cut down along the top & left sides. Fragonard's work is probably based on La Fontaine's version of the fable. After falling in love with Psyche, Cupid had visited her only at night, forbidding her to look upon him. In the painting, Psyche shows her two sisters the gifts she has received from her lover, & moved by jealousy
- a Fury appears in the sky above the sisters
- they persuade her to uncover Cupid's identity & thus wreck her happiness. The painting shows the emergence of Fragonard's more elegant style from the manner established by Boucher, whose pupil he had been. In many details it derives from sketches made by Boucher in 1737 for a series of tapestries illustrating this story, but there is more movement in Fragonard's painting & his colours are sharper. Painting of the Month, February 2005

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Create your own bespoke print of Salvator Rosa’s Witches at their Incantations from our collection. About this painting Witches at their Incantations, about 1646 © The National Gallery, London This painting joined our collection in 1984 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. ...

Pan chased the nymph Syrinx through Arcadia. When she came to the river Ladon she could flee no further; her prayer for escape was answered as she was transformed into reeds, from which Pan subsequently made his pan pipes. Ovid, ' Metamorphoses' (I, 689-71 ...

As with many of Reynolds's group portraits the design is based on a composition taken from an historical source. In this case the painting is based on a 17th-century work, ' Charity' by Van Dyck; also in the Collection. It was brought to England from Antwe ...

On the left, in the distance, is the ruined castle of Merwede (Huis te Merwede), which is a mile to the east of Dordrecht. It was built in the 13th century & destroyed about 1420. Its ruins still st&. Cuyp painted & drew the ruined castle on several occasions & the prominently displayed cows occur in a number of his other paintings. For example, the cow on the left appears in ' The Large Dort', also in the National Gallery's Collection. ...

The painting, probably of about 1645, is one of the largest & most ambitious of Teniers's compositions. The action in the foreground is reflected in the disposition of the landscape, which is largely featureless in the centre, behind the seated figure on ...

This picture shows a landscape inspired by the countryside near Rome, with the remains of an aqueduct prominently silhouetted against the blue Mediterranean sky. It is not entirely clear when the artist went to Italy, but it has been suggested that he wen ...