wrmthorne/National_Gallery_style_classification huggingface dataset:
Two ladies, both dressed in gowns with swagged overskirts that were fashionable in the 1770s, have been brought down to the shore by a man. He is drawing their attention to something, but it is unclear whether he is pointing towards the large ship about to enter the harbour or to the women with their skirts hitched up gathering shrimps. The shrimp women's undignified poses and muscular physiques form a contrast with the elegant ladies on the shore. The man wears a cylindrical military hat, fur-lined cloak and long leather boots. His scarlet uniform and large moustache identify him as an imagined Hungarian hussar. He carries a walking stick, suggesting that he is retired from active service. The ladies are followed by two other more modestly dressed women, one apparently comforting the other, and by a dark-skinned Moor wearing a turban. As in many of his other paintings, Vernet has placed several figures in the middle distance and background, and even on the three-masted ship near the horizon.

This Italian coastal scene bathed in soft sunlight is clearly influenced by the port scenes of Claude, though much of the effect in Vernet's painting depends upon its picturesque human detail. Commissioned by the comte du Luc and signed and dated 1776, the picture represents an imaginary harbour view. The lighthouse is loosely based on one that Vernet drew near Naples in about 1750 (Harbour and Lighthouse, Albertina, Vienna) and appears in many other views by him. Although Vernet had on other occasions used the motif seen here of the corner of a fortified wall topped by a turret, the octagonal fort is unusual in his paintings. The decorative frieze of festoons on the fort is echoed in the skirts of the ladies wearing the plumed hats.

Although the painting contains a variety of figures, its main subject is the atmospheric effects of light, air, cloud and water. The figure group on the left, balanced  by the trees to the right, is silhouetted against the sun and overshadowed by the dark cloud that stretches over the lighthouse.

This and Marine (sold in Paris on 9 December 1999), which Vernet painted for the comte du Luc in 1772, both formed a single lot in the comte du Luc’s 1777 sale, and remained together until sold in 1825. It has often been assumed that Vernet painted them as a pair and intended them to hang together as pendants. Although both pictures are painted on copper – a support used relatively rarely by Vernet -- they are slightly different in size and it is not certain whether he intended them as pendants. The gesturing hussar in the group on the left of the National Gallery’s painting echoes a gesturing woman towards the right of Marine, but there is some difference in the figures’ sizes, and the two paintings do not work as a pair compositionally. Whether or not intended as a pendant for Marine, the clear bright colours and very smooth surface of the National Gallery's painting were probably exactly what the comte du Luc expected when he commissioned it to be painted on copper.

Style: Romantic
This picture is unsigned, but is attributed to Jan van Huchtenburgh -- a specialist painter of battle scenes -- on the basis of a stylistic comparison with other works signed by him.

The way he has created a sense of depth is particularly interesting here. In the immediate foreground we are confronted directly with the reality of war -- the bodies of two soldiers and a horse lie dead or wounded and four horsemen engage in close combat immediately behind them. The smoke from the pistols suggests that this is the moment when two more men or horses are about to fall. A line of infantrymen, pikes raised, appears to be charging on the right while, on the left, another skirmish and two retreating horsemen lead our eye back to a village burning in the distance.

This scene is probably not intended to represent a specific battle but belongs to a category of paintings based on the French campaigns in the Netherlands in the 1670s.

Style: Baroque
In July 1873 Courbet fled France for Switzerland and settled in the town of La Tour-de-Peilz on the north shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), near the French border. A label on the back of this view of a lush Alpine valley gives the location as Vevey, on the north shore of the lake and close to La Tour-de-Peilz. It has also been suggested that the view may be in the upper part of the Gorges de Chauderon, above Montreux, which is further east along the shore.

Although Courbet painted a number of views of the lake and its surroundings, he did not paint this picture. It was instead painted by an assistant, not as a copy of a Courbet but as an independent picture that belongs to a substantial group of Swiss landscapes painted in the style of Courbet. Although it is sometimes possible to identify the assistant who produced a painting, it is not yet possible in this case.

Style: Barbizon
The Christ Child lies in the Virgin Mary's arms and holds a small bird to his lips. This tender image was intended to show the bond between Christ and his mother. His head rests on a cushion embroidered with gold; his little foot is tucked into his mother's robe.

This pose is unusual: images in which the Christ Child lies on a cushion usually show him naked and breastfeeding, a motif that was picked up from Netherlandish artists, particularly Rogier van der Weyden. This artist has altered the popular motif, adding a little bird. A similar pose is found in paintings of the Virgin adoring the Christ Child that were produced by Fra Filippo Lippi and his workshop, such as the so-called Annalena Adoration (Uffizi, Florence).

This painting was certainly produced by an artist working with Lippi or in his workshop, but it's difficult to assess the degree of Lippi's own involvement as the picture has been repainted more than once. The haloes -- as we see them now -- may be later additions, for example. Technical analysis has revealed that the original version of the picture was painted over and repainted from scratch. The changes, however, were only minor: the position of the Virgin's head and clothing were altered slightly.

The arch which frames the figures was not part of the original design. Its spandrels (the spaces on either side of the arched frame) were filled in later still. The coats of arms of the Strozzi family (left) and the Gaetani family (right) may have been added to celebrate a marriage between members of the families in the sixteenth century.

Style: Gothic, Early Renaissance
The Virgin Mary stands in a stone niche, her eyes tear-stained and her brow furrowed. Her hands are folded in prayer. We can't tell if this is meant to be a depiction of a very skilfully polychromed statue or one of Mary herself.

This panel and Saint Luke painting the Virgin and Child are the back and front of a single painting. They were once the right wing of a triptych (a painting made of three parts), although they were painted by different artists. She is similar to various half-length images of the Virgin from the workshop of Quentin Massys (compare this painting to The Virgin), which were often paired with images of her son, Christ.

The missing left wing of the triptych probably showed a full-length figure of Christ after the Resurrection on its exterior, standing in a niche and raising his hand in blessing. He may have looked a little like the Christ in Christ the Good Shepherd standing in a Landscape (Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA), attributed to the Master of the Mansi Magdalen.

Style: High Renaissance
The unknown sitter has been described as a Florentine nobleman, but his deep red gown with the wide, plain falling collar and wide lace cuffs suggest that he may have had a position in the government of Genoa, where Sustermans was working in 1649. His gaze is firm and serious, his moustache impressive and his features strong, though bearing the marks of late middle age. The full gown accentuates his imposing posture, while the papers in his right hand suggest an administrative post of some authority. He holds a pair of leather gloves in his other hand.

Justus Sustermans was a much travelled artist. As well as Genoa, he also worked in Vienna, Innsbruck, Rome and other Italian cities painting portraits and figures. In Florence he became court painter to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. His painting Double Portrait of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany and his Wife Vittoria della Rovere is also in the National Gallery's collection.

Style: Baroque
Saint John the Baptist is shown between Saint Zeno, the fourth-century Bishop of Verona, and a female saint, who holds a book and a branch of palm, the traditional symbol of martyrs -- those who were executed for their faith. 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 used in her torture, so it is difficult to be sure.

Saint John carries a fine reed cross, a symbol of Christ's crucifixion. The scroll curled around it is inscribed in Latin with the words John spoke about Christ when he was preaching in the wilderness  (John 1: 29, 36): ECCE AGNVS ('Behold the Lamb'). This refers to the Jewish tradition of sacrificing lambs to God. The sinews of the saint's arms are visible beneath his skin, a sign of his lifestyle in the desert where, according to the Gospel of John, he ate only locusts and honey. He points upwards to God in heaven.

The picture is in poor condition, partly because the paint surface has been transferred from the wooden panel on which it was painted to canvas. It's possible that the picture was cut down at this time, and that the saints may have originally been represented in full-length. The picture's condition makes it difficult to be certain who made it. A damaged signature on a fictive cartellino, or piece of paper, on the rock above has been painted over but reads: Bart(b?)olomeus mo[n] / tanea pinxit ('Bartolommeo Montagna painted this'). As there is so much overpainting it is difficult to know if the signature is genuine, but the overpainting may have been intended to reinforce the original inscription.

Style: Early Renaissance
The Virgin Mary is seated in front of a cloth of honour, her hands crossed on her chest. The Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, seems to shoot out at her from the left hand side. This is half of the Annunciation and is one of three pinnacles from a large polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by Giovanni dal Ponte for a nunnery in Pratovecchio, Tuscany. The left pinnacle shows the Archangel Gabriel, while in in the centre God the Father holds the crucified Christ. Together they show the beginning and the end of Christ's life on earth.

The Virgin's crossed arms signify her modest acceptance of God's will, and are an important detail in dating the whole altarpiece: from the 1430s dal Ponte consistently showed the Virgin with her hands raised in alarm, so the Pratovecchio altarpiece was presumably painted before this, probably in around 1420--4.

The artist has used various techniques of gilding even in this one small panel. The background is water-gilded, where burnished gold leaf was applied using an animal glue mixed with water. The red and gold textile is scraffito -- red paint applied over a layer of gilding and then scraped off to make the pattern. Her halo has three patterns, and different tools were used to create each one.

The Virgin's blue robe, which is painted with a pigment called azurite, has darkened over time and the frame is not original -- it's from the nineteenth century.

Style: Gothic, Early Renaissance
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 an image for private contemplation: it was meant to be seen close up, and the artist has used all the means at his disposal to arouse feelings of pity and compassion in the viewer. The small scale, the crop of the composition, the level of detail -- look at the catchlights in Christ's eyes and his tears -- were all meant to elicit emotion.

The scene is taken from the biblical accounts of Christ's Passion. After the Roman governor Pontius Pilate handed Christ over to be crucified, the Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head -- a mockery of the claim that he was the King of the Jews -- and beat him. He was then displayed to a crowd, as in Christ presented to the People, before being forced to carry his own cross to Calvary, where he was executed, as in The Procession to Calvary.

The subject of Christ carrying the Cross shown as a half-length figure was very popular in northern Italy in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Derived from Netherlandish painting and sculpture,  it has parallels with images of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, such as Christ Crowned with Thorns by Dirk Bouts. These images of intense suffering were linked to the rise of the Devotio Moderna ('Modern Devotion') movement in the Netherlands, which emphasised the need for medieval Christians to meditate upon Christ's pain.

This painting is based on an influential composition invented by Giovanni Bellini which was widely imitated. Today over 65 variants of this composition are known, the best of which (in the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; Accademia dei Concordi, Rovigo) are thought to be by Bellini himself. This painting differs from Bellini's Christ in important ways: the white robe makes deep fan-like folds, the hair falls in flowing curls and the face looks more anguished. It was probably by a different artist; Christ's expression, tear-filled eyes and slightly averted face suggest a painter familiar with the work of Cima da Conegliano.

Style: High Renaissance
Gherardo di Jacopo Starnina was an important early fifteenth-century Florentine painter who also worked in Toledo and Valencia in the 1390s.

An executioner holds his sword in both hands high above his head, ready to strike; his robes are hitched into to his belt to aid his swoop. A woman, identified as a saint by her halo, kneels in prayer. She appears completely serene, an impression that is emphasised by the way the fabric of her skirt ripples along the ground in neat waves. The stark, rocky setting suits the subject. The execution takes place, as was customary, outside the city, the walls of the fortified town visible in the background. The arid landscape is broken only by a yellow river that encloses the scene.

A crowd has gathered to watch, rows of spectators are pushing through the city gate. Each expresses a different reaction: two figures to the left bow their heads sadly, while another –- probably the town’s ruler-- points accusingly at the saint with a baton; another recoils in horror. The ruler wears a turban, while his companion in yellow has an elaborate fan-shaped hat. Starnina has dressed the men in outfits he thought fitting for the eastern Mediterranenan setting, Antioch being in modern-day Turkey. A soldier brandishing a large pike guards the scene. His helmet and shield – as well as the executioner’s sword-- may have been covered in silver leaf originally and thus glistened amid the bright colours.

The saint has been identified as Saint Margaret of Antioch. Her legend tells that she survived a variety of tortures as well as an encounter with the devil in the form of a dragon, who devoured her. She survived by making the sign of the cross – as she does here with her thumbs. Eventually she was beheaded but first was granted time to pray.

It is likely that the panel formed part of the predella of a polyptych in the Martin von Wagner Museum in Würzburg. The central panel shows the Virgin and Child with angels playing musical instruments at her feet. The flanking panels show two pairs of saints each. It is likely, given the subject and the dimensions of this panel, that it was located beneath the left-hand panel showing Saint Philip (though this is debated) and Saint Margaret of Antioch. The saints on the right-hand panel are Saint Peter and Saint Mary Magdalene. Various other small fragments from museums across the world have been connected with this altarpiece, including a fragment of identical dimensions now in the Art Institute of Chicago, showing the dormition of the Virgin. It was almost certainly placed immediately to the right of the panel showing Margaret’s execution since the wood grain on both panels is continuous, showing that both were painted on the same piece of wood which was later cut up.

The presence of Saint Philip has led to the suggestion that the altarpiece may have been commissioned by a Florentine banker, Filippo di Piero Rinieri for church of Santa Maria in Campo in the parish of Santa Margherita, Florence, where Filippo lived. It probably adorned the altar of a side chapel dedicated to either Saint Margaret or Saint Mary Magdalene.

Style: Gothic, Early Renaissance
A small black-and-white dog on its hind legs performs before a middle-aged man, who lies on the grass. The man’s long white coat with a salmon-pink lining and white gaiters have the appearance of a theatrical costume, rather than everyday clothes. The turquoise tinge to his hair adds to a sense of artifice. His raised hand and attentive gaze suggest the man is teaching the dog a trick -- perhaps a balancing act related to the red object on its head, which may be the man’s hat. To the right, a horse grazes. Just above its head, a reddish-brown shape in the background is a figure hiding in the hedgerow, which looks out at the man and dog, perhaps not quite sure what they are doing.

Born in France of Scottish descent, John Lewis Brown specialised in hunting and military pictures, as well as studies of horses and dogs. As here, his pictures sometimes have a humorous aspect to them, while also showing his firm grasp of animal anatomy. He was also an excellent etcher and watercolourist, skills which are evident in the fluid brushstrokes used to create structure, such as the foreshortened view of the horse.

Style: Post-Impressionist
Mary and Joseph kneel in love and wonder before the baby Jesus, who sleeps wrapped in a woven basket of sticks and straw. Joseph, the elderly carpenter, touches his rough fingers together in prayer. He holds a stick like those from which the basket is made, and two knives in a sheath lie in his lap. Mary presses her hands over her heart. The stick Joseph holds may be a reference to the rod that miraculously blossomed to reveal him as the man chosen to marry Mary. The painter has included carefully observed naturalistic detail such as the dots of grey lichen on the sticks and the wrinkles on Joseph's hands.

The stable is made of rough thatch over crude timber supports and the baby's blanket is ragged and patched. Perhaps Joseph cut the sticks with his knife and wove the simple wicker basket himself. A long swaddling cloth with a cord tie, in which the baby will be tightly bound, has been hung up to dry.  The fresh cuts on the sticks are perilously sharp for a baby's bed and, together with the knives and shroud-like swaddling cloth, hint at the pain of Christ's Passion that lies ahead. The painting is based on an earlier version (private collection) attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto, which includes Joseph's woven rush tool basket of hammers and a bag of nails, also reminding us of Christ's Passion.

It is uncertain who painted this picture. The approach to the subject  -- the emphasis on straw, rush and wicker -- reflects the influence of Jacopo Tintoretto, as does the way it is painted, not only in the decisive brushstrokes of the crib and the thatched roof, but also the loops of creamy paint which emphasise the looseness of the skin on Joseph's hands. However, there is nothing here of Jacopo's often dramatic treatment of space and lighting, as seen in Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples, which was also imitated by his son Domenico.

The emphasis on the poverty of the setting and the rustic appearance of the figures can be seen in paintings by both Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano. Their choice of this humble style reflects the new focus on poverty in the Counter-Reformation Catholic Church.  Mary's face is similar in type to Bassano's women. She has high eyebrows, large lowered eyelids with lashes hinted at by flicks of the brush in the shadows below, and an exaggerated Cupid's bow lip. Her white head-covering also resembles that of Bassano's Virgin in The Way to Calvary. Whoever painted this picture clearly knew and admired the work of both Tintoretto and Bassano and probably painted it in the last decade of the sixteenth century.

The surface of the painting was flattened during lining before it joined the Gallery. The blue of the Virgin's cloak has darkened, and the green around Joseph's collar and in the landscape may have done so too.

Style: High Renaissance
According to the Old Testament, Moses was born in Egypt at a dangerous time: the Pharaoh had ordered the deaths of all newborn Hebrew boys to prevent them them from later rising up against the Egyptians. Moses' mother hid him in the bulrushes beside the river Nile, where he was discovered by the Pharaoh's daughter, dressed here in white. She took pity on the child and saved him.

Although this story is taken from the Old Testament, the artist has given the scene a contemporary feel – the clothing of the Pharaoh's daughter and her courtly entourage reflect eighteenth-century fashions. Likewise, the lush green plains and snow-capped mountains are reminiscent of northern Italy, not of the Egyptian desert. A narrow river leads our eye towards a town and mountains beyond.

The picture is thought to be by Francesco Zugno but was formerly attributed to Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, with whom he studied and worked, and whose larger, and more accomplished, painting of the same subject is in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.

Style: Baroque, Rococo
A young woman, her lips curved into a slight smile, looks sideways. Her eyes are blue, and her hair – which has been overpainted greyish brown – seems to have originally been light brown. She wears a striking black and white outfit; her bodice is extremely tight and her large ruff has points. The small cape over her shoulders is perhaps what was known as a partlet, and the white fur around her arms appears to be the turned back lining of her dress.

We don't know who she is, but the style of her dress was fashionable in France in the second half of the 1580s. Two drawings -- Nicholas Quesnel's Madame de Villequier, dated 1589, and Catherine Charlotte de la Trémouille, Princess de Condé, dated 1587 (both in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris) -- show women wearing similar clothes. The lady in our painting is more simply dressed than Madame de Villequier, who had been a maid of honour to Catherine de' Medici and married one of the favourites of Henry III, King of France. She is evidently not a lady of very high rank or great wealth.

The picture is painted in oil on an oak panel. There is a chalk ground covered with priming, the brushstrokes of which are clearly visible in the infrared reflectograms. The underdrawing revealed by the reflectograms is rather hesitant and the broken contour lines are frequently corrected, but the outlines may be based on tracing or the pouncing of a cartoon. Freehand hatching in short strokes suggests areas of shadow. The background was originally purplish but has been overpainted with grey paint.

The picture's condition makes accurate assessment difficult, but it has much in common with portraits by François Quesnel: the modelling of the lower eyelids and mouth is very similar to a signed drawing by Quesnel of Marie Bourdineau, dated 18 April 1587.

Style: High Renaissance