The Three Graces of Antiquity
- Aglaia, Euphrosyne & Thalia, the daughters of Zeus
- were often associated with giving & receiving,

...

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. ...

King David saw the beautiful Bathsheba bathing; he sent her husband to the wars to get him killed, & then married her. As one of his less commendable exploits this earned him a divine rebuke (2 Samuel 11: 2). David is seen on the roof of the building at ...

Venus, the goddess of love, is shown with the Three Graces (the daughters of Zeus who personified beauty, charm & grace) & Cupid. Reni designed the picture & executed parts of it (at least the figure of Venus). The painting is perhaps identifiable wi ...

Create your own bespoke print of Diego Velázquez’s The Toilet of Venus (' The Rokeby Venus') from our collection. About this painting The Toilet of Venus (' The Rokeby Venus'), 1647-51 © The National Gallery, London This painting joined our collection in 1906 With our custom print service, you can order your own fully customised reproduction from the National Gallery Collection & exhibitions. Choose your own size, print material & frames & have your masterpiece delivered straight to your door. ...

Christ appears in a transfigured state to the apostles Peter, John & James. Either side of Christ are Moses (left) & the prophet Elijah (right). This panel was part of the back predella of Duccio's ' Maestà', & was immediately to the right of ' Jesus opens the Eyes of a Man born Blind'. Another panel from the ' Maestà' is in the collection, ' The Annunciation'. The ' Maestà' was a monumental double-sided altarpiece ceremoniously delivered to Siena Cathedral in June 1311, & placed on the high altar. At the time it was the richest & most complex altarpiece in Christendom, but it was dismembered in 1771, & although most of it is in the Cathedral Museum in Siena, several predella panels & pinnacles are dispersed in collections throughout the world. The front of the altarpiece shows the Virgin & Child enthroned with saints & apostles, the predella depicts Christ's childhood, & the pinnacles, the last days of the Virgin. On the reverse the narrative runs from Christ's earthly ministry through his Passion to his latter day appearances. ...

For the subject of this fresco (now transferred to canvas mounted on board) see Ovid, ' Metamorphoses' (10). Cyparissus, beloved by Apollo, accidentally killed a favourite stag; he was so distressed that he begged to be allowed to mourn for ever, & was t ...

The subject of this painting is taken from the New Testament. The Pharisees ask Christ whether it is right to pay tax to the Romans. Christ, sensing the trap, asks whose likeness & name are on the coinage: "" They say unto him, Caesar's. Then he saith unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; & unto God the things that are God's"" (Matthew 22; Mark 12, Luke 20). This painting was probably painted for King Philip II & sent to Spain in 1568. ...

This is an old copy, partly done from an engraving of 1566 by Cornelius Cort, after Titian's ' Gloria', which was dispatched from Venice to the Emperor Charles V in 1554 & is now in the Prado, Madrid. God the Father & Son, with the Holy Ghost in the fo ...

The wounded figure of the dead Christ supported by God the Father is revealed through the clouds. Above them is the dove representing the Holy Spirit. Together the three represent the Holy Trinity. On either side are the grieving figures of the Virgin & Saint John, supporting the body of Christ. They stand in a tomb of dark red marbled stone. The small figures kneeling on the grass below are probably the family who commissioned the painting from Baldung. Donors are often shown as diminutive to emphasise the distinction between them & the holy personages. The family's coats of arms are shown on the shields on either side of them. The coat of arms to the left is probably that of the Bettschold family of Strasbourg; the other may be that of the Rothschild family. The painting may have been made for St Pierre-le-Vieux in Strasbourg, with which the family were closely connected. Baldung's painting invites our imaginative participation by stressing the human emotions of the mourners, & presenting even God the Father simply as a grieving parent. ...