The date of the portrait (13 April 1674) was three days before van Mieris's 39th birthday. The identity of the sitter is confirmed by a drawing which is signed & dated 1667 (London, British Museum). The artist wears an archaic type of dress based on theatrical costumes of the Commedia dell' Arte & he is playing a cittern. ...

Cezanne painted his own portrait on a number of occasions throughout his career. From his appearance here, this portrait is datable to about the time of Renoir's pastel portrait of him, dated 1880 (private). The wallpaper with its diamond pattern appears in a number of Cézanne's still lifes. ...

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. ...

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. ...

This panel, together with the ' Annunciation' by the same artist, was bought in the 19th century from the Medici Palace in Florence. Obviously a pair, although not necessarily designed to be viewed together, the pictures were probably once set into furnitu ...

A label on the reverse, signed by Clays & dated Brussels 1870, identifies the view & states that the painting was painted for ' Joh [sic] Parsons (a Londres)'. ...

A label on the reverse, signed by Clays & dated Brussels 1868, identifies the view. The discrepancy between this date & the date on the painting (1869) suggests that the artist may have signed & dated it some time after it was completed. ...

This work is a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini & his wife, but is not intended as a record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion. Arnolfini was a member of a merchant family from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple are shown in a well-appointed interior. The ornate Latin signature translates as ' Jan van Eyck was here 1434'. The similarity to modern graffiti is not accidental. Van Eyck often inscribed his pictures in a witty way. The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway. One may be the painter himself. Arnolfini raises his right hand as he faces them, perhaps as a greeting. Van Eyck was intensely interested in the effects of light: oil paint allowed him to depict it with great subtlety in this picture, notably on the gleaming brass chandelier. ...

Robert van den Hoeke (1622
- 1668), was a painter & engraver who worked in Antwerp & in Brussels. He became ' Contrôleur des fortifications'
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In classical mythology Silenus was the companion of Bacchus, god of wine. This painting is part of the decoration which Annibale Carracci executed on a keyboard instrument for Fulvio Orsini (1529
- 1600), the librarian to the Farnese family in Rome & tutor to Cardinal Odoardo. Being a classical scholar, Orsini may have advised on the subject matter of the work. The panel of ' Marsyas & Olympus' was probably part of the same decoration. In style & spirit these paintings are very close to the Farnese Gallery frescoes with which they are contemporary.
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