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| Jan van Hemessen Allegory of Vanity ca. 1535-40 oil on panel Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Domenico Fetti St Gregory the Great ca. 1600-1625 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Descent from the Cross ca. 1617 oil on panel Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Leonello Spada Joseph and Potiphar's Wife before 1622 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Jacob Jordaens Abduction of Europa 1643 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Jacques Stella Birth of the Virgin 1644 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| David Teniers the Younger The Wanderers ca. 1650 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Bartholomeus van der Helst Venus with the Golden Apple 1664 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Noël Coypel Hercules battling the River God, Achelous ca. 1667-69 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Eugène Delacroix Susanna and the Elders ca. 1850 oil on canvas (sketch) Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Carolus-Duran Sleeping Man ca. 1861 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Jules Bastien-Lepage Priam supplicating Achilles 1876 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Jean-Jacques Henner Christ in the Tomb ca. 1884 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec In the Studio Posing the Model 1885 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Émile Bernard After the Bath - The Nymphs 1908 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
"[The uniqueness of a painting] operates probably as an advantage by making the sight of a fine original picture an event so much the more memorable, and the impression so much deeper. A visit to a genuine Collection is like going a pilgrimage – it is an act of devotion performed at the shrine of Art! It is as if there were but one copy of a book in the world, locked up in some curious casket, which, by special favour, we had been permitted to open, and peruse (as we must) with unaccustomed relish. The words would in that case leave stings in the mind of the reader, and every letter appear of gold."
– William Hazlitt, from Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England (London: Taylor and Hessey, 1824)