The people attempted to build a tower which would reach the heavens. But God humbled their pride by confusing their language so that no one could communicate, & the building ceased. Old Testament (Genesis 11: 1-9). Some of the costumes are apparently int ...

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 ...

This altarpiece was commissioned in September 1455 by the Company of Priests of the Trinity in Pistoia; hence it represents the Trinity, &

Includes:: Saints Mamas, James the Great, Zeno & Jerome. When Pesellino died in July 1457, the painting was finished by Fra Filippo Lippi, & delivered in June 1460. This painting is the main panel of the Santa Trinità Altarpiece. The altarpiece was divided into several parts, probably in the 18th century, & has now been reassembled. The fragments entered the Collection at different dates.

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Originally an altarpiece protected by two shutters (the marks of their hinges are visible in the frame). It represents the Trinity, with God the Father seated supporting the crucified Christ, & the Dove of the Holy Spirit between them, a type of image known as the Throne of Mercy. ...

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. ...

The altarpiece is complete & was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist. It came from the Camaldolese Nunnery of San Giovanni in Pratovecchio, Italy. In the pinnacles are the Archangel Gabriel, the Trinity & the Virgin Annunciate. On the left panel ar ...

This is one of a series of edifying historical, legendary & allegorical subjects painted in a room in the Petrucci palace in Siena in about 1509. Two others
- ' Penelope with the Suitors' by Pintoricchio & ' Coriolanus persuaded by his Family to spare R
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