Giovanni Agostino della Torre was a distinguished doctor & citizen of Bergamo. He had taught at the University of Padua, & the costume he wears is official or academic dress. In 1510 he was elected prior of Bergamo's College of Physicians, an office he held until his death. The texts on the two square pieces of paper below the inkstand are prescriptions. The paper label on the back cover of the book held by Agostino reads ' Galienus', meaning Galen, who was the great medical authority of the ancient world. On one of the pieces of paper in Agostino's right hand is an inscription that refers to Aesculapius, the physician god of the ancient Greeks & Romans. The portrait is signed &

Includes:: a date, which is illegible today but recorded as 1515. The man behind Agostino is Niccolò, who was 33 in 1516 when his father died. It seems that he was added to what was originally conceived only as a portrait of Agostino, perhaps on the occasion of his father's death.

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In the centre are shown the Virgin & Child enthroned. In the lower row, from left to right are Saints Bernardino, Anthony of Padua, Peter Martyr & John the Baptist. In the upper row are Saints Jerome, Catherine, the Pieta, Saint Sebastian & a female ...

This picture of the Pietà shows the Virgin holding the body of Christ in her lap. His head is held by an angel, while another looks at the wounds in his feet. It formed the lunette for the altarpiece of ' The Virgin & Child with Saint Anne & Other Saints' formerly in the Chapel of Saint Anne in S. Frediano, Lucca. ...

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 ...

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 brings Christ to the Temple, as prescribed by Jewish law, with offerings of doves & money, for which Joseph reaches into his purse. Christ is presented to Simeon, shown here in the robes of a Christian priest, who declares: ' Lord, now lettest ...

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. ...