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 ...

Christ carries the cross, on his way to Golgotha. Behind him is Simon of Cyrene, who helps to bear the weight of the cross. The fainting Virgin is supported by the three other Maries. Saint John the Evangelist, beside her, wrings his hands (Matthew 27: 30-3). The painting formed the central panel of the predella below an altarpiece of the Virgin & Child with Saints made for Santa Antonio, Perugia, in about 1504-5, & now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Other parts of the predella exist in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Boston (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) & London (Dulwich Picture Gallery). ...

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. ...

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. ...

Lazarus, the brother of Mary Magdalene, was dying & Jesus was called to his bedside, but by the time he arrived Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus was taken to the grave, gave thanks to God, & 'he that was dead came forth, bound hand & foot ...

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. ...