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| Agnolo Bronzino Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist and St Elizabeth ca. 1540 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Hans Eworth Portrait of Sir John Luttrell 1550 oil on panel Courtauld Gallery, London |
"Born in Antwerp, Eworth settled in England around 1540 and became court painter during the reign of Mary Tudor. The complex imagery in this portrait of the English military commander and diplomat John Luttrell (1518/20-1551) indicates that it is meant to be read as an allegory. The inscription on the rock in the left foreground alludes to his courage, while the figure holding an olive branch represents Peace and may symbolize the signing of the Treaty of Boulogne between France and England the year this portrait was painted."
– curator's notes from the Courtauld Gallery
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| Polidoro da Lanciano Virgin and Child with St Catherine and St Jerome in a Landscape ca. 1540-60 oil on canvas Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| attributed to Sebastiano Seccante Virgin and Child with St Stephen, St Augustine, St Jude and St Jerome ca. 1540-50 oil on panel Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
"St Stephen, clothed as a deacon, carries a martyr's palm, while Augustine wears the robes of his Order: both he and Jerome, as Doctors of the Church, are shown with books. The Apostle Jude carries an axe, the instrument of his martyrdom. Prototypes for the group on the left and for the figure of St Jerome are found in Titian's work of ca. 1509-1510 and ca. 1530, while the strongly characterized Child derives in reverse from Raphael's Bridgewater Madonna of ca. 1507-1508."
– curator's notes from the Ashmolean Museum
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| Maarten van Heemskerck Mary Magdalen and Donor ca. 1540 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) National Gallery, London |
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| Maarten van Heemskerck The Virgin and St John the Evangelist ca. 1540 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) National Gallery, London |
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| Anonymous Italian Artist Portrait of a Man with a Skull ca. 1545 oil on canvas Courtauld Gallery, London |
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| Titian and workshop Portrait of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese) ca. 1545 oil on canvas National Trust, Hatchlands, Surrey |
"An unblushing nepotist, Paul III (1468-1549) alienated immense fiefs belonging to the Holy See in favour of his natural children. Of these the most famous was Pierluigi Farnese (1503-1547) who served in the papal army in various campaigns, but also took part in the sack of Rome in 1527. On his father's elevation to the papacy he was made captain-general of the Church, and received the duchy of Castro in the Maremma, besides Frascati, Nepi, Montalto and other fiefs. A shameless rake and a man of uncontrollable temper, his massacre of the people of Perugia after a rebellion in 1540 and the unspeakable outrage he committed on the bishop of Fano are typical of his character. In 1545 his father conferred on him the duchy of Parma and Piacenza, which likewise belonged to the Holy See, and his rule proved cruel and tyrannical."
– Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
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| Anonymous Flemish Artist Portrait of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget de Beaudesert 1549 oil on panel National Trust, Plas Newydd, Wales |
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| Gerlach Flicke Portraits of Gerlach Flicke and Henry Strangwish 1554 oil on paper or vellum, mounted on panel National Portrait Gallery, London |
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| Jacopo Tintoretto Portrait of a Young Man 1554 oil on canvas Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham |
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| attributed to Steven van der Meulen Portrait of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke ca. 1560 oil on panel National Museum Cardiff, Wales |
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| Paolo Veronese Holy Family with young St John the Baptist and St George ca. 1550-55 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Paolo Veronese Marcus Curtius leaping into the Chasm ca. 1550-52 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
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| Titian The Rokeby Venus and Adonis ca. 1554 oil on canvas National Trust, Hatchlands, Surrey |