Amnon, a son of King David, desired his half-sister Tamar. Faking illness, he asked her to come & cook for him, & then raped her. He was later killed in revenge by Tamar's brother Absalom (2 Samuel 13). ...

Plutarch (' Lives' II, 14 & 19) relates that the Sabine tribe were invited to games in Rome; at a given signal from their king, Romulus, the Romans carried off the women. The background shows the later episode when the Sabines attacked the Romans & were defeated. The Romans & Sabines fight in the background beyond the rail that separates the audience from the games. The abduction is set before classical architecture, but the women wear 17th-century Flemish dress. ...

These four pictures are from a series illustrating stories from ancient Roman history. They show (top to bottom): ' The Attack on Cartagena'; ' The Continence of Scipio'; ' The Rape of the Sabines'; & ' The Intervention of the Sabine Women'. Two other pictur ...

The setting of this painting & ' The Rape of the Sabines (before the signal)' is the same. According to Plutarch's ' Lives', the rape of the Sabine women began when Romulus stood up. He is shown here standing in the centre. The pictures may come from a cassone. ...

The setting of this painting & ' The Rape of the Sabines (after the signal)' is the same. According to Plutarch's ' Lives', shortly after the founding of Rome neighbouring peoples were invited to equestrian games which were to provide the opportunity for carrying off brides for the Romans. The Sabine women, who have come to watch the games, are shown on either side of Romulus & his entourage. The pictures may come from a cassone. ...

Joseph had been warned in a dream that Herod was searching for the Christ Child, so he took him & the Virgin to safety in Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-15). Mola painted this subject several times. This painting is probably among the earliest of these treatments. A date in the early 1630s is likely. Stylistically the work shows the influence of Albani. ...

Christ steps triumphant out of the tomb while four soldiers sleep in the foreground. New Testament (Matthew 28: 2-4). He holds the banner of the Resurrection with a red cross on a white ground. This panel formed the last scene in the predella of the high altarpiece of S. Croce, Florence. ...

Christ rises from his tomb, while the Roman soldiers sleep. ' The Maries at the Sepulchre', ' The Resurrection' & ' Noli me Tangere' are all by an imitator of Mantegna, & all from the same series. Technical examination in 1982 showed these panels to have been painted no later than the first half of the 16th century. All three reflect Mantegna's style of about 1460 & it has been suggested that they either record lost paintings, or, perhaps more likely, lost drawings or engravings by Mantegna. ...

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 & its companion, ' The Boar Hunt', are not allegories of Europe & Asia respectively, as was once thought, but are a pair of gallant hunting scenes. Their magnificent frames decorated with carved animal heads are of the period 1710-30. ...