'Young Goatherd.' (1940) Concerned about the rapid growth of Switzerland in the first years of the 20thC, Ernest Biéler was one of a number of artists who decided to champion a national Swiss identity, painting people in their communities, at work, wearing traditional costumes.

Among Carl Gaertner’s most admired pictures, 'Flying Ponies,' (1932) depicts a nocturnal view of a carousel at an amusement park on the shores of Lake Erie. This ride provides the central focus; the lights illuminate the darkness, revealing visitors engaged in various activities.

'Aubergines and Onions.' Vanessa Bell, her family, and Duncan Grant spent the winter of 1921-22 at La Maison Blanche, a house in St Tropez - this work is from those months spent in the Mediterranean.

One of the most significant painters of his generation, Antoine Coypel's work in mixed chalk from around 1715 is a study linked to his greatest achievement: the series of large painted decorations for the Gallery of Aeneas in the Palais Royal in Paris.

'Entrance to an Inn in the Praestegarden at Hillested.' (1844).Martinus Rørbye was a prominent artist in early 19thC Denmark, during the golden age that began around 1810 and continued into the 1850s, a period which saw a reassessment of national character and purpose.

RT @houghhough: A little Korngold (Die schönste Nacht) at Tippet Rise Montana as I prepare to leave. On a gorgeous 1898 @SteinwayAndSons co….

'Evening.' (c1879) A friend of Georges Seurat, Albert Lebourg used conté crayon on textured paper in a similar way - the result is drawings with luminosity and tonal harmony. In this work, Lebourg has depicted his mother, sister, and wife sewing by the dim light of an oil lamp.

'Convalescing.' (1938) Harold Weston decided to be a painter when he was eleven, but rejected art school and instead travelled across America. He went on to live a semi-reclusive life in the Adirondacks until he married Faith Borton, whose portrait this is.

In Edward McGuire's portrait (1974) of Seamus Heaney he sets his sights beneath a surface that we know all too well, to winkle out an inner man, a hidden side, something more reflective. For someone whose work had started to be scrutinised, Heaney appears something of an enigma.

Stanley Spencer was born in Cookham, Berkshire, and lived most of his life there. Through art school, war service, two marriages, the village was his centre; he painted this scarecrow in 1934, it 'was like watching a person slowly changing into a part of nature.'

'In Barcas en la Playa, Valencia,' painted in 1894, is one of a series of paintings inspired by Valencia's fishing industry that came to define Sorolla's output during the 1890s, a period when photography played an important role in his vision.

Joaquin Mir's painting depicts the fish pond in the garden of his house at Vilanova near Tarragona in 1922. Explorations of colour through nature defined his career from around this date; the palette in this work reflects his renewed self-confidence after years of depression.

'Stigmaierplatz, Munich.' (1935) Wilhelm Heise’s paintings demonstrate not only his affinity for the precise depiction of objects, but also contain elements of fantasy and the unnatural, emphasising the Neue Sachlichkeit interest in creating individual interpretations of reality

Why paint a marrow bed? (1927) Well, aside from an exercise in form and light, in later life Stanley Spencer wrote: 'When I feel a certain degree of strength in my feelings and passions has been reached, I want to transform some disliked thing into something I shall love.'

'Near Paris.' According to Joseph Albert, the blurring in his paintings introduced a distance between the viewer and the world we see in the picture frame. 'By distorting shapes, it allows us to stand back and view things differently.' Significantly, this work is from 1914.

RT @Adam_FineArt: Here’s a rare oil painting by Katherine Read (1723-1773) which I’ve spotted misattributed in the collections of @Worceste….

The year before this work 'Dawn,' (1889) was painted, Alfred Stevens’ doctor recommended that he take the sea air as a remedy for his bronchial condition. His first visits were to the channel coast near Le Havre; his interest in the sea continued throughout his lifetime.

'Arenig, Sunny Evening.' Over 100 years ago Augustus John, Derwent Lees and James Dickson Innes who made this work, were roaming the hills of North Wales pioneering a style of 'automatic' painting, only working when the sunlight hit a particular view in a particular way.

Emil Schindler was an ambitious young painter with grand ideas, a pupil of the revered landscapist Alfred Zimmerman who dreamt of emulating his fame - he overtook it. His daughter Alma (Mahler) is one of the 20thC most famous muses and femmes fatales. This was painted in 1868.

Georgia O’Keeffe painted this view looking towards the East River waterfront from her hotel room at The Shelton Hotel in midtown Manhattan in 1928 - she lived here between 1925 and 1936; the industrial landscape betrays her increasing dissatisfaction with modern urban life.