Anonymous German Artist St Sebastian 15th century oil on panel (fragment of triptych) Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
Anonymous German Artist Portrait of a Lady ca. 1470 oil on panel (presented by Queen Victoria) National Gallery, London |
Anonymous German Artist St George and the Dragon ca. 1517 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) Compton Verney, Warwickshire |
Anonymous Netherlandish Artist Virgin and Child with Angels 16th century oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
Anonymous German Artist Portrait of a Gentleman ca. 1530-40 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
Anonymous Northern European Artist Lucretia ca. 1530-50 oil on panel (after a drawing by Raphael) Courtauld Gallery, London |
from Rugby Chapel
Yes! I believe that there lived
Others like thee in the past,
Not like the men of the crowd
Who all around me to-day
Bluster or cringe, and make life
Hideous, and arid, and vile;
But souls temper'd with fire,
Fervent, heroic, and good,
Helpers and friends of mankind.
– Matthew Arnold (1867)
Anonymous German Artist St Matthias 17th century oil on canvas Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex |
Anonymous Flemish Artist St Anne holding the Virgin and the Christ Child ca. 1620 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire |
Anonymous Flemish Artist St Adriaen ca. 1620 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire |
Anonymous Netherlandish Artist St Andrew ca. 1625-35 oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
Anonymous German Artist Portrait of a Gentleman ca. 1640 oil on canvas Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
Anonymous Flemish Artist Portrait of a Gentleman ca. 1640-60 oil on canvas Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham |
Anonymous Netherlandish Artist Bathsheba 17th century oil on canvas York City Art Gallery |
Anonymous Netherlandish Artist Princess Mary Henrietta of Orange (eldest daughter of King Charles I) ca. 1650 oil on canvas National Trust, Hatchlands, Surrey |
Anonymous Netherlandish Artist Vanitas Trompe-l’oeil Letter Rack with Death Notices ca. 1660 oil on canvas National Trust, Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire |
from The Benefactors
Ah! What avails the classic bent
And what the cultured word,
Against th' undoctored incident
That actually occurred?
And what is Art whereto we press
Through paint and prose and rhyme –
When Nature in her nakedness
Defeats us every time?
– Rudyard Kipling (1919)