Meekness Venice, 1575-7 Pen and brown wash heightened with bodycolour on blue paper 18.9 x 31.0 cm Related to the ceiling paintings of the same subject by Veronese in the Sala del Colegio of the Doge’s Palace, Venice. Purchased 1937 (No. 37.2)
A Man with an Oar Netherlands, about 1520/21 Pen and brown ink 16 x 10.4 cm This fine drawing is one of a number of works believed to have been made during Dürer’s trip to the Netherlands in around 1520-21. It was among those taken from the museum of the Lubomirski family, established in the … Read more
Ecce Homo Bologna, 1587 Etching Paper: 45 x 34.4 cm; mount: 63 x 51.5 cm Depicting a standard cycle of the Passion of Christ, the words ‘Ecce Homo’ (‘Behold the Man’) were used by Pontius Pilate to present Christ to the jeering crowds before his crucifixion. Mary swoons in the foreground, an unusual addition to … Read more
Joseph and the Suitors (recto), The Nativity (verso) This panel is painted on both sides and it formed part of an altarpiece or a screen illustrating the life of the Virgin Mary. She is shown in a nocturnal scene adoring the infant Christ. Two shepherds approach through the door to the right, and Joseph with … Read more
Sheet of Caricature Heads Parma, 1594 Pen and brown ink on paper 20.2 x 28 cm This sheet of head studies can be viewed in the tradition of physiognomic studies began by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) when conducting anatomical investigations. However, rather than documenting realistic detail, Carracci has reduced his sketched heads to the bare … Read more
St Christopher Nuremberg, 1521 Engraving Paper: 11.7 x 74 cm; mount: 55.7 x 40.5 cm This print represents St Christopher, a third century martyr who served others by carrying them safely across a dangerous river. Christopher means ‘Christ-bearer’ and here he is shown bowing under the weight of a child who later revealed himself to … Read more
Design for stained glass About 1520 Pen and grey wash with traces of black chalk 375 x 295 mm Hans Holbein the Younger, later court painter of Henry VIII, made several designs for stained glass windows in his early career. The inclusion of a mitre and crozier suggests that the design was probably made for a … Read more
Hercules and Cacus Haarlem, 1588 Woodcut 409 X 331 MM Hercules raises his club ready to strike Cacus, a fire-breathing monster, who cowers beneath him. The cows, which Cacus had stolen from Hercules, crowd the right-hand side. Secondary characters add to the chaos of the scene by cluttering the background. The focus, however, is firmly on … Read more
The companions of Cadmus devoured by the dragon Haarlem, 1588 Engraving 253 X 318 MM Goltzius worked with the artist, Cornelius van Haarlem, at the ‘Academy’ of Harlem, who made the painting (now at the National Gallery London) from which this engraving derives. Ripping claws, fangs gouging deep into flesh, scattered heads and shredded bodies … Read more
