Paintings

Sōami. Slopes emerge from mist as tiny people cross water on a bridge. Soami painted this landscape in the early sixteenth century as part of a much wider composition.

Wang Meng. This retreat presents scholarly ideals rather than a securely identified property. Crane, deer and lingzhi fungus carry Daoist auspicious associations.

Hashim. Shah Jahan’s portrait fits in a palm: it is only about five centimetres high. Hashim painted it around 1630, shortly after the ruler ascended the Mughal throne.

Titian. Following Ovid’s story, Venus tries to prevent Adonis from leaving for the hunt that will kill him.

Rembrandt van Rijn. Rembrandt painted himself at fifty-four. Thick paint models ageing features, while some curls were scratched with the brush handle.

Édouard Manet. Manet exhibited Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers alongside Olympia at the Salon of 1865. Both very different paintings met hostile attention.

Thomas Eakins. Eakins began his rowing series after returning from Europe. The painting probably commemorates Max Schmitt’s victory in October 1870. Eakins also rows in the distance.

Unidentified Japanese painters. Around 1600, a Japanese artist depicted European traders arriving across a pair of six-panel screens.

Wen Zhengming. Wen Zhengming had a studio in Wang Xianchen’s Suzhou garden and painted this eight-view album at eighty-one. Poetry, calligraphy and painting unite the Three Perfections.

Basawan. A Jain monk walks along a riverbank carrying a small vessel and a staff. Basavana painted him around 1600 for Emperor Akbar’s collection.

Paolo Veronese. Cupids join Mars and Venus and restrain the warhorse. Love appears as a force capable of moderating war.

Rogier van der Weyden. Francesco d’Este was educated at the Burgundian court. Objects held in his hands may be tournament prizes.

Édouard Manet. The horses race almost directly towards us. Manet painted the finish at Longchamp in 1866, choosing an unusual position ahead of the approaching group.

Thomas Eakins. Three generations respond to music in one room. A reproduced photograph of Lincoln and his son connects family imagery with the memory of emancipation.

Tawaraya Sōtatsu. Three courtiers pause at Sumiyoshi’s shore. Tawaraya Sotatsu painted this small picture around 1634 after The Tales of Ise, a tenth-century literary work.

Dong Qichang. Dong Qichang reworked a landscape by Dong Yuan, seeking an artistic relationship with the earlier master. Rocks and trees take calligraphic form.

Unidentified painter of Akbar's workshop. Alamshah raises his sword above a torrent threatening to wash away his father Hamza’s camp.

Duccio di Buoninsegna. The infant moves Mary’s veil while her sorrow is understood in relation to the future Crucifixion. Candle burns survive on the original frame.

Hans Memling. Arms with joined keys connect this commission with Ferry de Clugny and his burial chapel at Autun. The arrangement derives from Rogier van der Weyden.

Paul Gauguin. Gauguin painted Tehamana in 1893, before returning from his first Tahitian stay. She was an adolescent living with an artist in his forties.

Ralph Earl. Boardman poses inside his Connecticut shop. Imported fabrics identify the source of his prosperity.

Ike Taiga. After rain, bamboo rises among pale rocks as water runs down from the mountains. Ike Taiga painted this two-panel screen in the mid-eighteenth century.

Wu Bin. Wu Bin’s Buddhist holy men have unconventional, sometimes strange appearances. Their outward forms conceal spiritual achievement.

Unidentified Indian painters. In northern Indian painting, the months could become love stories. This miniature of around 1790 represents Bhadon, the August–September monsoon season.

Caravaggio. Andrew is still alive on the cross. According to Christian tradition, the apostle continued preaching during his execution after refusing to worship pagan gods.

Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens stands with Helena Fourment and their son Frans in an idealised version of his Antwerp garden. His sword strap signals noble status, echoed by the boy’s ribbon.

Paul Gauguin. Gauguin painted this Tahitian scene in Paris in 1894, after returning from his first visit. Women rest beside water while others carry offerings or stand before a deity.

Sanford Robinson Gifford. Gifford presents Kaaterskill Clove and its distant falls in soft light. His view differs from earlier, more threatening treatments of the gorge.

Yosa Buson. A farmer returns with his harvest and notices a bird helping itself to the grain. Yosa Buson painted this autumn scene in 1781.

Wang Hui and assistants. This belongs to twelve monumental scrolls recording Kangxi’s southern tour of 1689. Wang Hui and assistants depict the route from Jinan to Mount Tai.

Farukh Chela, Govardhan or Dhanraj; attribution debated. Emperor Akbar watches wild elephants being captured in Malwa.

Fra Angelico. Christ places a crown on Mary’s head. Fra Angelico painted this small scene in the 1420s, early in his career.

Jacob van Ruisdael. Cultivated fields occupy the lower painting beneath an extensive cloudy sky. Shipping appears in the distance.

Eugène Delacroix. Two horsemen clash in a narrow ravine. Delacroix painted the scene in 1826 from Byron’s The Giaour, first published in 1813.

William Michael Harnett. A partly open door, projecting nails and cast shadows make painted things seem to stand before a real surface.

Matsumura Goshun. The seventy-two peaks of China’s Mount Heng appear on a low Japanese screen. Matsumura Goshun painted it in 1785.