Titian, The Liberation of Andromeda, after 1556

It was part of his most important commission of the 1550s and 1560s: a series of erotic mythological subjects painted for King Philip II of Spain, known as the poesie. Its sensual freedom and tonal approach allows the viewer to understand how Titian transformed the language of painting at the end of the Renaissance.

Paolo Veronese, Apotheosis of Venice, 1585, Palazzo Ducale

This painting was commissioned by the Venetian government for the ceiling of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio of the Palazzo Ducale. It is one of the thirty five panels on the ceiling. Illusionistic foreshortenings and dramatic light effects serve to give political allegory a previously unimagined dynamism and visual excitement.

Michelangelo, The Battle of Cascina, 1505

In the autumn of 1504 Michelangelo was given the commission to paint a battle scene for the Palazzo della Signoria as a companion piece to Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari. This grand project came to nothing: the cartoon was finished - at least in part - by February 1505, but the urgent summons from Pope Julius II prevented Michelangelo from continuing with the work, for which only some drawings survived.

Titian, Pieta, 1575

In his Pietà, originally planned for his tomb at the Frari and left unfinished at his death Titian achieves the high point of the expressive possibilities of his 'alchimia cromatica'. The work was completed by Palma il Giovane who added the torch-bearing cherub. The opaque density of this detail contrasts with the 'magical impressionism' of Titian's tonal harmonies. In the shimmering nocturnal scene figures of flesh and marble are evoked by a suffusion of glowing colour.

Tintoretto, Self portrait, 1587

Marked by the strain of a life full of cares, the old master turns to the viewer in a particularly dignified full frontal attitude. The asymmetry of composition in Tintoretto's early self-portrait has given way here to physiognomical asymmetry. The hair on the artist's head, still thick, is smoother now, but the bushy beard seems to be wind-blown as if by the breath of Fate. The light, falling almost vertically from above, suggests a metaphysical reference, also reflected in the stillness of the picture: the lips seem to be seated beneath the silvery beard, and the ears are almost invisible too.

Michelangelo, David, 1501

Unlike previous depictions of David which portray the hero after his victory over Goliath, Michelangelo chose to represent David before the fight contemplating the battle yet to come. It came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, an independent city state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici themselves. This interpretation was also encouraged by the original setting of the sculpture outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence.

Baccio Bandinelli, Hercules and Cacus, 1530, Piazza della Signoria

The genesis of Hercules and Cacus dates to 1508 when a marble block was ordered for Michelangelo to carve as a counterpart to the David. However, the marble was not delivered until 1525 and was given to Bandinelli as Michelangelo was working on the Medici Chapel.

The basic theme of victor over vanquished seems forced and devoid of tension in comparison to Michelangelo's Victory. In trying to outdo the David, it is rigidly posed and the facial grimaces are like deeply drilled caricatures.

Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus and Medusa, 1545-54, Loggia dei Lanzi

The sculpture shows Perseus, holding the head of the Medusa which he has cut off and from whose blood the winged horse Pegasus will be born. This masterpiece in bronze was sculpted between 1545 and 1554 for the Loggia dei Lanzi (an open-air gallery) and has stood there ever since. The sculpture can be considered as the reult of a direct competition with Donatello's earlier sculpture, Judith and Holophernes.

The modelling of the reliefs in bronze on the marble base is so exquisitely done that it suggests the precision of the goldsmith rather than the sculptor's art.

Giambologna, Rape of the Sabine Woman, 1583, Florence, Loggia dei Lanzi

The spiral movement of figures in this Mannerist work anticipates Baroque sculpture. Like other works in the Loggia dei Lanzi, this too depicts a triumphant figure, a Roman who is sucessfully carrying off a Sabine woman. This story of the early history of Rome is related in both Livy and Plutarch.