Tragic queens, victorious leaders, epic battles: defining historical moments in world history.
The dangers of envy: Rubens’s jealous furies to Veronese’s depictions of jealousy provoked by deceit.
The changing face of fashion: van Dyck’s grand portraiture to Renoir’s fashionable Parisiennes.
Géricault’s startled horse to Goya’s evil witches; representations of terror and fear.
Flora and fauna; whether symbolic or documenting one-time curiosities from foreign lands.
Times of grief and sadness epitomised by the pietà - the mourning of Christ’s dead body.