Archaeologist, art historian, collector, politician and diplomat.
National Gallery Trustee (1866–1894).
Sir Austen Henry Layard
1817 - 1894
This person is the subject of ongoing research. We have started by researching their relationship to the enslavement of people.
Biographical notes
Summary of activity
Layard was the son of Henry Peter John Layard, a civil servant in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and Marianne, daughter of Nathaniel Austen of Ramsgate, banker. The family settled in Florence, enjoying the society of poets and painters. As a child, an altarpiece by Filippino Lippi hung over his bed. Aged 12 he was sent back to England for his education, and in 1834 he entered the solicitor’s office of his uncle, Benjamin Austen.
In July 1839 he left for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) with Edward Mitford. In 1840 Layard decided to stay in Iran (then Persia), and between 1840 and 1842 lived partly in Baghdad and partly with the Bakhiari people who live in an area now forming border between Iran and Iraq. He later worked as an archaeologist in Turkey for Sir Stratford Canning, British Ambassador to Turkey, and from 1845–51 he excavated the cities of Nimrud and Nineveh. In 1847 he returned to London. In 1852 he became Liberal MP for Aylesbury. From 1869–1877 he was British Ambassador to Spain, and from 1877–1880 to Turkey. In 1884 he retired to Venice.
In the context of the British Foreign Office he was involved in debates around the slave trade within the Ottoman Empire (that encompassed North and East African as well as the Middle East), as discussed in Ehud R. Toledano, The Ottoman Slave Trade and Its Suppression: 1840-1890, Princeton 1983 (reprinted 2014), for instance, 262. The Ottoman Empire was one of the signatories of the 1890 Brussels Conference Act for the suppression of the slave trade.
Layard made annual trips to Italy to buy pictures both for himself and for the National Gallery.
Slavery connections
No known connections with slavery.
Abolition connections
Layard was involved in debates around the Ottoman slave trade in the context of the British Foreign Office (for which see Ehud R. Toledano, The Ottoman Slave Trade and Its Suppression: 1840-1890, Princeton 1983 (reprinted 2014), 262).
National Gallery painting connections
Donor: In 1886 Sir Henry Layard presented Arentino Spinello, Saint Michael and Other Angels (NG1216.1), Decorative Border with a Kneeling Flagellant and Saints Michael and Stephen (NG1216.2) and Decorative Border with a Seraph and Saint Catherine (NG1216.3).
In 1913 Sir Henry Layard bequeathed after Frans van Mieris the Elder, An Old Fiddler (NG2952), Caspar Netscher, Portrait of a Lady and a Girl (NG2953) and Nicolaes Maes, Portrait of a Man in a Black Wig (NG2954); this list excludes paintings transferred to Tate (NB in other entries we have included pictures which have been transferred to Tate - which here are N02946–2951, N02955–2956).
In 1916 Sir Henry Layard bequeathed Jacopo de‘ Barbari, A Sparrowhawk (NG3088); Gentile Bellini, The Sultan Mehmet II (NG3099); After Gentile Bellini, Doge Niccolò Marcello (NG3100); Workshop of Giovanni Bellini, The Virgin and Child (NG3078), The Adoration of the Kings (NG3098); Style of Ambrogio Bergognone, Two Panels from an Altarpiece: Saint Paul (NG3080) and Saint Ambrose (?) (NG3081); Francesco Bissolo, The Virgin and Child with Saints Michael and Veronica and Two Donors (NG3083); After Bonifazio di Pitati, Dives and Lazarus (NG3106); Francesco Bonsignori, The Virgin and Child with Four Saints (NG3091); Paris Bordone, Christ baptising Saint John Martyr (NG3122); Follower of Sandro Botticelli, The Virgin and Child (NG3082); Bramantino, The Adoration of the Kings (NG3073); Probably by Giovanni Buonconsiglio, Saint John the Baptist (NG3076); Vittore Carpaccio, The Departure of Ceyx (NG3085); Rosalba Carriera, Portrait of a Man (NG3126); After Rosalba Carriera, Rosalba Carriera (NG3127); Probably by Antonio Cicognara, Mystic Figure of Christ (NG3069); Probably by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Evangelist(?) and Saint Nicholas (NG3113); After Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, The Virgin and Child with Saint Paul and Saint Francis (NG3112); Lorenzo Costa, The Adoration of the Shepherds with the Nine Choirs of Angels (NG3105); Gerard David, Christ Nailed to the Cross (NG3067); Style of Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of a Woman (NG3132); Garofalo, The Virgin and Child enthroned with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena (’Madonna della Scimmia') (NG3102); Gaudenzio Ferrari, Panels from an Altarpiece: The Annunciation: The Angel Gabriel and The Annunciation: The Virgin Mary (NG3068.1-NG3068.2); Possibly by Girolamo Genga, A Jesse-Tree (NG3119); Gerolamo da Vicenza, The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin (NG3077); Giampietrino, Christ carrying his Cross (NG3097); Follower of Hugo van der Goes, Virgin and Child (NG3066); After El Greco, Saint Peter (NG3131); Italian, A Man and his Wife (NG3117); Italian, The Holy Family (NG3125); Italian, Portrait of an Old Man (NG3130); Italian, Florentine, Saint Peter (NG3120); Italian, North, Saint George and a Female Saint (NG3079); Italian, North, The Madonna and Child with Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and Saint Anthony of Padua (NG3094); Italian, North, Saint Catherine of Alexandria (NG3118); Italian, Venetian, Augustus and the Sibyl (NG3086); Italian, Venetian, A Naval Battle (NG3108); Italian, Venetian, The Labours of the Months: January – December (NG 3901.1 – 3110.6); Jacometto, Portrait of a Man (NG3121); Bernardino Licinio, The Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph and a Female Martyr (NG3075); Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop, Fresco Fragments: A Crowned Female Figure (Saint Elizabeth of Hungary?) and A Female Saint (the Annunciate Virgin or one of the Marys?) (NG3071-2); Workshop of Bernardino Luini, The Virgin and Child (NG3090); Workshop of Master of the Magdalen Legend, The Magdalen Weeping (NG3116); Ludovico Mazzolino, The Nativity with a Shepherd (NG3114); Bartolomeo Montagna, Saint Zeno, Saint John the Baptist and a Female Martyr (NG3074); Moretto da Brescia, Praying Man with a Long Beard (NG3095); Moretto da Brescia, Christ blessing Saint John the Baptist (NG3096); Giovanni Battista Moroni, The Vestal Virgin Tuccia (NG3123); Giovanni Battista Moroni, Portrait of Leonardo Salvagno (?) (NG3124); Giovanni Battista Moroni, Portrait of a Man with Raised Eyebrows (NG3128); Giovanni Battista Moroni, Bust Portrait of a Young Man with an Inscription (NG3129); Follower of Joachim Patinir, Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (NG3115); Niccolò Pisano, Two Stories from the Story of Moses: The Israelites gathering Manna and The Dance of Miriam (NG3103-NG3104); Andrea Previtali, Christ Blessing (NG3087); Andrea Previtali, The Virgin and Child adored by Two Angels (NG3111); Raffaellino del Garbo, Portrait of a Man (NG3101); Possibly by Girolamo Romanino, Pegasus and the Muses (NG3093); Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, Saint Jerome (NG3092); Lambert Sustris, The Queen of Sheba before King Solomon (NG3107); Cosimo Tura, A Muse (Calliope?) (NG3070).
In 1900 Lady Layard presented probably by Bartolomeo Montagna, The Virgin and Child (NG1696).
Bibliography
J. Anderson, 'Layard, Sir Austen Henry', in J. Turner et al. (eds), Grove Art Online, Oxford 1998-, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T049724
Checked and found
— Item on publisher's website
History of Parliament Trust (ed.), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, London 1964-, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/
Checked and not found
— Item on publisher's website
J. Parry, 'Layard, Sir Austen Henry', in C. Matthew et al. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 1992-, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/16218
Checked and found
— Item on publisher's website
J. Turner et al. (eds), Grove Art Online, Oxford 1998-, https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/
Checked and not found
— Item on publisher's website
UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-ownership, London 2020, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
Checked and not found
— Item on publisher's website
Paintings previously owned by Sir Austen Henry Layard
(Showing 6 of 84 works)
Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop
The crown and the millstone, faintly visible at her right side, suggest the woman may be Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who according to legend, after her death cured the hand of man after it was crushed by a millstone. Though royal, she joined a Franciscan lay order and took a vow of poverty, dedi...
Not on display
Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop
The upper layers of paint in the draperies are faded so that you can see the underdrawing – or sinopia – beneath. Traces of paint reveal that the draperies were originally blue. The figure’s pose – she recoils in fear, drawing her hand to her breast – is similar to images of the Virgin receiving...
Not on display
Possibly by Girolamo Genga
In the Middle Ages, the Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah would spring from the family of Jesse, the father of David, was interpreted visually as a family tree. Here, Jesse lies at the base of the tree which grows from his loins. The ancestors of Christ are shown emerging from the branches...
Not on display
This portrait of an unknown husband and wife is unusually intimate. The costumes have been dated to the mid-1540s. It was rare at the time for a man to be depicted with his hand resting on his wife’s shoulder. It was also slightly unusual for a woman to be shown on her husband’s right-hand side,...
Not on display
This imperious lady once looked down from the walls of the studiolo (study) at Belfiore, the hunting retreat belonging to the dukes of Ferrara, part of a decorative scheme showing the nine Muses. The theme was chosen by Leonello d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, and was begun by a painter called Angelo da...
This is one of a series of five paintings that decorated furniture or wall panelling. The subjects are all military and they may have been painted for the entrance hall of a Venetian palace, where arms and armour were often exhibited.Foot soldiers are gathered before tents, and a soldier in blue...
Not on display
This picture of a female sparrowhawk is one of two known paintings of birds by the Venetian artist Jacopo de' Barbari, who worked in the noble courts of Germany and the Netherlands. It is a probably a fragment of a larger painting made quite late in Jacopo’s life, perhaps when he was working in t...
Not on display
An old man sits in a window, a glass in his hand, a pile of plump, pink shrimps on the table in front of him. Vine leaves hang down overhead, and on the windowsill is a violin. Carved into the wooden panel beneath the sill are the Latin letters for 1660, ‘MDCLX’ – the year the original picture wa...
Not on display
An elderly bearded man kneels in a landscape, gazing up at the Virgin Mary and Christ Child who float in the sky. Behind him a rather astonished-looking young woman throws up her hands. This is the Emperor Augustus' encounter with the sibyl, a pagan prophetess.According to medieval legend, on the...
Not on display
This dark-haired man with his striking ginger beard is said to be an ancestor of Count Lupi of Bergamo. The picture is typical of Moroni’s bust-length portraits of the 1560s. The sitter’s body, truncated by a marble parapet, is turned at a sharp angle to us and his eyes meet ours with a direct, a...
Not on display
A young man kneels in a prison cell, wearing the robes and horned cap of a doge (the elected head of the Venetian state). On the ground are wooden stocks and heavy chains with manacles from which he has just been freed. Christ empties a cup over the young man’s bowed head. Two angels arrive holdi...
Not on display
Christ raises his hand in blessing as Salvator Mundi, or ‘Saviour of the World’. Such pictures were particularly popular in north-east Italy in the second half of the fifteenth and the early sixteenth century and were usually made for the home. The popularity of this type of painting in Venice ma...
Not on display
In this painting from early in Moretto’s career, Christ blesses his cousin Saint John the Baptist, who kneels beside a river, wearing a tunic of camel skin. This episode is not mentioned in the Gospels and is not otherwise known in art. It may be that Christ has just been baptised by the saint in...
Not on display
Christ turns to look at us as he carries the Cross on which he will be crucified. This type of painting, in which the viewer is put in the position of the holy women on whom Christ looked on the route to Calvary, was especially popular in North Italy in the sixteenth century. Christ’s eyes appeal...
Not on display
Christ is stretched on the cross on which he is to be crucified – he looks straight at us to invite our sympathy. At his feet, two soldiers haul on ropes to pull his legs straight as another hammers an iron nail into his feet. A fourth knocks a nail into his right hand.His pale skin and nakedness...
Not on display
This fragment comes from the border decoration of a large painting in fresco – a technique that involves painting directly onto wet plaster – which showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven. It once decorated a wall of the church of the confraternity of Sant' Angelo i...
Not on display
This fragment comes from the border decoration of a large painting in fresco – a technique that involved painting directly onto wet plaster – which showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven. It once decorated a wall of the church of the confraternity of Sant' Angelo i...
Not on display
After Bonifazio di Pitati
A group of wealthy Venetians sits in the portico of a country house. Two of them play instruments while a young Black page holds their music book. They ignore the beggar who holds out his hand for alms, his sores licked by a dog. The painting is disfigured by ingrained dirt, making it difficult t...
Not on display
After Gentile Bellini
The unusual horn-shaped cap and sumptuous silk robes identify this man as a doge, the elected ruler of Venice. We can‘t be sure who he is, but he has been identified in the past as Doge Niccolò Marcello, who was in power briefly from 1473 to 1474. A medal (Bode Museum, Berlin) inscribed with Marc...
Not on display
Follower of Joachim Patinir
The Virgin, seated in a large landscape, is feeding the Christ Child; luggage is scattered around her. To the right, we see a grazing donkey and Saint Joseph with a pack and walking stick. The holy family here rest as they flee to Egypt, driven away by King Herod’s order to execute infants under...
Not on display
Probably by Antonio Cicognara
Christ sits upon a tree trunk, sheltered within a building that looks like a small chapel with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. He wears the crown of thorns, which was placed upon his head before the Crucifixion. Around his neck is a looped rope, a reminder of the Flagellation (when he was tied up and w...
Not on display
Possibly by Girolamo Romanino
The painting shows the moment described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses when the mythical winged horse Pegasus stamped his hoof on Mount Helicon, causing a spring to gush forth. The spring became known as the Hippocrene, or Spring of the Horse. Here the artist shows several thin streams flowing down to f...
Not on display
In Netscher’s painting, the hand resting gently on the little girl’s shoulder suggests that the woman is her mother. There is a faint likeness: the little girl still has the rounded cheeks of childhood, but the eyes and mouth of the two are similar.Netscher was famous for his brilliant representa...
Not on display
Not many portraits by Jacometto survive but the National Gallery has two, including this one. The man’s costume tells us that he is a Venetian citizen. He’s painted in a style fashionable in late fifteenth-century Venice, which derives from Netherlandish painting: the three-quarter pose was new a...
On display elsewhere
A bright orange curtain is drawn back to reveal a young man standing at a window. He rests the fingers of his right hand on the windowsill, and seems to fasten the stole over his black cloak with his left hand. His head is turned to the side, gazing at something or someone outside the depicted sp...
An unknown man looks out from this portrait with a self-assured stare. His rosy lips, soft eyes and pale, youthful complexion are framed by a curly white wig that falls down his back. It is held in place with a neat black ribbon, as was fashionable for wealthy gentleman of the time.Carriera was n...
Not on display
Late in his career, Nicolaes Maes painted several small portraits in this style, often in an oval format. The background is dark, with a brown brocade curtain pushed to one side behind the sitter. A stylish young man confronts us with a direct gaze and half smile.We don’t know who this young man...
Not on display
An unidentified man regards us with a look of affable irony, his eyebrows raised. His chain mail sleeves and tunic would have been worn beneath plate armour, suggesting that he engages in some form of military activity. Similar costume is worn by noblemen in other portraits by Moroni.The sitter’s...
Not on display
Style of Anthony van Dyck
The identity of this brown-eyed woman who sits for what may be an engagement or marriage portrait remains a mystery. She is probably aristocratic and is clearly wealthy – the many pearls strung around her neck and over her shoulders, and the two large tear-drop pearls of her earrings, are showily...
Not on display
We do not know the identity of the man in this very damaged portrait. His clothes are typical of Venice and suggest a date in the early sixteenth century. He is shown three-quarter length, facing the left, his hand holding the stola (cloth sash) draped over his shoulder. His sleeve is lined with...
Not on display
A soberly dressed man turns to look at us, his arm leaning on a large red book with gilded corner pieces and a central boss. Although the Latinised name ‘Leonardus Salvaneus’ was added to the portrait later, this may be a true record of his identity.The inscription on the ornate book translates a...
Not on display
This man may be a member of the important Averoldi family from Brescia, who once owned the portrait. He wears a soft red wool tunic and coat or cloak lined with fox fur.It is very unusual for a three-quarter-length portrait at this date to have a background consisting entirely of sky. The man’s p...
Not on display
After Rosalba Carriera
Rosalba Carriera was one of a small number of women to make a highly successful international career as an artist in the eighteenth century. A native of Venice, she began by painting portrait miniatures on ivory, but by the time she was in her twenties she was attracting an international clientel...
Not on display
Style of Ambrogio Bergognone
An elderly, bearded saint, wearing a bishop’s mitre and holding a book and a crosier, gazes directly, almost challengingly, out at us. We are not sure exactly who he is. He has traditionally been identified as Saint Ambrose, the fourth-century patron of Milan, but he lacks the saint’s traditional...
Not on display
This painting was once a portrait, but it was altered to represent a saint. The hair of the figure was originally completely different, her hand was resting on a different object and her dress was decorated with gold around the edges. Later, after the dress and background had been completed, she...
Not on display
Saint George, with the remains of the dragon he has slain beside him, and an unidentified female saint kneel with their hands on their hearts in reverence. This painting is a fragment of a larger work, probably a single-panel altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with saints. The Virgin and Child wo...
Not on display
Saint Jerome kneels against a rocky ledge in the wilderness contemplating the crucified Christ. Savoldo was particularly admired for his depictions of dawn and dusk and the dramatic lighting effects they produced. The painting is signed on the rock below the open book: ‘Giovanni Girolamo of Bresc...
Probably by Giovanni Buonconsiglio
Saint John the Baptist is depicted here as though sitting for a portrait. The words on the scroll, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, are taken from the Gospel of John (John 1: 29 and 26). They refer to Christ who, like a lamb, will be sacrificed for the salvation of mankind. The Baptist is shown bust len...
Not on display
This fragment comes from a large painting in fresco – a technique that involved painting directly onto wet plaster – that showed the fall of Lucifer, the rebel angel who was cast out of heaven. It once decorated a wall of the church of the confraternity of Sant' Angelo in Arezzo. There are two ot...
Not on display
Style of Ambrogio Bergognone
A bearded saint stands reading a book, his left hand resting on a sword, in this quietly contemplative picture. We know, from his dark hair and beard and from the objects he holds, that this is Saint Paul: the sword is the weapon with which he was martyred and the book represents his many writing...
Not on display
After El Greco
This may look like a portrait of an elderly man but his unusually dramatic expression suggests otherwise. He is Saint Peter, one of Christ’s apostles. We know this because his head is copied from a larger picture by El Greco, The Tears of Saint Peter (Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle), which focuses...
Not on display
This is a fragment of a painting made in the fresco technique, which involves applying paint to wet plaster. Once dried, the painting becomes part of the wall. It shows a bearded saint – identifiable by his halo – shown in profile, and comes from the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence....
Not on display
Saint John the Baptist is shown between Saint Zeno, the fourth-century Bishop of Verona, and a female saint. Because of the finery of her clothing and her long flowing hair, she may be Saint Catherine, who was a princess from Alexandria. However, the saint is usually shown with the spiked wheel u...
Not on display
This scene is so unusual that it’s not entirely clear who the figures are intended to represent. Usually the Three Kings are shown kneeling in front of the Christ Child; here, instead, we can see two of them standing proudly before the Virgin and Child, presenting their gifts in large containers....
Workshop of Giovanni Bellini
In order to meet the huge demand for his paintings, Giovanni Bellini had a large workshop of assistants who produced works in his style, under his supervision – like this one, which shows the Three Kings worshipping the infant Christ. According to the Gospel of Matthew they followed a star – we c...
Not on display
This extraordinary painting is a unique depiction of the Adoration of the Shepherds. The Virgin Mary, Joseph and two shepherds cluster round the infant Christ; the ox and the donkey peer out of the darkness behind them. They are not, however, in a stable in Bethlehem, but gathered in front of a v...
The Angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will bear the son of God (Luke 1: 26-8). His words, ‘Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord be with you’, appear in abbreviated form in Latin on the scroll. The low vanishing points of this scene and its companion The Virgin Mary, also in the Nat...
Not on display
Interrupted from her reading, the Virgin Mary raises one hand in surprise at the Angel Gabriel’s announcement that she will bear the son of God (Luke 1: 26-8). Rays of golden light beam down upon her as she conceives Christ by the word of God. Her lectern and folding chair, of the so-called ‘Savo...
Not on display
In this rare survival – a Renaissance painting done on linen canvas – the Israelites, having escaped slavery in Egypt, are led through the wilderness by Moses and Aaron. The fleeing families, encumbered by bundles, dogs and even a monkey, make their way down a winding road. In the centre, a group...
Not on display
This panel shows the first part of the story of Alcyone and her husband Ceyx from the Metamorphoses, a poem by the Roman writer Ovid. It is continued in another panel, made as its pair (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art).A boat waits to take Ceyx to the large wooden ship in the distance, upon...
Not on display
Although it is set in a Renaissance town square, this small but busy painting shows the Dormition (literally the ‘falling asleep’, from the Latin dormire) and Assumption of the Virgin Mary. There is nothing in the Bible about the Virgin’s death, but in the medieval Catholic Church it was generall...
Not on display
Christ’s body has been taken down from the Cross and brought to be entombed by his grieving mourners. The Virgin Mary gently touches her son’s hair and face. Mary Magdalene, her long hair uncovered, takes Christ’s hand tenderly in her own. Beside her, one of the holy women present at the Crucifix...
Not on display
In this painting, probably made for private devotion, the infant Christ stands on the Virgin Mary’s lap and reaches up to embrace her. With his right hand he points up at her face. Saint Joseph looks on at the right, his hands crossed over his chest in reverence. In one hand he appears to hold a...
Not on display
According to the Book of Exodus, the Israelites, having escaped slavery in Egypt, feared famine as they wandered the desert. They complained to Moses, so God sent down a heavenly food, manna, which fell from the sky each morning but melted in the sun. Here, they gather the manna up into pots, jar...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In this painting, which we think may represent April, a cooper makes a wooden barrel. He raises his mallet ready to strike the tool in his other...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.The labourer in this scene, which may represent August, is so exhausted that he has fallen asleep. He sits beside a tree, his head resting on his...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In what we believe is the final painting of this series, a man wearing a white apron and holding a knife slaughters a grey pig by slitting its th...
Not on display
A young man kneels beside a wooden block and cuts stakes with a hatchet. A line of stakes has already been set in the field, which is ploughed into rows ready to be planted, perhaps with vines or olives. The stakes would be used to support the young plants.This is one of 12 small pictures that to...
Not on display
An old man sits indoors by the fire with his elbow propped on the fireplace or stove, and his forehead leaning on his hand. He pulls his jacket closer round himself and wears a yellow wrap or blanket against the cold. The interior of his room is bare and simple, and not in good repair – the plast...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In this painting, which we think may represent July, a man threshes grain from the corn husks and stalks of straw. He holds the corn on a wooden...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A barefoot young man sits holding a sheaf of corn he has cut in one hand and his scythe in the other. The sleeves of his blue jacket are rolled u...
Not on display
A bearded man wearing a yellow tunic trims vines that have been trained to grow up two trees. The branches of the vine are bare, while the trees have a few brownish leaves. Pruning vines is an activity carried out in Italy in winter when the plant is dormant, and in spring when the new leaves hav...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.It is the most puzzling picture of the series. A young man holds two rods, with one crossing the other at the top. It looks as though he might be...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A young huntsman in a red cap and jacket holds the leashes of his two hounds. He looks at his hawk, which perches on his hand. A hunting horn is...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.The young labourer gestures to something in front of him, and turns to look over his shoulder as if talking to someone outside the picture. He is...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A man sits beneath a tree through which a vine has been trained. A large bunch of red grapes hangs from a leafy stem. He uses both hands to squee...
Not on display
The Virgin sits outdoors on a stone parapet, holding the naked Christ Child on her knee. Saint Joseph looks down thoughtfully at the baby’s tiny foot in his hand. The infant Christ clings on to Joseph’s staff and turns to regard us over his shoulder, apparently raising his hand to bless Joseph....
Not on display
The Virgin Mary crosses her hands in adoration as she gazes down at the naked Christ Child who sleeps on a ledge or table in front of her. His sleep is intended to foreshadow his death. This type of composition with saints accompanying the Virgin in an informal grouping is known as a sacra conver...
Not on display
Workshop of Master of the Magdalen Legend
This is Saint Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s followers, identifiable from the pot of expensive ointment with which she anointed Christ’s feet. This painting was once joined to another panel, and was probably the left wing of a triptych (a painting made of three parts).Mary’s dress is cloth-of-go...
Not on display
In this early work by Mazzolino, the Virgin Mary kneels in adoration of the newborn Christ, who reclines on a white cloth over a pillow of straw. The stable behind the Virgin is improvised from an ancient Roman building, represented only by a pier decorated with elegant carved ornament and by a p...
Not on display
Solomon was an Old Testament King of Israel known for his great wisdom. The Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem from South Arabia to test Solomon’s wisdom for herself (1 Kings 10: 1–13). She was accompanied by a great retinue bearing spices, gold and precious stones.She kneels in reverence before K...
Not on display
As ruler of the expanding Islamic Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmet II was one of the most powerful men in the world when this portrait was painted. Fascinated by portraiture and European culture, he sent a request for a painter to the Venetian authorities in 1479. Gentile Bellini, having recently co...
On display elsewhere
This picture is unusual among Moroni’s secular paintings: the others that survive are all portraits. It is the only single-figure allegorical painting known by him and is likely to date from about 1560. The woman may be intended as a personification of Chastity but she also represents the Roman p...
Not on display
Follower of Sandro Botticelli
The dark background and absence of any furnishings focus attention on the Virgin Mary, who makes direct eye contact with the viewer. She stands underneath an open curtain, holding her infant son as if to prevent him from falling from the narrow ledge in the foreground. A transparent veil does lit...
Not on display
Probably by Bartolomeo Montagna
The Virgin and Christ Child are painted in fresco, a technique that involved painting directly onto fresh plaster. The Virgin’s mantle would originally have been a much more vivid shade of blue.This once belonged to Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist and explorer. He was a founder of the Arundel...
Not on display
Workshop of Bernardino Luini
The Christ Child stands on a stone parapet leaning against his mother, who turns to meet his gaze. He wraps one arm tenderly about her neck as she holds him gently around his waist in a very natural pose. In his other hand he holds an apple, a symbol of the Fall of humankind that he will redeem b...
Not on display
Workshop of Giovanni Bellini
Small-scale images of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child made for private worship were one of Bellini’s specialities, and there was intense demand for them. Bellini had a large workshop of assistants who worked under his supervision, producing paintings in his style. This is one of those works, whi...
Not on display
The Virgin is seated on the ground in the valley of a north Italian mountainous landscape. The naked infant Christ sits upright on her lap, holding two cherries, which symbolise the fruit of paradise. Two angels kneel before him, their arms crossed in adoration and hands clasped in prayer.Images...
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This early work by Garofalo probably dates from about 1499–1502 when he was in Ferrara. Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order, is identified by the lily and the miraculous star on his chest. Saint Catherine of Siena is also a Dominican saint; her hands, feet and side are marked with C...
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The Virgin holds the infant Christ close to her, drawing his cheek to her face. The pair are flanked by four saints. We can't be sure of their identities, but the one holding a book wears the brown robes of the Franciscans, a religious order of friars.The tender pose of mother and son derives fro...
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The Virgin and Christ Child stand between two saints, one from the first century, one from the thirteenth. They don't have haloes, but we can tell who they are from their appearances and traditional attributes.On the left is the first-century Saint Paul, holding a book and the sword with which he...
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Probably by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
The Virgin Mary sits between two male saints, the naked Christ Child on her knee. The young man holding a book is probably Saint John the Evangelist, author of one of the four Gospels: he was conventionally shown as fair haired and beardless. The old man with the white beard and bishop’s crosier...
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The Virgin Mary sits in the countryside outside a distant town, holding the naked, wriggling Christ Child on her lap. Archangel Michael is identified by his name inscribed on the neckline of his robes. Saint Veronica holds the veil on which the image of Christ’s face was miraculously imprinted wh...
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Follower of Hugo van der Goes
This triptych (a picture in three parts) is made up of three different paintings: the middle panel with its original engaged frame has been inserted into an outer frame, and the two side panels added to it.The central panel shows the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, and its quality suggests...
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