Around 1660, Emanuel de Witte began painting imagined churches based on real examples often combining different views of the same church in one composition. This work is titled 'Interior of a Protestant Gothic Church with Motifs from the Oude and Nieuwe Kerk.'

'Swanage, Dorset.' (c1883) Though he was only fleetingly a member of the Newlyn group of artists in Cornwall, Blandford Fletcher produced some significant work. In the early 1880s, he made a series of work depicting water splashes of which this is an example.

Édouard Vuillard's picture 'Bouquet on the Mirus Stove,' (1932) was likely painted when he was living at the Château des Clayes the home of his dealer Jos Hessel and his wife Lucy whom he shared, for many years, a deep friendship, then a romantic relationship.

'Sunrise.' (1892) Maria Iakunchikova's work is of her at Vvedenskoe, the family estate near Moscow when she was showing an interest in symbolism while developing her own style. Today, she is recognised as a trailblazer for many outstanding women artists of the early 20thC.

RT @LordRickettsP: Thrilled to be the UK Special Envoy for the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to @britishmuseum, and of treasures from their c….

'A Screen of Trees.' (1907) Talking about his work Valerius de Saedeleer said that once an artist had settled on a motif, it had to be very clear why: 'analyse the tension of that glorious moment and hold on to it. It's important to walk around a landscape and observe it.'

'The Open Window.' (1907) Much like his friend Vilhelm Hammershøi, Carl Holsøe is celebrated for his depictions of sparse interiors, which convey stillness and introspection.

Pierre Bonnard made 'Femme étendant du linge,' in 1892 at his family's ancestral home Le Clos (The Orchard) in the village of Le Grand-Lemps. It was here he painted unaffected scenes which have the same feeling as the many photos he took of the house and garden at Le Clos.

'Steve.' (1949) If you're near the Snowdonia National Park this summer do take time to visit Plas Brondanw in Llanfrothen, the family home of the Portmeirion architect Clough Williams Ellis. The house is holding an exhibition of excellent portraits by Eleanor Brooks.

Harry van der Weyden was born in Boston, Massachusetts and won a scholarship to the Slade School in London at the age of nineteen. He then studied at the Académie Julien and later exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1900, the year he painted this work of boats at a city port.

'Hop Alleys.' In the 1950s, William Townsend began a series of paintings based on the different methods of stringing Kentish hop alleys - a pretext for complicated geometric abstraction without the need to paint abstract pictures.

One thing you notice about Edward Hopper's work is there's never anything to eat on his tables. He was uninterested in food and often made dinner from canned ingredients though the spaces where eating and drinking took place were important. This is a detail from 'Chop Suey,' 1929

'Eight Workmen in the Rain.' (c1980) Theodore Major was a younger contemporary of Lowry and, privately, felt the matchstick-man had stolen his idea. His best works represent figures in apocalyptic landscapes and still-lifes slightly reminiscent of Van Gogh.

'Fishwives on the Beach.' (1905) Sorolla's interest in painting the familiar had been inspired by Jules Bastien-Lepage who urged artists to paint what they knew, depict the subjects that were closest to them. The result was a series of works of the Valencian fishing community.

'Woman Reading by the Sea,' (1942) .was made at the time Robert Colquhoun had become close to the Polish painter Jankel Adler, he helped shift Colquhoun away from the English landscape tradition towards a modern style drawing from cubism and other influences. @Damian_Barr

Writing about the time he visited now modern-day Kenya in 1910, Akseli Gallen-Kallela wrote: 'The visions around us change; everything is just days and nights that merge with the sun, the moon and the stars, in an air so gentle that one forgets one’s own existence.'

Keith Vaughan painted just twenty still life oil paintings over the course of his career. This work 'Pomegranate, Lemon, Cup,' painted in 1948, consists of a tabletop with a striped tablecloth and angular forms.

In 1968, Sydney Nolan embarked on a series of paintings called Paradise Garden in response to Benjamin Britten’s cantata ‘Rejoice in the Lamb,' and likened the work to The Garden of Eden. Its genesis can be traced to his garden in London and his interest in Australian flowers.

Sunday reading is Renaissance Skin by Evelyn Welch @ManchesterUP - a fascinating look at how people in the Renaissance saw skin differently from how we do today. Beautifully illustrated, the front cover is a detail from Bronzino's 'Portrait of a Young Woman and her Son,' (c1540)

'Fishermen's Camp, Buffalo River,'.from 1968 is painted with Thomas Hart Benton’s hallmark blend of undulating forms and bright colours; it captures the spirit of relaxation amongst nature which defines his work from this period.