Peter Hobden, 1952 | Figurative Impressionist painter

"Born in Geneva, Switzerland, I followed primary and secondary school at the International Scool of Geneva.

I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages (Chinese and French) at the Polytechnic of Central (now known as Westminster University).

I discovered painting late, in 2006, after a career of almost 25 years in computers in a humanitarian organization".

James Carroll Beckwith | Academic painter

James Carroll Beckwith (September 23, 1852 - October 24, 1917) was an American landscape, portrait and genre painter whose Naturalist style led to his recognition in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century as a respected figure in American art.

Carroll Beckwith, as he preferred to be known, was born in Hannibal, Missouri on September 23, 1852, the son of Charles and Melissa Beckwith. However, he grew up in Chicago where his father started a wholesale grocery business.

Botticelli | Venus and Mars, c. 1483

From: The National Gallery, London

Mars, God of War, was one of the lovers of Venus, Goddess of Love. Here Mars is asleep and unarmed, while Venus is awake and alert. The meaning of the picture is that love conquers war, or love conquers all.

This work was probably a piece of bedroom furniture, perhaps a bedhead or piece of wainscoting, most probably the 'spalliera' or backboard from a chest or day bed. The wasps ('vespe' in Italian) at the top right suggest a link with the Vespucci family, though they may be no more than a symbol of the stings of love.

Paul Corfield, 1970 | Naïf Style Landscape painter

Born in Bournemouth, Dorset Paul Corfield has lived within 10 miles of his birthplace all his life. He worked at an engineering firm and painted in the evenings believing that painting would only ever be a hobby and not a career. But in 2002 an opportunity arose for Paul to take voluntary redundancy and hatched a plan was to use the redundancy money to live off that for a year while he painted and painted - he has never looked back!

Rembrandt | Saul and David, 1655-1660

According to the Hebrew Bible, Saul was the first king of a united Kingdom of Israel and Judah. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, would have marked a switch from a tribal society to statehood.

After Samuel tells Saul that God has rejected him as king, David, a son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah, enters the story: from this point on Saul's story is largely the account of his increasingly troubled relationship with David.