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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...