wrmthorne/National_Gallery_style_classification huggingface dataset:
A weeping woman, shown in profile, holds a large and intricately carved pot. This is Saint Mary Magdalene, one of Christ's followers, identifiable from the pot of expensive ointment with which she anointed Christ's feet. This painting was once joined to another panel, and was probably the left wing of a triptych, presumably showing the Lamentation or pietà.

Mary's dress is cloth-of-gold with a purple design. Over it, she wears a second dress, open at the front and laced across the other under her breasts. The upper sleeves, now green, were once purple. Her shift escapes in a multitude of small puffs through slashes in the fabric. Her fair hair is covered with a patterned cap and two veils, one semi-transparent, one white. The colourful clothes and expensive textiles allude to her sinful past, although the sleeves and shape of the veil bear some relation to contemporary fashions. A rosary made of coral and glass beads circles her neck, with a large jewelled pendant hanging from it. People often wore rosaries round their necks at this period, though rosary-necklaces are rarely shown in art.

We don't know the name of the artist but he is called the Master of the Magdalen Legend after a large triptych, now broken up, showing episodes from the life of Mary Magdalene, probably painted in the mid-1520s. This painting is close to the triptych in style, so they were probably made at around the same time in the same workshop. The Magdalen was also made in the artist's workshop, but it is smaller and of lesser quality.

Style: High Renaissance
This is one of two fragments in the National Gallery's collection of a larger work that showed the Virgin Mary and Christ Child seated in a garden. It shows Saint Margaret, who was from the town of Antioch (in modern-day Turkey). She wears a headdress of pearls, as her name means 'pearl' in Greek and Latin.

According to her legend, Saint Margaret escaped from the stomach of a dragon which had swallowed her whole by making the sign of the cross. Here she is shown holding a gilded cross and using the monstrous creature -- it bares its teeth at the right of the fragment -- as a seat. She holds the animal by a golden chain, emphasising her victory over it. The inscription on her halo, which has been repainted, reads: 'Sancta margarit'.

Although the panel is badly damaged, there is part of a lamb's body behind Margaret. The lamb was the attribute of Saint Agnes; her name means 'lamb' in Latin.

Style: Gothic, Early Renaissance
Threatening clouds loom over the distant mountains and dwarf the cluster of buildings and stone bridge in the middle ground. Above the clouds, the sky is dark. There is a sense of movement throughout the scene, from the trees and clouds blown by the wind to the fishermen hauling in a net from the river in the foreground. A little further back, a boat carrying several other figures is hastily crossing the water.

Crescenzio Onofri was heavily influenced by the landscape artist Dughet, and spent his earlier career assisting him on numerous commissions as his pupil. This work and its companion piece Landscape with Figures were probably painted towards the end of Onofri's career, when he worked for the court of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The foreground figures were likely painted by a collaborator, possibly the Florentine artist Francesco Petrucci.

Style: Baroque, Academic
Firelight and jagged streaks of light illuminate an otherwise pitch-dark setting. The turbulent sea tosses the wrecked ship's cargo against the rocks; the strength of the gale forces the seawater to arc over a boulder and shoot up high against the cliffs, where it rains down as froth. The flames of the lighthouse, perched high on a craggy peak, are blown uncontrollably to one side, demonstrating the force of the storm. The wind agitates the fire that warms the wreck's survivors as well as their clothes, throwing up red-hot ash which glitters in the darkness.

The story of Saint Paul's shipwreck on the island of Malta is described in Acts (28: 1--6) -- the apostle was on his way to Rome where he was to face punishment at the hands of the Romans. Adam Elsheimer has taken advantage of the biblical description, which describes the rain and cold, to portray a night scene: 'And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold' (Acts 28: 2). This allowed him to use strong contrasts of light and darkness for dramatic effect. At the largest fire at the left corner -- the brightest part of the picture -- Saint Paul calmly drops a snake, which had bitten him, into the flames. The islanders who saw that he had not been injured by the snake's venom were convinced that he was a god.

The nakedness of some of the figures and the wildness of the landscape seems to evoke the primitive atmosphere Paul describes. Elsheimer has not paid the same attention to the anatomy of the figures here as he did to those of Christ and John the Baptist in the Baptism of Christ. But he has taken care to paint a variety of people, elderly men, young women and even a baby who clings to his mother's back as she dries her clothes around the central fire.

Elsheimer's preferred surface was copper, its smooth surface enabling him to paint minute details like the scales of the writhing snake here. The scene has been compared with paintings of shipwrecks by the Flemish painter Frederick van Valckenborch, whose dramatic nocturnal images Elsheimer may have seen in Frankfurt in the final years of the sixteenth century.

Style: Baroque
This portrait of Gainsborough's older daughter Mary was produced in 1777 around the same time as a portrait made of his youngest, Margaret Gainsborough, holding a Theorbo (NG6687), which entered the National Gallery Collection in 2019. Unusually, the artist has inscribed the work with the name of the sitter and signed it, indicating the work is complete. These paintings of the two sisters were kept by the artist’s descendants throughout the nineteenth century, reflecting their importance to the family.

Both portraits are notably unfinished, though Margaret’s is less finished than this painting of Mary, as are The Artist’s Daughters, chasing a Butterfly (NG1811) and The Artist’s Daughters, playing with a Cat (NG3812), also in the National Gallery Collection. The loose handling and experimentation adopted in all these works reflect the intimate relationship the artist held with each sitter. Together they demonstrate his distinctive approach to representing his family.

This work also reflects Gainsborough’s knowledge of, and desire to emulate, paintings by great artists from previous generations. The painting to which the portrait of Mary alludes, is now known to be a painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) of his wife.

Style: Georgian
This portrait is a sensitive representation of the studio assistant who would ‘carry the artist’s materials when he went into the country to sketch’. His name is not recorded, but this painting has been named after the child’s home village in Somerset. The loose handling of the paint and unfinished nature suggest it was executed quite quickly and reflects the intimate relationship the Gainsborough had with the subject, as a member of his household. The artist was experimenting freely with pose and expression. The painting follows the Dutch tradition of the tronie, in which a figure is painted to explore character, rather than as the portrait of an individual. This places the emphasis on capturing the expression on the young boy’s face.

Style: Georgian
Sweerts was keen on depictions of Roman street life. Here we see a large, dimly lit room where a crowd of people — mostly women and children — have gathered. On the left, a young woman wearing a white turban and a blue skirt sits in a bright beam of light, focused on her embroidery. Her sewing box rests on a nearby stool. A small boy stands beside her, reading from a book. In the centre, another seamstress stands, working on her needlework. In the foreground, three children warm their hands over a small fire. On the far left, a music teacher instructs a young woman playing a keyboard, while on the far right, a girl writes in a book on her lap while a toddler watches. At the back, a tall, glowing archway opens into a courtyard with buildings. Shadowy figures move about, some children play near a fountain, and laundry hangs from the windows. This painting is believed to be the Roman Seamstress mentioned in the 1686 inventory of Joseph Deutz, an important Dutch patron of the artist, in whose extensive collection of Dutch, Flemish and Italian art it was the most expensive picture, valued at 400 guilders.

As is typical for Sweerts, this painting treats everyday activities with great respect. The people in the scene, especially the young seamstress in the white turban, have a calm and dignified presence, similar to figures in classical art. This contrasts sharply with the chaotic schoolrooms often depicted by Dutch painters such as Adriaen van Ostade or Jan Steen. The painting’s main theme appears to be education in a broad sense — the steady, patient effort required to learn a skill. This idea is reflected in the focused work of the seamstress and the practice of the musician at the far left.

Style: Baroque
These panels show Saints Mary Magdalene and Peter, and were once part of the main tier of an altarpiece. An image of the Virgin and Child was at the centre, with two images of saints on individual panels on either side. The altarpiece was eventually dismantled -- we aren't sure when -- and the panels are now housed in collections across the world: the Virgin and Child is now in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome and a panel showing Saint Paul is in a private collection.

The image of Saint Paul was probably situated to the left of the central image, while our panels were probably both on the right. Saint Peter was probably closest to the Virgin in the centre, mirroring the position of Saint Paul; it was very common for Peter and Paul, the two most important apostles, to be paired in altarpieces and to occupy this position of honour nearest the Virgin. Mary Magdalene tilts her head in the direction of the Virgin, suggesting that she too appeared on the right, probably next to Saint Peter.

The surviving panels have been associated with one another due to their size and the punched decoration of the haloes, which was made using shaped metal tools to indent the gold leaf. Both of our panels were converted into rectangles at one stage, perhaps to make them appear as individual pictures to be sold separately. The arched tops are modern additions, placed there to restore them to their original shape. These were added to the panels before they entered our collection.

Silver has been detected on the back of the panels in other collections, so it's possible that the entire reverse was originally covered with silver leaf. While we don't know the altarpiece's original location, if it did have a silver back then it's likely that it was designed to be viewed from the back as well as from the front, rather than to be placed against a wall.

Style: Gothic, Early Renaissance
These four pictures are from a series of paintings by Giulio Licinio showing scenes from ancient Roman history. They were made for the decoration of a room and were originally painted on panel but have since been transferred to canvas. Their size and horizontal format suggests they were probably intended to be inserted into wall panelling, as was common practice in Renaissance Venice.

The Attack on Cartagena depicts a famous Roman victory by Scipio Africanus over the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War. The Continence of Scipio records Scipio's mercy as a military leader when he refused a ransom for a female prisoner and returned her safely to her family. The Rape of the Sabines shows a scene from ancient Roman legend, when the men of newly founded Rome abducted women from the neighbouring Sabine nation. The Intervention of the Sabine Women depicts the heroic attempt by the Sabine women to end the war between their Sabine fathers and Roman husbands and bring both sides to peace. There are also two other pictures from the same series in a private collection: Coriolanus and Scipio rewarding the Soldiers. There may originally have been more paintings in the series which are lost.

The Rape of the Sabines and the Intervention of the Sabines are both covered with a discoloured varnish which affects their appearance. Licinio's approach to colour and the original appearance of this series of paintings can be more easily appreciated in The Attack on Cartagena and The Continence of Scipio.

Style: High Renaissance
These pictures show episodes from the life of Christ: the visit of the Virgin to Saint Elizabeth and the Flight into Egypt. They are perhaps the remains of a huge altarpiece, possibly made for a Spanish or Portuguese patron. Two other panels of same dimensions and similar style are believed to come from the same altarpiece: an Adoration of the Kings (Honolulu Academy of Arts) and Christ among the Doctors (Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp).

The style -- large figures set in a deep landscape, full of medieval details -- is typical of Netherlandish late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century painting; we also see it in The Virgin and Child in a Landscape by Jan Provoost and The Virgin and Child in a Landscape by Bernaert van Orley. Painters often reused ideas and designs from other artists, and there are echoes in these paintings of the work of Goossen's grandfather, Rogier van der Weyden, whose patterns and drawings he had inherited.

Although the presentation of the stories is not unusual in Netherlandish painting, the format of the altar from which they came was. The backs of all four panels are rather irregularly finished and seem never to have been painted. They were clearly not intended to be seen and so can't have been the shutters of a folding altarpiece, like Scenes from the Passion of Christ.

They may have been arranged around a large central panel, perhaps a (lost) Nativity, with The Visitation of the Virgin to Saint Elizabeth on the left and The Flight into Egypt on the right. Such altarpieces were popular in Spain and Portugal, where Goossen van der Weyden had contacts, and where his work was much admired. Paintings by his workshop were found in churches in Madeira and a triptych of the Presentation in the Temple (now in the Museum Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon) was probably painted for a convent near Lisbon.

Goossen ran a large workshop, and it seems that various assistants worked on the panels at different stages. Infrared reflectography has revealed extensive underdrawing by two draughtsmen -- one did the landscapes, the other the figures. The artist who did the figures and the donkey may well have been working from cartoons or patterns of some sort. We also know both pictures were changed at the painting stage: the artist who painted the backgrounds ignored the underdrawn landscapes. In The Visitation of the Virgin to Saint Elizabeth, for example, the view of the town on the left is painted over an underdrawing of a wooded scene. In the top right corner, completely different buildings were underdrawn and partially painted. None of the smaller figures, animals or birds are underdrawn -- they were added later. Only the brick arch was planned from the start (but the view through it was changed several times).

We aren't sure if the same artist painted the figures and the landscape, even though the technique is very similar in both pictures. They may have been done by different assistants who had been trained to work in the same way.

Style: High Renaissance
Peasants with Donkeys and its companion painting Musicians are intimate scenes of peasant life,  observed by night as if we ourselves are part of the action. They probably date from between 1710 and 1715, shortly after Crespi's stay in Florence.

These two pictures were formerly thought to be fragments of a single composition, perhaps an Old Testament subject. Close examination of the canvases, however, has shown that they were part of two separate, though related, works. Both have at some point been cut down at the left and top edges, and it is impossible to know how large they originally were. They are slightly different sizes but the similarities in the scale of the figures, the range of colour and the lively brushstrokes suggest that they must have been intended as pendants.

Although Crespi spent most of his career in Bologna, he played a significant role in shaping a taste for painting scenes of everyday life among his Italian contemporaries. Unlike the Netherlands, which had a thriving market for genre scenes, such paintings were relatively few and far between in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italy. Crespi's pupils Giambattista Piazzetta and Pietro Longhi played a significant role in developing the taste for this kind of genre scene, as did patrons like the Grand Prince Ferdinand de' Medici and Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, for whom Crespi worked while in Florence.

Several figures in these two works were copied by the minor Bolognese painter Giuseppe Gambarini, who is not known as a pupil of Crespi but must have visited his studio in the 1710s. Gambarini's Dance in the Country includes two musicians that are closely related to Crespi's; its pendant, Friars Receiving Alms (both Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart) reverses the motif of the donkey and tradesman in Peasants with Donkeys, transforming the figure into a friar. Gambarini must have copied these aspects after Crespi's pictures had been cropped: in the work of both artists only the forequarters of the donkey are visible.

Crespi's two paintings were part of a group of 25 Italian Baroque pictures that entered the National Gallery's collection in 2013. They previously belonged to Sir Denis Mahon, a distinguished collector, art historian and former trustee of the Gallery.

Style: Baroque, Academic
This pair of paintings -- A Regatta on the Grand Canal and The Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day -- captures two of the most popular annual festivals in eighteenth-century Venice: the gondola races along the Grand Canal and the Wedding of the Sea ceremony. Both fell into decline during the late eighteenth century with the fall of the Venetian Republic, but they were revived in 1965 and are still enjoyed today.

Both events celebrate the history of the Venetian Republic. The regatta commemorates Doge Pietro Orseolo II’s naval victory over Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia) around the year 1000, believed to have taken place on Ascension Day. The Wedding of the Sea relates to a peace treaty of 1178 between the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the papacy, witnessed by Doge  Sebastiano Ziani. He received a blessed ring from the Pope.

The paintings were made in around 1740, when Canaletto produced his most commercially successful works. They are among the grandest views of Venice he made for the wealthy visitors who came to explore the city and to witness the impressive ceremonies held on the Grand Canal. It was largely the Grand Tourists from northern Europe, rather than Venetians, who bought Canaletto’s large, showy view paintings, to remind them of the city’s outstanding beauty and unique entertainments.

We don't know who originally owned these pictures but they were in the Duke of Leeds Collection at Hornby Castle by around 1867 and have remained in England ever since. They were bequeathed to the National Gallery by Lord Revelstoke in 1929.

Style: Baroque, Rococo
Inscriptions on the reverse of the panel identify the sitter as Franz von Sickingen or, alternatively, a member of the Luther family. The left-hand coat of arms, however, closely resembles that of Johannes Feige, Chancellor of Hesse (1482?– 1543); the upper section features three figs, and ‘Feige’ is the German word for fig. It has been suggested that the arms in the upper right may represent those of his mother, Margaret Mehrgart.

An insignia of a winged serpent, which Cranach used as his signature, can be seen under the left-hand shield.

Style: High Renaissance
These two paintings are modelli, or presentation pieces, for frescoes in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. As part of the restoration of the church, which began in 1741, Giaquinto painted canvases for the nave's ceiling and frescoes for the lower walls of the apse. Pope Benedict XIV promoted this initiative as part of the upcoming celebration of the Holy Year of 1750.

A fragment of the True Cross (the Cross on which Christ was crucified) was brought back from the Holy Land by Helen, mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor (Constantine). This relic, which was central to the basilica's iconographical scheme, had previously been housed in the private chapel of Helen's villa, on the site where Santa Croce was later built. The Cross features prominently in Corrado Giaquinto’s painted canvases adorning the nave's ceiling, completed between 1744 and 1746, representing The Adoration of the True Cross on the Day of Judgement and Saint Helen and Constantine presented to the Holy Trinity by the Virgin Mary. The Adoration was painted on a large canvas, set into the nave's wooden ceiling, and shows the apostles adoring the True Cross, as Constantine had done before his victory over Maxentius's troops in AD 312. The other canvas, also set into the ceiling, is at the point of the nave's crossing and features Saint Michael, Helen, Constantine and the Holy Trinity.

Giaquinto's frescoes in the apse, which were painted 'a secco' -- that is, on dry rather than fresh plaster ('a fresco') -- feature scenes of Moses' miracles on his way to the Promised Land. In preparation for the commission, Giaquinto first painted bozzetti, or sketches, and then he produced modelli for approval by the Pope and the procurator of the Cistercian Order, Raimondo Besozzi. These modelli are the two paintings today in the National Gallery, and the related bozzetti are in the Prado, Madrid. The modelli enable us to recreate the original colour scheme of the frescoes, which have been damaged by humidity and unsuccessful nineteenth-century restorations.

After Giaquinto finished the commission, Pope Benedict XIV declared the basilica ‘a modern mess’ as other parts of the renovation project had been abandoned due to lack of funds. This meant that the decorative programme remained incomplete, and we have to look at Giaquinto's later schemes, such as the work he did in the Spanish royal palaces in Madrid (where he worked from 1753), to give us an idea of what the overall effect might have been.

Style: Baroque, Rococo