Paintings on art route A
See some of the earliest works in the collection and paintings by artists including Botticelli, van Eyck, Leonardo, Memling, Michelangelo, Raphael, Piero and Uccello.
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(Showing 30 of 287 works)
The Virgin and Child are surrounded by saints, each occupying a separate arched compartment bounded by spiral columns. The design is highly unusual and is not known in any other Italian paintings of the period. Its shape and layout have a very specific function: they map the Florentine Church of...
Christ’s disciples were gathered together 50 days after his death when, according to the Bible, a strong wind began to blow. Flames like ‘tongues of fire’ appeared on their heads and they were filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 2: 1–4). This event, called Pentecost, was when the disciples were give...
It is unusual to see these four images grouped together like this. This arrangement and the evidence of hinges at the panel’s right edge suggest that it was once part of a larger work made up two or more connected panels.Clockwise from top left, we see the coronation of the Virgin (when Christ cr...
This is one of only two small-scale works by Cimabue, rediscovered in 2000. Soon after this, a link was made between it and a panel in the Frick Collection, New York, which depicts the Flagellation. They were both probably part of a much larger panel painted with small images showing the events l...
This small, portable altarpiece is one of a handful of English panel paintings to have survived from the Middle Ages. Made for Richard II, King of England from 1377 to 1399, in the last five years of his life, it combines religious and secular imagery to embody his personal conception of kingshi...
This painting shows Clare, a holy woman who lived in Rimini from the late thirteenth to early fourteenth centuries. According to her biography she had a vision of Christ enthroned and surrounded by the apostles and John the Baptist. Christ – the largest figure in this scene – showed her the wound...
This small painting of the Pentecost shows Giotto’s skill at transforming complex biblical stories into images that were easy to decipher. Jesus’s followers were gathered together 50 days after his Crucifixion to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Weeks. A strong wind began to blow and flames like ‘to...
The Virgin, face partly obscured by her vast blue cloak, places a hand on her son’s bloody wound. He is shown upright, after his crucifixion. The image of Christ displaying his wounds after death was popular in the late Middle Ages as a focus for meditation upon his suffering. The spear used to p...
Giovanni da Milano spent much of his career in Tuscany, and may have painted this small panel in Siena. Christ and the Virgin are shown as King and Queen of Heaven, carrying orbs and sceptres. Images of them seated on a double throne are rare, though there are a few examples by Sienese painters t...
The artist of this panel has sculpted the drops of blood which fall from Christ’s side and hands and then painted over them to emphasise their gore. The circular wounds in Christ’s hands were caused by the nails of the Crucifixion and the wound in his ribcage by a Roman soldier’s spear. Christ’s...
Lippo di Dalmasio painted several images of the Virgin of Humility, so-called because she is shown sitting on the ground. Here she sits in a grassy meadow holding the Christ Child on her lap. Mother and child are absorbed in each other, and the infant Christ tugs at her veil as any baby might.Th...
This panel is like a miniature altarpiece. The Virgin Mary and Christ Child occupy the central arch, with Saint Mark on the left and Saint John the Baptist on the right.There is a Latin inscription in gold next to the Virgin, which means: ‘Holy Mary of Humility’. This title was often given to ima...
We don't know the identity of the artist, but he painted a group of works for Franciscan patrons in and around Assisi. These include the image of Saint Francis for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, after which he is named.He made several painted Crosses on this scale. They were probably for...
In 1999 this panel was reunited with its pair, an image of the Virgin and Child. Together they formed a diptych, a painting made of two panels joined with a hinge.Christ is shown on the Cross, just after his death – a type of image called the Man of Sorrows. Its origins lie in Byzantine painting...
In 1999 this panel was reunited with its pair, an image of Christ known as the Man of Sorrows. Together they formed a diptych, a painting made of two panels joined with a hinge.The Virgin Mary gestures towards the Christ Child, bowing her head towards him. He looks up towards her and makes a bles...
This small painting is one of the earliest in the National Gallery’s collection. It was probably made in Siena – it shares many features with Sienese painting of the period – but its combination of images is rare. It is possible that it’s based on a Byzantine (Eastern Christian) painting.The Virg...
The Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive the Son of God; she holds a Bible open at words from the prophet Isaiah which echo Gabriel’s: ‘Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son...’The conception takes place at the moment she hears the words, which is why a ti...
This painting is from the back of the predella (the bottom tier) of Duccio’s Maestà – a double-sided, five-tiered altarpiece made for the high altar of Siena Cathedral.It shows Jesus healing a blind man, an episode told in John’s Gospel. Jesus is shown wiping a mixture – made from mud and his own...
Christ stands at the centre of this small square panel. The moment shown is the Transfiguration, when Jesus ascended a mountain and became filled with heavenly light, shown here by the golden striations (stripes) on his robes. Suddenly the Old Testament prophets Moses (on his left) and Elijah (on...
Duccio was the leading artist of fourteenth-century Siena. His style is characterised by elegant, flowing lines, soft colours and tender representations of the divine. Here, the Virgin’s cloak is defined by a fluid gold hem. Mother and child share an affectionate gaze as the infant Christ plays w...
This little panel, which is also decorated on the reverse, shows Saint Dorothy with Jesus, a toddler, carrying a basket of roses. She caries a stem of roses in bloom and bud and gazes tenderly at the boy. Saint Dorothy was martyred for her faith in the city of Caesarea (in modern-day Turkey), in...
The artist shows John the Baptist leaving the city for the wilderness, where he lived a simple life preaching about Jesus Christ. We see his dainty figure twice in this scene, which is unusual in Italian art. He appears first leaving the city gates with a small bundle of possessions, and then cli...
Saint Fabian and Saint Sebastian, wounded by arrows, are shown together with two tiny figures wearing black cloaks with hoods and white veils. Medieval Christians prayed to both saints as protectors against the plague.Saint Fabian was pope in the third century and is shown wearing a papal tiara;...
Christ stands in a river, the water up to his waist. John the Baptist pours a cup of water over his head, baptising him. As he does, God the Father appears in the sky, surrounded by angels, while a dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, descends towards Christ in golden rays.The scene reflects John’...
This engaging little scene, full of lifelike detail comes from a series of panels that tell the story of the life of John the Baptist, the prophet who preached the coming of Christ as the Messiah. They once formed a predella, the lowest part of a multi-panelled altarpiece.The saint has just been...
John the Baptist’s head is presented to King Herod on a golden platter. He recoils in disgust, while his guests cover their eyes, unable to look. The girl in a pink dress is Salome, whose dancing had delighted Herod so much that he offered her whatever she wished for. Her mother, Herod’s wife, as...
This is a fragment of a fresco that was discovered under whitewash in 1855. It shows a group of nuns; the central figure has a gentle gaze and gracefully places her hand across her breast. It is in good condition but some of the colours have faded. Traces of brown paint remain in the tunics, ide...
In the 1330s the Sienese city council commissioned four altarpieces showing scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, the city’s protector, to decorate the cathedral. This panel by Pietro Lorenzetti, one of the city’s most important artists, comes from the altarpiece dedicated to the birth of the...
The Virgin Mary sits on a carved and inlaid marble throne, the Christ Child perched in the crook of her arm. In a tender gesture he grasps his mother’s thumb; with the other hand, she holds the pink cloth in which he is wrapped between her slender thumb and forefinger.This large altarpiece has be...
This triptych (a painting in three parts) shows the Virgin Mary just after her birth. Saint Anne, Mary’s mother, props herself up in her bed while midwives and attendants make food and prepare a basin for washing. This scene was particularly popular in Siena, a city devoted to the Virgin Mary.The...
This is a rare example of a work by Niccolò di Buonaccorso – one of the most gifted Sienese artists of the fourteenth century. The panel belongs to a series of three: the others show the Virgin as a child in The Presentation of the Virgin (Uffizi, Florence) and The Coronation of the Virgin by Ch...
According to his biography, the young Saint Francis of Assisi, the son of a wealthy merchant, gave his expensive clothes to a poor knight. The next night God sent him a vision of a great palace, and promised it to him and his soldiers (that is, the army of Franciscan friars he was to found). This...
In a vaulted green hall, Pope Honorious III blesses Saint Francis of Assisi, watched by assembled cardinals and various others. This is the third of a series of eight panels depicting episodes from Saint Francis’s life. They were part of a sumptuous double-sided altarpiece Sassetta made for the...
Saint Francis of Assisi, eager to defend his faith through martyrdom, went to Syria to preach to its Muslim population around 1219, at the time of the Fifth Crusade (one of a series of invasions of Muslim countries by Christian armies attempting to recapture the Holy Land). He was captured and ta...
Under the arches of a pink arcade, Bishop Guido of Assisi wraps his cloak around the naked Saint Francis of Assisi. The saint’s discarded boots, shirt and hose lie in a heap on the floor. To the left, Francis’s father, enraged by his son’s rejection of their wealthy lifestyle, has snatched up the...
Saint Francis of Assisi died on 4 October 1226, surrounded by his friars at the chapel of the Portiuncula, outside Assisi. Rather than in a tiny chapel, here the saint lies on a bier in front of the altar of a large pink and blue church, surrounded by friars, church officials and other witnesses....
Saint Francis of Assisi kneels in a rocky landscape, hands raised in prayer, gazing up at a vision of Christ floating in the sky. Christ has the six wings of a seraphim and his arms are extended as if on the Cross. Rays from Christ’s stigmata – the wounds he received at the Crucifixion – impress...
In around 1220, Saint Francis of Assisi was living in Gubbio, Umbria. When a ferocious wolf began attacking livestock and people, Francis rebuked it, and tamed the animal by making the sign of the cross. He promised that, if it stopped terrorising the city, it would be forgiven and cared for. The...
Segna di Bonaventura, from Siena, was the nephew of Duccio di Buoninsegna, that city’s leading artist. They shared a love of flowing lines, harmonious colour combinations and graceful expression of emotion.Painted Crucifixes of this kind were common features of Italian churches in the thirteenth...
This is part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence. It is a pinnacle panel (from the uppermost section of the altarpiece). There are two other pinnacle panels in our collection, as well as panels from other tiers.The crowned figure in...
This panel – a pinnacle panel – comes from the uppermost part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece painted for the church of Santa Croce, Florence. There were originally six of these, and four survive. Two others are in our collection (they show King David and Moses), as well as panels from other...
This panel comes from the uppermost part of a large altarpiece painted for the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence. There are two others in our collection, showing the prophet Isaiah and King David; all three figures carry scrolls with Latin inscriptions.This one shows Moses who, ac...
This picture was once part of a multi-panelled altarpiece with four tiers, made for the Florentine church of Santa Croce. It would have appeared in the third tier, above an image of the apostle Paul (now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) and beneath an image of David.The inscriptions that identify t...
This panel was once part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made for the Florentine church of Santa Croce. The altarpiece had four tiers of pictures; this would have appeared in the third.An inscription, now quite faded and damaged, identifies the saint wearing a violet drapery: S.THA. (Saint Thaddeu...
These angels came from a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence, where Franciscan friars – members of the religious order founded by Saint Francis – had a convent. They appeared on the upper part of a panel (now lost) which showed Saint Fran...
These angels were once part of a large altarpiece made for the church of Santa Croce, Florence, where Franciscan friars – members of the religious order founded by Saint Francis – had a convent. A Franciscan friar and saint, Louis of Toulouse, was pictured on the main tier.The image of the saint...
This panel is one of four in our collection that come from the lowest part of an altarpiece (the predella) made for the church of Santa Croce in Florence. It shows the moment, described in the Gospels, when Jesus Christ was arrested by Roman soldiers. The soldiers are on the right in elaborate ar...
This panel comes from the altarpiece Ugolino made for the church of Santa Croce in Florence – it was in the predella (’step', the lowest part of an altarpiece). Three other panels from this predella are in the National Gallery’s collection.The dead Christ is being removed from the Cross. One man...
Four Roman soldiers – the guards of Christ’s tomb, stationed to prevent anyone stealing the body – sleep on the ground. Christ, holding the flag of the Resurrection, steps out of the tomb, its lid cast aside on the ground behind.This panel was part of the altarpiece Ugolino made for the church of...
The Virgin is seated on a marble seat, intricately carved and decorated with multi-coloured inlay, outlined in gold. It resembles a Roman tomb, perhaps as a reminder of Christ’s future sacrifice at his Crucifixion. Here, Christ is shown as an infant, tenderly reaching to touch his mother’s face,...
This panel was the central scene of the predella (the lowest part of the altarpiece below the main level) that Ugolino made for the church of Santa Croce in Florence. It shows Christ carrying the Cross to the site of his crucifixion as described in the Gospel of John (John 19: 17). His deep pink...
Golden hair, rosy lips and pale skin were the ideal of feminine beauty in fifteenth-century Florence. All feature in this lady’s portrait, which was probably made to celebrate her marriage.Around her long neck she wears a strand of orange beads with a pendant set with a large pearl. A cluster of...
This altarpiece was made for the meeting room of the Florentine youth confraternity of the Purification of the Virgin and of Saint Zenobius, which was in the Dominican convent at San Marco.Saint Zenobius and Saint John the Baptist – the patron saints of Florence – are shown on the Virgin’s right-...
This is a fragment of a wall-painting made using the fresco technique (painting directly onto wet plaster). It comes from a ’street tabernacle‘ – an outdoor religious painting – that showed the Virgin and Child surrounded by two saints.It is the head of one of the saints. We can’t identify him fr...
This is a fragment of a wall-painting made using the fresco technique (painting directly onto wet plaster). It comes from a ’street tabernacle‘ – an outdoor religious painting – that showed the Virgin and Child surrounded by two saints.It is the head of one of the saints. We can’t identify him fr...
This balletic battle scene shows Chastity, the graceful woman in a billowing dress, defending herself against the golden arrows of Love, the athletic naked youth. The combat takes place on a summer day, and the only sign of commotion in nature is a swan, wings outstretched, in pursuit of its comp...
Saint James kneels in prayer; behind him a vigorous executioner raises his sword. James the Great was the first of Christ’s apostles to die for his faith, being put to death by King Herod Agrippa in Jerusalem in AD 44.This is one of five scenes from the predella, the bottom tier, of the Pistoia S...
This panel shows a twelfth-century monk, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, having a vision of the Virgin Mary. It is shaped like an ‘overdoor’ – a picture designed to hang above a doorway – and was probably made to decorate the Palazzo Vecchio (the town hall) in Florence; Saint Bernard was patron saint...
Saint Jerome sits in the wilderness, carefully removing a thorn from the paw of a very endearing lion – it went on to be his companion. This was a popular subject in medieval art, although Jerome is usually just shown with the lion as a pet, rather than actually treating it.This is one of five sc...
A young saint has been locked up with four lions. This is Saint Mamas of Caesarea, a Greek martyr who was tortured and executed for his faith by the Roman Emperor Aurelian. According to his legend he was imprisoned and then thrown to lions – although not at the same time, as here.This is one of f...
A bishop saint – Saint Zeno, Bishop of Verona in the fourth century – is exorcising a demon from a young girl; you can see the little black figure jumping out of her mouth. Her parents watch anxiously. Her father, wearing a crown, kneels beside her: he is Emperor Gallienus. According to Zeno’s le...
This angel comes from a pala (an altarpiece with a single, unified surface) which was sawn into pieces in the eighteenth century but reassembled by the National Gallery in the 1930s. It was made for a confraternity of priests, and shows the Trinity (God the Father, Christ and the Holy Ghost as a...
This angel comes from a pala (an altarpiece with a single, unified surface) which was sawn into pieces in the eighteenth century, but reassembled by the National Gallery in the 1930s. In a particular light you can see the joins where the parts have been stuck together.The altarpiece was made for...
These saints come from a large pala (an altarpiece with a single, unified surface) which was sawn into pieces in the eighteenth century and later reassembled in the National Gallery. Look closely and you can see lines where the fragments were put back together. The altarpiece was begun by Frances...
This large pala (an altarpiece with a single, unified surface) was painted for a church in Pistoia, but sawn into pieces in the eighteenth century. It was reassembled in the National Gallery – look closely and you can see lines where the fragments were put back together.Two fourth-century saints...
This long and fantastically detailed painting is a precious survivor of Renaissance interior decoration – and it gives us an idea of just how spectacular this could be. It is one of a pair telling the story of David, King of Israel, who started life as a shepherd boy but rose to fame and fortune...
This large pala (an altarpiece with a single, unified surface) was painted for a church in Pistoia but was sawn into pieces in the eighteenth century; most of it was later reassembled in the National Gallery. Look closely and you can see lines where the separate fragments were put back together.I...
A fantastic procession winds its way through a Tuscan landscape dotted with hills and walled towns. Extravagantly dressed nobles ride prancing horses, while their hounds, a hunting cheetah and even a bear trot along beside them.Although it looks like medieval Italy, this actually shows a biblical...
This tiny picture has grand themes: the rivalry of the gods and the power and danger of love. Its story comes from the Metamorphoses, by the Roman poet Ovid. Cupid, taking revenge on Apollo for his teasing, struck the god with a golden arrow of love, igniting a fierce desire for Daphne – but stru...
The unusual shape of this picture is the first clue to its purpose, and the lively literary story painted upon it, the second. It was probably made as a commemorative but also functional household object, known as a birth tray or desco da parto. Such trays were given as gifts to celebrate a pregn...
It’s hard to follow what’s going on in this large and busy painting, partly because it’s much darker now than when it was painted. This is one of three battle scenes by Uccello showing the Florentine victory at San Romano in 1432.The Florentine commander, Niccolò da Tolentino, rides a white charg...
Christ, barefoot and weeping but dressed in rich red and blue, is bent under the weight of the Cross. The spikes of the crown of thorns dig into his flesh, and crystal tears drip down his cheeks. He is dragging the Cross to his own crucifixion.The setting is not first-century Palestine, but Renai...
Christ kneels in prayer. He gazes up at an angel, who presents him with a chalice containing the instruments of the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion). To the right, in a walled garden, three of the apostles sleep while a group of soldiers, led by Judas, peer furtively through an arched g...
A serene young mother balances a toddler on her lap, tenderly supporting him with one hand and holding an open book in the other. This is no ordinary mother – she sits on an elaborate throne and is serenaded by angelic musicians, and both mother and child have gilded haloes. This is the Virgin Ma...
A barefoot and bearded saint sits in a rocky landscape, prayer beads in hand. Discarded behind him is a red cardinal’s hat, and he wears a cardinal’s ermine cape over his rough wool habit. This is Saint Jerome, monk, hermit and translator of the Bible.Here he seems to have been up all night worki...
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 before the Christ Child; here, instead, we can see two of them standing proudly before the Virgin and Child, presenting their gifts in large vessels. We aren...
Saint Vincent Ferrer was a Spanish friar and missionary, and a member of the Dominican Order (the religious order founded by Saint Dominic); he was officially declared a saint in 1455. He is shown raising a finger demonstratively: he was known as a passionate preacher whose stirring sermons somet...
At the end of their long journey, three magnificently dressed kings offer gifts to the Christ Child, who is seated on the Virgin’s lap. Behind them, their retinue winds its way through the hilly landscape from Jerusalem, visible on a distant hilltop. This is the Adoration of the Kings (Matthew 2:...
The inscription at the top of this picture tells us this is a portrait of Leonello d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara. Leonello succeeded his father in 1441 and this picture was painted six years later. It shows him in profile, drawing attention to his sloping forehead and distinctive long nose – accord...
This puzzling painting seems to be a picture in two halves. At the top the Virgin and Child embrace in a gilded sunburst. Below, Saint Anthony Abbot rings his bell and glowers at an elegant knight. This is Saint George, dressed in fifteenth-century armour, and a stylish straw hat – a contemporary...
We are looking at a miraculous event. An elegantly dressed huntsman has been stopped in his tracks by an apparition: a large stag with a Crucifix between its antlers. This is Saint Eustace, a Roman soldier who, while out hunting one day, had a vision of a stag with Christ on a shining cross betwe...
Jesus sits at the head of the table, surrounded by his disciples, holding up a piece of bread, which he blesses: this is the Last Supper. Ercole’s skill at painting detail on a small scale is clear: each disciple has a different facial expression, and the transparent glasses, the carafes and the...
The Old Testament book of Exodus describes how the Jews fled from Egypt and crossed the desert to the land of Israel. Every morning they woke up to find the ground miraculously covered with an edible substance that looked like frost – they called this ‘heavenly bread’ manna and said it tasted lik...
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...
Saint Jerome spent two years in the desert, living a life of poverty and self-denial. As a punishment for sinful thoughts, he would – as we see here – beat his body until it bled. He was originally shown looking towards a vision of Christ, arms outstretched on a cross made of beams of light. This...
The Virgin Mary sits on a high marble throne with a curved back, the naked Christ Child asleep in her lap. An eagle crowns the throne. It – like the winged lion, bull and reading man – symbolises one of the authors of the Gospels. The Old Testament is evoked by the stone tablets to either side of...
Something – or someone – has interrupted the Virgin Mary’s reading. This panel was probably part of a large image which included the angel Gabriel, the cause of her surprise. Gabriel brought her the news that she would conceive a child by the Holy Ghost, and that he would be the son of God (Luke...
Christ blesses the viewer with his right hand. Antonello has altered the original position of the fingers and hand, foreshortening them – that is, compressing their real length – so that they appear to be projecting out of the picture. If you look closely, you can see the outlines of their initi...
Christ’s body hangs limply on the Cross; the torment of his crucifixion is almost over. He is supported in his final moments by the Virgin Mary and his disciple John the Evangelist. Antonello has composed the picture with a low viewpoint; it is as if we are looking up at a Crucifix placed upon an...
This small painting shows how Antonello revolutionised Venetian portraiture in the late fifteenth century: the three-quarter pose, dark background and strong lighting are all innovations from Northern Europe which focus attention entirely on the man’s face.Antonello’s skill at painting in oil ena...
Born in the fourth century, Saint Jerome was a scholar and a monk. His translation of the Bible from Greek into Latin is known as the Vulgate, and it is still used by the Catholic Church today.Antonello offers a peek into the saint’s environment through a fictive stone wall pierced by a broad arc...
The figure in black is the Greek archbishop John Bessarion. In 1453, after the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Christian) Empire, to the Islamic Ottoman Empire, Bessarion became a permanent resident in Venice. He joined the Scuola della Carità, a religious confratern...
In 1252 Saint Peter Martyr, a Dominican friar from Verona, was assassinated in an ambush by a group of heretics. This picture was once thought to be a ‘portrait’ of the saint: we can see the hilt of a dagger which has been plunged into his heart, and a cleaver lodged in his head.X-ray imagery sho...
Leonardo Loredan knows that he is being looked at, but he does not return our gaze. He is the doge, the ruler of the Venetian Republic; elected in 1501, he ruled until his death in 1521.He wears white silk damask robes woven with gold and silver metal thread, clothing reserved for the most splend...
The Virgin Mary adores the Christ Child sleeping on her lap. Giovanni Bellini was one of the first Italian painters to use natural settings to enhance the meaning of his pictures. Here, the still Virgin contrasts with the landscape, where the varying shapes of the clouds, from thin and wispy to f...
An elderly man, barefoot and with an impressive grey beard, is perched on a rock, engrossed in a book. This is Saint Jerome, translator of the Bible into Latin. His only companion is an endearing lion which lies peaceably in the corner – he had tamed it by removing a thorn from its paw.Bellini pa...
Christ’s disciple Judas – visible just beyond the river, leading a group of soldiers to Christ – has betrayed him. Aware of his imminent arrest and death, Christ prays; a cherub appears and presents him with a chalice. The chalice refers to the words of his prayer: ‘My Father, if it be possible,...
This scene tells the story of the murder of Saint Peter Martyr, a friar of the Dominican Order who was killed by members of the Cathars, a heretical sect whose teachings he had spoken against publicly. The saint is shown on the left – he has collapsed to his knees, an axe lodged in his skull. His...
Christ is shown resurrected after dying at the Crucifixion, his triumph over death reinforced by the way he cradles the Cross on which he was crucified. His body is weak and pale – we can see his ribcage, and his cheekbones stick out of his gaunt face. The focus of the image is the wound in Chris...
Small-scale images of the Virgin and Child made for private worship were a speciality of Bellini’s. This picture was thought to be by the artist’s assistants, but recent technical analysis showed that it was made by Bellini. The holy figures are separated from a landscape by a cloth of honour, an...
An old man with a long white beard kneels in a rocky landscape. He gazes up at a rough wooden cross made from two slender branches roped together. This is Jerome, a fourth-century saint. It’s one of a number of versions of the subject made by Cima da Conegliano.The painting is arranged to focus o...
Christ, dressed in white, bears the Cross on his shoulder in this small devotional picture. The crown of thorns circles his head, its spikes pressing deep into his flesh. His eyes are reddened with weeping, the tears on his cheeks echoing the drops of blood on his forehead. This was undoubtedly a...
Christ prays before a group of cherubs who hold up the instruments of his torture and death. His disciple Judas, who has betrayed him, leads a large band of soldiers down from Jerusalem to arrest him. Meanwhile his other disciples sleep.This painting reflects many of the artistic issues that woul...
Solario most probably trained as a painter in Venice, where he would have been aware of the works of Giovanni Bellini, the city’s most highly regarded painter. This picture shows the influence of Bellini’s images of the Virgin and Child that were made for private worship. The holy figures stand b...
Christ’s head is shown in vivid close up in this little picture, his pale face and brilliant robe stark against the black background. Bright light falling from the left allows us to see every pitiful detail: the thorns thrust into his forehead, the blood dripping down his face and his red-rimmed...
The rich colours of this large painting were designed to make maximum impact. Commissioned by a confraternity dedicated to Saint Thomas, it shows the moment that the doubting saint was convinced of Christ’s resurrection. We see him place his fingers in Christ’s wound, checking that Christ had ind...
This was one of Cima da Conegliano’s most popular designs, and he and his workshop produced a number of versions of it. The Virgin Mary sits on a marble bench in front of a sunlit Italian landscape, her body forming a solid mass which we can almost feel pressing down on the cool stone. There is h...
This large panel comes from an altarpiece painted in 1491 by Carlo Crivelli. It was made for the Ottoni family chapel in the Franciscan church at Matelica, in the Italian Marches.The Virgin, to whom the chapel was dedicated, appears crowned as the Queen of Heaven, with the Christ Child on her kne...
This predella (literally ‘platform’ or ’step‘, the bottom tier of an altarpiece) comes from a large altarpiece that Crivelli painted for the Ottoni family chapel in the Franciscan church at Matelica, in the Italian Marches.The scenes reflect the patrons’ different interests – one was a churchman,...
This bearded saint is one of four in the upper tier of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the Dominican Church in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is Saint Andrew, the first Apostle, and a particular favourite of the Dominican Ord...
This graceful, golden-haired princess is Saint Catherine of Alexandria, identifiable by her traditional attributes of a spiked wheel and martyr’s palm. She comes from the great polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the church of the Dominican Order in Ascoli Piceno in t...
This saintly friar comes from a large polyptych (a many-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of church of San Domenico at Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Dominic himself, holding a white lily to symbolise his chastity and the book of his Rule –...
This praying saint comes from the upper tier of a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order – friars who lived in towns...
This striking half-naked figure is Saint John the Baptist. He comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Crivelli’s attention to detail is such that we can see t...
This panel of the Archangel Michael fighting the Devil was once part of an altarpiece painted by Crivelli for the church of San Domenico in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. Michael is shown as a youthful prince, his sword raised with nonchalant ease to strike the writhing devil beneath his fe...
This stern and commanding figure is Saint Peter, the first pope and one of the founders of the Catholic Church. He comes from a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. His hooded eyes...
This half-length figure of a saint comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr.Potato-like rocks – representing...
This half-length figure of a saint comes from the upper tier of a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is the theologian and Dominican friar Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)....
This arched panel was originally the top of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted for the Franciscan church at Montefiore dell'Aso near Fermo in the Italian Marches.Two sad, child-like angels hold up Christ’s lifeless body, one nestling his head sorrowfully against Jesu...
The Virgin, crowned and richly dressed as Queen of Heaven, sits on a marble throne. She comes from a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. A pink watered silk – a cloth of ho...
This tall, narrow panel once hung over the tomb of a Franciscan holy man, the Blessed Gabriele Ferretti (d. 1456). Gabriele was Superior of the small convent of San Francesco in Alto outside Ancona in the Italian Marche. He was famous locally for his fervent piety and for his visions of the Virgi...
This woman is most likely Sophonisba, an ill-fated but brave Carthaginian princess; she drains a glass of poison. In 206 BC Massinia allied with the Roman general Scipio to defeat the western Numidians, ruled by Sophonisba’s first husband, Syphax. Massinia fell in love with Sophonisba, but could...
Lured by a bribe from the Philistines, Israel’s enemies, Delilah agreed to collaborate in the capture of Samson – the Israelite hero of the Old Testament, and her lover. She cut off the source of his legendary strength – his hair – while he slept (Judges 16: 18–21). Her treachery is underlined by...
Christ is shown standing on the ledge of an oval structure, perhaps a well. He holds a crystal orb topped with jewels in his left hand and an olive branch in his right; he looks like a king or a Roman emperor. His very fine tunic clings to his body and we can see his little pot belly beneath it.C...
This picture was part of a classical-style frieze made for Francesco Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, in celebration of his ancestors, the ancient Roman Cornelia family. Mantegna painted the figures to look as though they are carved from stone, not painted, and set against colourful marble.In 204 BC...
Taking careful steps, a woman comes towards us, holding what at first glance looks like a deep circular tray. She is the Vestal Virgin Tuccia and the object she carries is, in fact, a sieve.Vestal Virgins maintained the fire in the temple of the chaste goddess Vesta in Rome. Their virginity was c...
The Christ Child stands on the Virgin Mary’s lap, making a gesture of blessing. She is seated under a red canopy, between John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene, who looks up towards heaven.Mary Magdalene raises up a small pot, a reminder of the spices she used to anoint Christ’s body after his deat...
Painted in an assured and sensitive way, this is a particularly lyrical example of Alvise Vivarini’s achievements as a painter of devotional images. He painted the Virgin and Child many times, always placing them in a sparse interior behind a parapet, against a green curtain pulled back from a wi...
The infant Christ reaches up towards the Virgin Mary, oblivious of his visitors – the Three Kings on the left and the shepherds on the right. The golden dome of heaven has opened up and is circled by 12 angels holding olive branches entwined with scrolls and hung with crowns. In the foreground, t...
This apparently simple portrait of a young man was revolutionary in Italian painting. Until this moment, artists painted people either in profile view, so only half their face was visible, or by turning them three-quarters to face the viewer.Here, Botticelli paints the boy head on, mapping his wh...
Botticelli painted at least six scenes of the Adoration of the Kings. This, one of his most expansive and ambitious, is painted in a circular format called a tondo. The figures and animals in the outer circle face inwards to pay respect to the Christ Child, inviting the viewer to do the same. Bo...
Venus, the goddess of love, looks over at her lover Mars. She is alert and dignified, while he – the god of war – is utterly lost in sleep. He doesn‘t even notice the chubby satyr (half child, half goat) blowing a conch shell in his ear.This picture was probably ordered to celebrate a marriage, a...
Seven saints – all patron saints of members of Florence’s ruling family, the Medici – talk and interact as though Lippi was painting an animated portrait of a group of historical figures.On the far left is Saint Francis. His meditation on the suffering of Christ was so profound that he developed...
The Archangel Gabriel, huge peacock-feather wings outstretched behind him, kneels in front of the Virgin Mary, his head bowed in reverence. He has arrived with the news that she will conceive a child, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost.A small dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost, flies towards t...
A nymph – a mythological spirit of nature imagined as a young woman – lies on a patch of grass in the foreground, blood streaming from wounds on her throat and hand. A satyr, half man and half goat, kneels next to her, mourning her death. A dog sits at her feet, balancing the stooping figure of t...
Images showing the Adoration of the Kings were particularly important in Florence, where the citizens celebrated Epiphany – the feast which commemorated the event – with costumed parades. The shape and scale of this picture suggest that it was made as part of a piece of furniture.The vast entoura...
Heaven and earth are united in this vast, dramatic scene. A dome-shaped vault has opened up in the sky to reveal Christ blessing the Virgin Mary. She kneels before him, her hands together in prayer. They are surrounded by ranks of neatly ordered angelic beings, saints and Old Testament figures: t...
The relatively small size of this arch-shaped picture suggests it was made as a focus for private devotion in the home. The Virgin steadies the infant Christ as he stands and makes a blessing gesture towards his cousin, Saint John the Baptist. John’s recognition of Christ’s divine authority in hi...
A ruinous chapel-like building stands in a rocky landscape. The Virgin Mary sits on the remains of a wall and presents the Christ Child to the Three Kings, who, together with their retinue, are gathered around her to present their gifts. The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the Adoration of t...
This painting is among the earliest known works by Filippino Lippi, probably made when he was still a member of the workshop of the Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli. It shows the Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ in her right arm. He plucks seeds from a pomegranate – the fruit was a symbo...
The Virgin Mary is seated directly in front of us. Together with swathes of drapery, she covers almost the entire picture plane, forming a triangular shape that is set off against the dark background. Light radiating from the front brings out the vibrant colours of her garments. These colours are...
This is probably the earliest of Michelangelo’s surviving paintings. It is unfinished – the black modelling of the Virgin Mary’s cloak has not had its final coats of blue, and the angels to the left have barely been begun. We don't know why the picture was never completed.The Virgin sits on a roc...
A pale, clean-shaven young man, naked but for a loincloth, is bound to a tree. He gazes towards heaven, seemingly unaffected by the four arrows which pierce his upper body. This Saint Sebastian, a Roman soldier who secretly converted to Christianity and was executed for his faith.This altarpiece...
Verrocchio had a large and active studio in Florence, and trained many artists who would become leading figures in the Florentine Renaissance, including Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci. He usually collaborated closely with his students, giving them the opportunity to work on important parts of a...
The blind old man Tobit, a merchant and devout Jew, sent his son, Tobias, on a long journey to collect a debt. God sent the Archangel Raphael – the winged figure on the left of the scene – to accompany Tobias and his dog.Tobias carries a fish that he has gutted; Raphael holds its organs in a litt...
Christ, hovering on wispy clouds, is surrounded by angels who sing, dance and play musical instruments. He is shown triumphant over death: his red and white flag was associated with his resurrection; the wound in his right hand, caused when he was crucified, is a reminder of his physical sufferin...
The Dominican Blessed, both friars and nuns, dressed in the distinctive black and white habits of the Dominican Order, are neatly lined up in rows. The Blessed were holy figures belonging to the Order (founded by Saint Dominic in 1215) who were venerated locally after death. Some, like Vincent Fe...
This panel shows the Dominican Blessed, both tertiaries (those who lived in general society rather than a convent, but were allied to the Dominican Order) and friars. They're dressed in their distinctive black and white habits, neatly lined up in rows.The Blessed were holy figures belonging to th...
This panel comes from the predella (the lowest part) of an altarpiece made for the church of San Domenico, Fiesole, near Florence. Its figures look towards the central panel, which shows Christ resurrected from the dead.Lined up in neat rows are – from top to bottom – 21 biblical figures regarded...
This panel comes from the predella (the lowest part) of an altarpiece made for the church of San Domenico, Fiesole, near Florence. Its saints face right toward the central panel, which shows Christ in glory after his resurrection from the dead.The Virgin kneels at the head of the top row of saint...
The saints arranged here neatly in rows are looking towards the central panel of the complex, four-tiered altarpiece that this picture comes from, which shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary. This scene is mirrored on a panel on the other side of the central image. Together, these three panels to...
The saints arranged neatly in rows look towards the central panel – which shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary – of the four-tiered altarpiece that this picture comes from. A panel on the other side of the central image mirrors the scene here. Together, these three panels formed the main level o...
This small picture shows the moment that Christ, resurrected after death, appeared to Mary Magdalene. Mary – identifiable by her red robes and her long, flowing hair – had gone to Christ’s tomb to anoint his body with spices. She found it empty. Christ appeared to her, but as she reached out he s...
At Pentecost, after Christ’s death, his disciples were imbued with the Holy Ghost, shown here as a dove. Tongues of fire appeared on their heads and they were able to speak multiple languages.The disciples are seated in a circle in the upper storey of a house, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter...
This is one of two panels, almost mirror images of each other, that flank either side of the central and uppermost panel of the large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence.Gathered together against a completely gold backdrop representing heaven are groups of angelic beings...
This is one of two panels, almost mirror images of one another, that flank either side of the central and uppermost panel of the large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence.Gathered together against a completely gold backdrop representing heaven are groups of angelic being...
This panel is the second in a series of scenes of the life of Christ, part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. This sequence ran above the altarpiece’s main tier, which showed the coronation of the Virgin surrounded by adoring saints.We see three kin...
This panel, which comes from an altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, belongs to a sequence of narrative scenes showing events from Christ’s birth, the Resurrection and Ascension. These sat above the three panels of the main tier showing the coronation of the Virgin sur...
This is the central panel of a large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. Christ crowns the Virgin, after her body and soul have been taken up to heaven. This was an important moment: it established the Virgin’s role as an intercessor to whom believers could address thei...
This panel was the first in a series showing scenes from Christ’s life, the Resurrection and his ascension to heaven and was part of a four-tiered altarpiece made for the Florentine church of San Pier Maggiore. These panels sat above the main tier of images showing the heavenly coronation of the...
The Roman soldiers who have been posted to guard Christ’s tomb from grave robbers have fallen asleep. Christ has risen from his grave and is shown above his tomb holding a white flag with a red cross, a symbol of the Resurrection. The lid of the tomb is still closed, emphasising the miracle of th...
This panel comes from an altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, and belongs to a sequence of narrative scenes showing events from Christ’s birth, the Resurrection and his ascension to heaven. They appeared above the three panels of the main tier, which show the coronatio...
This was once the central and uppermost part of a multi-panelled altarpiece, made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. Although it would have been displayed very high, right at the top of this large altarpiece, the limited colours, bold shapes and simple design mean it would have been...
The coronation of the Virgin was a very popular subject in Florentine painting. Inspiration for the images came not from the Bible but from legends recounting the Virgin’s glorious reception into heaven by Christ, where she took her place by his side.Daddi and his large workshop of assistants pai...
A group of saints dressed in glowing colours cluster on an elaborately decorated floor. This large painting was part of a complex polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) painted for the Camaldolese monastery of San Benedetto fuori della Porta Pinti in Florence.They look at the coronation of the V...
A company of richly dressed saints, their gilded haloes stamped with elaborate patterns, gaze at something on their right, or turn to talk to each other. This painting is part of a large multi-panelled altarpiece made for the Camaldolite monastery of San Benedetto fuori della Porta Pinti in Flore...
In this painting, we see two stories from the life of Saint Benedict happening at once. On the left Benedict tells Saint Maurus to rescue Saint Placidus, who has fallen in the lake while fetching water. Maurus walks out on to the lake as if it were land and pulls Placidus – still grasping his jug...
This small octagonal painting shows Christ being baptised in the river Jordan by Saint John the Baptist, his cousin. Delicate wavy white stripes around Christ’s knees show where his body has disturbed the water’s surface.The picture’s size suggests that it was part of the predella – the lowest pa...
Christ and his mother, Mary, are seated on a throne. He places a crown on her head, and she crosses her hands on her chest in a gesture of acceptance. This is the coronation of the Virgin, a popular subject in medieval Italy where Mary was especially revered. According to medieval Christian legen...
Saint Jerome, wearing his red cardinal’s hat, and Saint John the Baptist stand side by side on a grassy hillock. Saint John’s sturdy toes interrupt a carpet of wild flowers, including yellow dandelions, violets and strawberries.A lion sits at Saint Jerome’s feet – according to his legend, when li...
This was the central panel of a large altarpiece made for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa. The Virgin’s sturdy form, which looks similar to contemporary Florentine sculpture, casts a shadow against the carved throne. Christ’s body seems fleshy and three-dimensional; Masaccio has don...
Saint Matthias holds the axe that was used to chop his head in half. He was not widely worshipped but he was an important saint for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, where this panel formed part of an altarpiece: his relics were buried there, and he was depicted in a mosaic in the east en...
The small size and rectangular shape of this panel indicate that it once formed part of a predella – that is the lowest section of an altarpiece. Predellas usually illustrated events from the lives of the saints depicted in the main section of the altarpiece. The saint who is about to be beheaded...
Christ is shown as a prisoner, a rope around his neck. He wears a crown of thorns and a purple robe, props made by his Roman captors to mock him: one of the charges against him was that he was claiming to be the ‘King of the Jews’. Dressed like this, he was brought before the citizens of Jerusale...
This panel is one of three that come from the lower tier of an altarpiece made for the Duke of Milan (the other two are also in our collection). The Archangel Michael stands triumphant after his cosmic battle with the devil (Revelation 12: 16). A pair of scales, hanging on the tree stump to the l...
This panel is one of three that come from the lower tier of an altarpiece made for the Duke of Milan; the other two are also in the National Gallery’s collection.The Archangel Raphael is the hero of the Book of Tobit, which is part of the Roman Catholic Bible. Tobit sent his son Tobias on a long...
In this painting Perugino has stressed the humility of the Virgin Mary, positioning her directly in a grassy meadow as she kneels before the infant Christ, a chubby baby. He is supported by an angel who looks towards Mary, sharing in her knowledge of his divinity.This was the central panel of the...
The Virgin Mary gently supports the Christ Child as he plays with her hair. He casts a curious glance at his cousin, Saint John the Baptist, who is recognisable by the fine wooden cross tucked under his arm, a symbol of Christ’s crucifixion. The Virgin’s fair complexion and golden hair were consi...
The Archangel Michael led an army of angels to battle against the devil and cast him down from heaven (Revelation 12: 9). Piero shows him as a beautiful, youthful soldier. He clutches the severed head of the devil, represented as a snake with pointy ears.The panel was part of a polyptych (multi-p...
Piero was the first artist to write a treatise on perspective – that is, creating an illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface. Here, he has painted objects in proportion, so that they appear as we see them in real life. This emphasises the depth of the landscape, but also the harmony...
This painting was made for private worship, and the donor who commissioned it is shown kneeling in prayer towards the majestic figure of Saint Catherine. Catherine, shown wearing a crown, was a princess from Alexandria. Behind her is the spiked wheel that she was tied to in an attempt to kill her...
While resting in the shade of a bay tree, the young soldier Scipio has a vision of Virtue and her adversary Pleasure. Virtue promises Scipio honour, fame and glory through victory in war. Pleasure, with fragrant flowing hair, promises a life of ease and serenity.Raphael interpreted the theme not...
Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth-century princess, was converted to Christianity and in a vision underwent a mystic marriage with Christ. When she would not give up her faith, Emperor Maxentius ordered that she be bound to a spiked wheel and tortured to death. However, a thunderbolt destroyed th...
This painting is the only surviving scene from the predella (base) of Raphael’s altarpiece for the Ansidei chapel in S. Fiorenzo, Perugia. The main panel of the altarpiece, ‘The Ansidei Madonna’, is also in the National Gallery’s collection. This predella panel would have been placed beneath the...
This is the main panel of the altarpiece Raphael painted for the Ansidei family chapel in the Servite Church of S. Fiorenzo in Perugia in 1505.The Virgin sits in majesty on a carved wooden throne with the Christ Child on her lap. She draws his attention to a passage in the book on her knee. A str...
In this little picture Raphael depicts the moment when the Christ Child takes a carnation, traditionally symbolic of divine love and the Passion (Christ’s torture and crucifixion), from his cousin John the Baptist’s hand. The space between the children’s hands is the centre of the careful geometr...
In this painting, Raphael transforms the familiar subject of the Virgin and Child into something entirely new. The figures are no longer posed stiffly and formally as in paintings by earlier artists, but display all the tender emotions one might expect between a young mother and her child. The pa...
One of Raphael’s earliest works, this altarpiece was commissioned by the wool merchant and banker Domenico Gavari for his burial chapel dedicated to Saint Jerome in the church of S. Domenico in Città di Castello, Umbria.Christ’s body hangs from the Cross. Two angels balance on delicate slivers of...
This is one of three scenes from the predella of Raphael’s Colonna Altarpiece painted for the convent of S. Antonio da Padua in Perugia. The Procession to Calvary was the central scene of the predella, positioned below the main panel of the altarpiece.Christ looks to us as he carries the Cross, h...
This fragment of a larger painting shows an elderly man on a precarious descent down a ladder. His grip is obstructed by a pair of pincers, which he has used to extract the nails which secured Christ to the Cross. Signorelli was noted in his time for his skill at depicting the human body in a var...
Following Jewish tradition, Christ was circumcised when he was eight days old (Luke 2: 21). Seated on his mother’s lap, Christ reaches out to the mohel, the man who will perform the surgery, who holds a fine blade. The vibrantly coloured marble floor tiles are designed to attract the viewer’s att...
Although we don't know the identity of this woman, her clothing and the objects around her suggest that she was painted in around 1500 and most probably came from Cologne. The portrait was almost certainly part of a diptych (a painting made of two panels), which could have been hinged at the cent...
Saint Catherine of Alexandria stands among the fragments of the spiked wheel on which she was tortured, which miraculously shattered during her ordeal. She holds a sword, the weapon that eventually killed her. To her left is Saint John the Evangelist, whose symbol of the eagle perches on a rock a...
This is one of two panels in the National Gallery’s collection which were once probably part of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. The shutters would have been attached to either side of the main panel.The Roman governor Pontius Pilate was...
This is one of two panels in the National Gallery’s collection that probably once decorated the outer faces of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. Here, the Virgin Mary kneels between Christ to the left and God the Father, who place a crown...
This fragment comes from a scene of Christ crucified which formed the central panel of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. The crown of thorns, placed on Christ’s head to mock him, has pierced his skin and blood is running down his face. The letters ‘I.N.R....
This is a fragment of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. It comes from the central scene, which depicted the Crucifixion; a fragment showing Christ’s head is also in the National Gallery’s collection. It was common for Crucifixion scenes to include the Vir...
This panel once formed the left shutter of an altarpiece in the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn in north-west Germany. The right-hand shutter is also in the National Gallery’s collection.This painting shows, from left to right, Saints Gregory, Maurice and Augustine. The gilded clasp that fastens Sa...
This is a fragment from an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, and is one of three in our collection from the altarpiece’s central Crucifixion scene. The fluttering drapery at the top right is part of Christ’s loincloth, which situates this fragment to the rig...
This is a fragment of a scene showing the Adoration of the Kings, which was part of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. Two of the three kings kneel before the Christ Child, who lies in the Virgin Mary’s lap on a white cloth. They had followed a star to fin...
This is one of the few surviving intact scenes which once formed part of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn in the west of Germany. This painting is likely to have originally appeared to the right of the main scene showing the Crucifixion.Shortly after birt...
According to her legend, Saint Veronica saw Christ fall as he carried his Cross to the site of his crucifixion. Taking pity on him, she offered her linen handkerchief (called a sudarium) to wipe the sweat from his face. When he returned it, an image of his face was imprinted upon it.The legend in...
This is the central panel of a triptych (a painting in three parts) that was made for the church of St Columba, Cologne. Its two side panels – or shutters – are in the collection of the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.A small group mourns the crucified Christ: the Virgin Mary, his mother, stands at...
Saint Hubert kneels in prayer in front of a vision of Christ upon the Cross, which has miraculously appeared between the antlers of a stag. Hubert was a courtier in Metz, a city in the eastern Frankish Kingdom, and an enthusiastic hunter. He had been out with his dogs in the forest of Ardennes wh...
This panel once decorated the inner face of the right-hand shutter of an altarpiece made for the Benedictine abbey in Werden, near Cologne. An earlier episode of the saint’s life – the moment of his conversion to Christianity – appeared on the left-hand shutter.After his conversion, Hubert devote...
A priest, Simeon, receives the infant Christ from the Virgin Mary, ready to perform the Jewish rite of circumcision. Two women cup turtle doves in their hands, the traditional offering for the ritual of purification, made after a woman had given birth (Luke 2: 21–24).Simeon recognised Christ’s di...
Saint Peter clutches a Bible with a soft leather cover to his chest. In the same hand he holds two unwieldy keys – those to the kingdom of heaven, promised to him by Christ. Saint Dorothy holds only a tiny delicate flower to her breast, presumably plucked from the basket of blooms in her left han...
The removal of Christ’s body from the Cross takes place in what appears to be a shallow gilded niche. The setting, with its stiff geometric decoration around the arch, may be intended to resemble contemporary tabernacle altarpieces, which included three-dimensional carvings set beneath a canopy a...
This painting of the Virgin Mary with the infant Christ was probably made for private devotion. Seated on a cushion, its thick tassels protruding from beneath the folds of her draperies, the Virgin is about to breastfeed her child. The flowers in the vase on the right are pinks, called Nelke (‘na...
Christ stares calmly out at us from the heart of this picture, his serenity a vivid contrast to the brutality of his tormentors. At the back are two soldiers, one about to force the crown of thorns onto Christ’s head. In front two men kneel in mock homage; one seems about to tear off Christ’s rob...
Christ wears the rich cloak and the crown of thorns in which, according to the Gospels, he was dressed before he was crucified. But the wounds of the Passion (his torture and crucifixion) indicate that he has already died and been resurrected.Bouts brings Jesus’s torments vividly to life, showing...
A fair-haired man stands in an interior, gazing past us. Through the window behind him we can see a landscape with a church in the distance. The date on the back wall makes this the earliest datable – and in fact the only dated painting – by Bouts, and the earliest dated portrait to include an op...
Christ’s body, wrapped in a white shroud, is being placed in a tomb by his grief-stricken family and followers. His mother Mary, clasping his wrist, seems on the edge of collapse; John the Evangelist holds her up. Behind them are Mary’s sisters, one wiping tears from her eyes, the other holding h...
The Virgin and Christ Child are seen as if at an open window, with the infant perched on the sill. Mary gazes lovingly at her son and offers him her breast; images of the Virgin breastfeeding emphasised Christ’s humanity and vulnerability.Small religious panels like this were used as an aid to pr...
This striking portrait of a man in a red hat forms a pair with Campin’s A Woman – the sitters were clearly husband and wife. We do not know who they were, but their clothes suggest they were prosperous townsfolk, perhaps from Tournai where Campin lived and worked.Campin has arranged the older hus...
This striking portrait of a woman forms a pair with Campin’s portrait A Man: the sitters were clearly married. We don't know who they were, but their clothes suggest they were prosperous townsfolk, perhaps from Tournai where Campin lived and worked.Campin has conveyed their personalities and rela...
We don’t know who the sitter in this almost postcard-sized portrait is. Although he wears the grey habit of a Franciscan, his hair is not tonsured – shaved on top as a sign of humility – as was customary for them. The precise identity of the artist is also uncertain, although he seems to have bee...
This tiny painting – almost postcard sized – shows an endearing fireside scene: Christ’s bath time. The Virgin sits on a cushion on the floor, surrounded by domestic paraphernalia. There is a brass bowl in front of the fire, and a basket of white cloths – presumably nappies or swaddling bands – o...
We don‘t know the identity of the young man in this small painting, but he is clearly a person of wealth and taste. He wears a bright red robe trimmed with fur, and at his waist is a black bag with a ’notebook' of wax tablets inside. He holds a small but luxurious manuscript, probably a Book of H...
This small portrait is puzzling in many ways. We don‘t know who this man was or why he is holding a scroll, which is – rather strangely – inscribed on the outside. The painting’s tall, narrow shape is unusual and there are mysterious inscriptions carved into the very large, cracked stone parapet...
This impassive face is almost certainly that of Jan van Eyck himself, and the painting a powerful statement of his artistic skill. His motto, Als Ich Can, is painted in Greek letters on the upper frame; the words are an abbreviation of a Flemish saying and a pun on Jan’s name: ‘as I[ich/Eyk] can...
This must be one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. A richly dressed man and woman stand in a private room. They are probably Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini, an Italian merchant working in Bruges, and his wife.Although the room is totally plausible – as if Jan van Eyck ha...
This painting shows the traditional Christmas story: the infant Christ, lying in the manger, is watched over by Mary, Joseph and adoring angels, while an ox and donkey peer out of the darkness behind. Through the crumbling back wall we see shepherds and their sheep up on the hills huddled around...
We are looking through an arched window of a brick house at a well-dressed young man. He holds a heart-shaped book; a pen case and inkwell sit on the window ledge. This tiny painting was possibly once part of a diptych (a painting made of two parts). The young man may be at his devotions, and mig...
A pale young man, hands folded in prayer, is engaged in private devotions. This small painting was clearly the left wing of a diptych (a painting made of two parts) or triptych (a painting made of three parts). The object of his prayer would have been shown to his right, on a panel attached to t...
Saint John the Baptist stands in a kind of loggia (an open-sided gallery or room) with a tiled floor, wearing a hair shirt and holding his emblem, the lamb. This is the left wing of The Donne Triptych, painted by Hans Memling for the Welsh nobleman and diplomat Sir John Donne, probably in the lat...
Saint John the Baptist, dressed in a hair shirt and a purple mantle, holds his attribute of a lamb. This refined painting was originally the left wing of a small triptych (an image made up of three parts). The central panel, which shows the Virgin and Child, is now in the Uffizi, Florence while t...
Saint John the Evangelist holds a chalice from which a serpent escapes. He appears on the inside of the left shutter of a small triptych (a painting in three parts), the central panel and other wing of which are also in the National Gallery’s collection. They were painted for the Welsh nobleman a...
Saint Lawrence is dressed as a deacon and holds a book and the grill on which he was martyred. This panel was part of a small triptych (a painting in three parts) made around 1480 for Benedetto Pagagnotti of Florence. The central panel shows the Virgin and Child and is now in the Uffizi, Florence...
This is the central panel of a small triptych (a painting in three parts), probably commissioned by Sir John Donne in the late 1470s. In it, he kneels before the Virgin and Christ Child, facing his wife Elizabeth and one of their daughters. They are accompanied by their patron saints Catherine an...
The Virgin Mary and Christ Child are enthroned beneath a canopy and before a cloth of honour of the kind displayed behind medieval kings and queens.The naked child is balanced on her knee and crumples the pages of an open book. The unidentified donor kneels on the right: he was presumably called...
The Virgin Mary, bareheaded and richly dressed, holds the naked Christ Child, who rests on a white cushion on a ledge. We are not sure whether the painting was once part of a triptych (a painting made up of three sections) or stood alone. The infant Christ could be blessing a donor in a panel on...
A young man seems to be reading a paper covered in elaborate writing. The document is almost certainly a letter, although the places where the name of the recipient would have appeared are concealed.A lost inscription named the figure as Saint Ivo, patron of lawyers and known as the advocate of t...
We do not know the identity of this elegant young lady. Her clothes are not especially extravagant and she was perhaps a gentlewoman rather than an aristocrat.The painting is a good example of Rogier van der Weyden’s style of portraiture. A similar, slightly smaller portrait in Washington (Nation...
We are looking at the east end of a Gothic church, where the body of a bishop is being exhumed from his tomb in front of the high altar. This is Saint Hubert, Bishop of Maastricht and Liège, who died in 727. He is being moved from Liège to the newly founded abbey of Saint-Hubert-en-Ardenne, in 82...
A young lady in an extravagant green dress sits on the floor, reading. Although she wears fifteenth-century clothing and is in a medieval room, she is a biblical figure: Saint Mary Magdalene. The pot of oil with which she anointed Christ’s feet – the object traditionally associated with her – sta...
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...
A saint clad in shining armour raises his sword to strike a hideous demon beneath his feet. This is the Archangel Michael fighting the devil, as described in the Book of Revelation. His multi-coloured wings meet over his head and curve protectively around the man who kneels at his feet. This is t...
The Virgin Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, embrace at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. Long childless, they had been told by an angel that they would have a daughter. On the right is Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks.This was the left side of a large altarpiece; the right side...
The Virgin Mary in her chamber is greeted by Christ, risen from the dead. He is accompanied by the multitude who followed him out of limbo. This painting belonged to Isabella of Castile, Queen of Spain, and was listed with 46 companion panels in an inventory in 1505. The panels – 27 survive in va...
A young man kneels before a richly dressed woman enthroned in a classical alcove, and looks at a portable organ sitting on the step beside him. She is an allegory of Music and, along with Rhetoric (National Gallery, London), was part of a series showing the seven liberal arts that was painted for...
A lady seated in an alcove points out a passage in a book to a young man kneeling before her. This is Rhetoric, or argument, an allegorical figure who represented one of the seven liberal arts which made up the medieval curriculum. She is one of a series of paintings made in the late 1470s by Jus...
These musical angels were originally at the top of the left wing of an elborate altarpiece that sat at the high altar of the Abbey of St Bertin in Saint-Omer, northern France. Beneath them Guillaume Fillastre, abbot of St Bertin and the altarpiece’s commissioner, knelt at prayer inside a Gothic b...
Two angels carry a small, naked figure upwards. Below is part of a roof; above, God the Father sits on a Gothic throne, ringed by angels with multiple wings. This is the top part of the right wing of an altarpiece that stood on the high altar of the Abbey of St Bertin in Saint-Omer, northern Fran...
A deer cowers in the protective arms of an elderly man; an arrow sticks out of his hand, which rests on the deer’s back. A richly dressed man and a cleric kneel before him; a group of hunters crowd behind them. The wounded man is Saint Giles, a popular French saint who was mistakenly shot when hu...
This panel is one of four surviving fragments of a large altarpiece that showed the lives of various French saints, many with royal connections. Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor, kneels beside an altar at which a priest is performing Mass. At the top an angel flies down from heaven with a divine p...
The Virgin presents the Christ Child, who balances on a gold-threaded pillow and blesses the viewer. Further gold detailing can be seen in the decoration running along the edge of the Virgin’s blue robe, which reveals the artist’s name in Latin: ‘PAULUS’. Behind the mother and child are three fem...
This large painting shows the three divine beings of the Trinity: God the Father supports his son, Christ, who is shown crucified; he seems minute by comparison. The Holy Ghost is represented by a dove that hovers between the two. On either side, an angel kneels in adoration.The simple colour sch...
This small double-sided painting was most probably made for private worship. The front shows Saint Jerome kneeling in front of a crucifix wedged into the stump of a tree. He beats his chest with a rock in empathy with Christ’s Passion (his torture and death at the Crucifixion). The lion resting b...
This portrait of Dürer’s father, who is identifiable by the inscription, was given as a gift to King Charles I of England in 1636. When Charles was executed in 1649, it was sold. It eventually entered the National Gallery’s collection in the early twentieth century.There are four versions of the...
The Virgin Mary breastfeeds the infant Christ in a walled garden surrounded by flowers. God the Father, a small figure radiating light, appears in the sky above. The image of the Virgin and Christ Child in a garden was derived from the poetic imagery of the Song of Solomon, a book of the Old Test...
Christ carries the Cross on which he will be crucified to Golgotha, the site of his execution (John 19: 17). He is surrounded by soldiers and guards who goad him on his way as he struggles under the weight of the Cross. His body is doubled over and large teardrops fall down his face. The thorns...
Saint John the Evangelist is shown on the island of Patmos. According to tradition, this was where he wrote the biblical Book of Revelation, a description of the events leading up to the end of the world.Gripping an ink pot in one hand and a quill in the other, the saint is deep in concentration,...
The Virgin Mary, the Christ Child in her lap, is seated on a marble throne that is topped with an elaborately carved canopy. Below, an angel offers a rose to Christ, but he is distracted by the pear held out by a second angel. Smaller canopies cover the niches on either side, which house the Arch...
In this small painting, the Virgin Mary and infant Christ are seated in an enclosed garden (known in Latin as a hortus conclusus, it traditionally symbolised Mary’s virginity). She holds out a flower to her son – a ‘pink’, also known as a dianthus (meaning ‘flower of God’ in Latin). It was often...
The woman’s large white headdress, its calligraphic shape made up of stiff, angular folds, is striking against the dark background. Shading around the folds reinforces the sense of their depth, and the artist seems to want us to think that a fly, deceived by his illusion, has attempted to land on...
The dormition of the Virgin is the term used to refer to her death and literally means the ‘falling asleep’. According to the Golden Legend (a thirteenth-century compilation of the lives of the saints), Saint John the Evangelist was miraculously brought to her side, followed by all the apostles (...
This angel was part of an elaborate painted and sculpted altarpiece made for the church for San Francesco Grande in Milan. The main image of the altarpiece was Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’, also in the National Gallery’s collection.This angel – playing a vielle, a type of fiddle...
The Virgin Mary sits on her mother’s lap, her attention focused on the wriggling Christ Child. Her mother, Saint Anne, looks intently at her through deep-set eyes and points upwards to the heavens, indicating the child’s divinity. Christ’s cousin, Saint John the Baptist, leans against Anne’s lap...
Leonardo’s mysterious painting shows the Virgin Mary with Saint John the Baptist, Christ’s cousin, and an angel. All kneel to adore the infant Christ, who in turn raises his hand to bless them. They are crowded in a grotto overhung with rocks and dense with vegetation.The painting was part of a l...
This angel is a pair to another in the National Gallery’s collection. Both were part of a large altarpiece made for the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan that included Leonardo’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’, which is also in our collection. They were made to surround a sculpture of the Virgin Mar...
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