Narcissus by Boltraffio and after Boltraffio, 1500-1510

Narcissus at the Fountain is a 1500-1510 oil-on-panel painting by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, now in the Uffizi, in Florence.

A copy is held in the National Gallery, London.

Both works show a young man in profile, interpreted as Narcissus due to his downward gaze.

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | Narcissus at the Fountain | Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | The Virgin and Child, 1493-1499

A grave, statuesque young woman gazes down at a positively enormous child, who lies sideways across her lap.

Her deep red gown is open to reveal her breast, which she offers to her son - though he seems uninterested.

He turns his head away from his mother to look out at the viewer, while playing with the beads which dangle from her scarf.

We know from their delicate haloes that these are the Virgin Mary and infant Christ, but this is a very modern Mary, painted in a newly realistic manner.

Boltraffio (Milan, 1467-1516) was Leonardo da Vinci’s most gifted pupil, and imitated his master in style and technique.

Vincent Van Gogh | Butterflies series

Butterflies is a series paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 and 1890.

Van Gogh made at least four paintings of butterflies and one of a moth.

The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly was symbolic to Van Gogh of men and women's capability for transformation.

Vincent van Gogh | Butterflies and Poppies | Van Gogh Museum

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Umbrellas, 1881-1886

Renoir's 'Umbrellas' shows a bustling Paris street in the rain.

The composition of the painting does not focus on the centre of the picture which is a tangle of hands. It even cuts of figures at either edge like a photographic snapshot.

This kind of unconventional arrangement was something that several of the Impressionists, including Renoir and Degas, enjoyed experimenting with.

111

Raphael | The Mond Crucifixion, 1502-3

"The Crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary, Saints and Angels" or "The Mond Crucifixion" is an oil painting on wood (279x166 cm) by Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520), datable to 1502-1503 and preserved in the National Gallery in London.

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.

Raphael | The Mond Crucifixion, 1502-3 | National Gallery, London

Thomas Lawrence | The Red Boy, 1825

This portrait of Charles William Lambton - aged six or seven - was commissioned by the boy's father John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, a Whig politician and MP for County Durham.

Popularly known as The Red Boy, it remained in the Lambton family until it was acquired by the National Gallery in 2021.

It is acknowledged as one of Thomas Lawrence's (1769-1830) masterpieces and, a sign of the image's enduring popularity, it was the first painting to be reproduced on a British postage stamp in 1967.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun | Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782

"Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat" is a signed copy by the artist of a very popular self portrait that she painted in 1782 and which is now in the collection of the baronne Edmond de Rothschild.

The pose is deliberately modelled on Rubens’s Portrait of Susanna Lunden (?) (also in the National Gallery’s collection), which was formerly, but incorrectly, known as Le Chapeau de Paille (The Straw Hat).

Paul Delaroche | The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833

"I am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal life, win an immortal life" - Lady Jane Grey, February 1554.

Since its rediscovery in 1973 and first exhibition at the National Gallery two years later, Paul Delaroche’s The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833, has become one of the nation’s best-loved paintings.

For the first time, 'Painting History' examines this iconic masterpiece in the context of Delaroche’s great historical paintings, particularly the poignant scenes from English history which made his reputation.

The exhibition features seven major international loans of paintings by Delaroche including 'The Princes in the Tower', 1830 and 'Young Christian Martyr', 1854-5 (both Louvre), and 'Strafford on his way to Execution', 1835 (private collection).

Johannes Vermeer | A young woman standing at a virginal, 1670-1672

The richly dressed lady playing a virginal stands in a prosperous Dutch home with paintings on the wall, a marble-tiled floor, and a skirting of locally produced Delft blue and white tiles.

The two paintings on the wall behind her cannot be identified with certainty.

The small landscape on the left and the painting decorating the lid of the virginal resemble works by Johannes Vermeer’s Delft colleague Pieter Groenewegen.

Johannes Vermeer | A young woman standing at a virginal, 1670-1672 (detail) | National Gallery London

Titian | The Music Lesson / La lezione di musica, 1535

Artist: Possibly by Titian (Italian High Renaissance painter, 1488/90 -1576)

Full title: The Music Lesson

Date made about: 1535

Medium and support: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 99 x 120 cm

Current location: The National Gallery, London.

This work used to be dated to the early 17th century, but recent cleaning and technical examination have shown that it has much in common with paintings produced by Titian and his workshop in the 1530s.

Van Gogh | Sunflowers, 1888

This is one of five versions of Sunflowers on display in museums and galleries across the world.

Van Gogh made the paintings to decorate his house in Arles in readiness for a visit from his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gauguin.

"The sunflower is mine", Van Gogh once declared, and it is clear that the flower had various meanings for him.

Vincent van Gogh | Sunflowers, 1888 | National Gallery, London

Botticelli | Venus and Mars, c. 1483

From: The National Gallery, London

Mars, God of War, was one of the lovers of Venus, Goddess of Love. Here Mars is asleep and unarmed, while Venus is awake and alert. The meaning of the picture is that love conquers war, or love conquers all.

This work was probably a piece of bedroom furniture, perhaps a bedhead or piece of wainscoting, most probably the 'spalliera' or backboard from a chest or day bed. The wasps ('vespe' in Italian) at the top right suggest a link with the Vespucci family, though they may be no more than a symbol of the stings of love.