In the mid-1870s Guiseppe De Nittis travelled to London where he painted a series of urban scenes, including the Houses of Parliament - these reflected the innovations he had learned from Edgar Degas who had invited him to participate in the first Impressionist exhibition.

William Nicholson was always torn between the need to paint society portraits and his love for still lifes and landscape painting. His admiration of Manet is evident in this still life - the eye is led into the picture’s depth by the black pansy, the title of this work from 1910.

Cézanne produced a number of sketches of his son Paul. This is from 1880 - it was a decade of great emotional turbulence for Cézanne, a disastrous affair, the break-up with Emile Zola, the abrupt decision to marry his long-time companion Hortense, and the death of his father

'Bredon Water,' (1871) lies near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, it's a rare landscape for Frederick Sandys, a key member of the Pre Raphaelite circle. We can sense Sandys grappling with technical and conceptual issues of authenticity versus finish and originality versus convention.

Eric Kennington's career as a War Artist began in the latter half of WW1. 'Sleeping Soldier,' was included in an exhibition of chalk drawings at the Leicester Galleries in London in an exhibition titled 'The British Soldier,' during the summer of 1918.

Rex Vicat Cole's picture is of Rupert Court from around 1930 - the shops and bars here have had various incarnations as part of Soho’s colourful nightlife. It was immortalised in a famous photograph of The Beatles taken by Dezo Hoffman in 1963.

'Le bouillon.' (c1890) A particularly fine picture by Étienne Tournes of a convalescent. The bowl is in crisp focus, and as the eye wanders further away from the optical centre of the painting, the edges and details become progressively more blurred.

'Travellers.' (1929) Eduard Ole's painting has captured passengers on a long train journey, much as a candid photographer might do. Ole, an Estonian artist, was influenced by the work of the New Objectivity, formed during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism.

'Logan's Rock, St Levan,' (c1916) perfectly demonstrates the height of Laura Knight’s development in Cornwall, this work is part of a series of paintings she composed between 1915 and 1919 all sharing an elevated viewpoint, dramatic diagonal composition and vibrant colour.

Portrait of Madame Maillol,' (1895) was painted in the second part of Aristide Malliol's career. His painting style altered after viewing Paul Gauguin's work at an exhibition in the Café Volpini in 1889; after Gauguin left for Tahiti, Maillol turned to sculpture.

'The Rowers.' (1924) Manuel Losada is one of the key names in the modern Basque painting of the early 20thC - his work was praised by both Gauguin and Degas, and one can argue, there is a certain Degas-like expression of movement in this picture.

'Sunrise' (1892) by Maria Iakunchikova was painted at Vvedenskoye, her family’s estate near Moscow. By this time, she had already developed a distinctive Symbolist style, expressing her emotional responses to nature.

The evening light in Piet Mondrian’s 'The Tree,' (c1908) flattens the forms, and the muted tones reveal the influence of his evolving artistic philosophy. In time, he would move beyond nature reducing his art to a rectilinear grid of black on white accented with primary colours.

One of the greatest pastellists of the 18thC, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour is known as much for his insight into the character of his sitters as for his remarkable command of the medium. This superb self-portrait is from around 1737.

It is early in the morning, and there are few people about in this 1919 work by William Nicholson of the Cenotaph in London. It is the original white-painted wood and plaster structure designed by Edward Lutyens, it stands out in stark relief against the Foreign Office.

'The Line of the Plough.' (1919) John Arnesby Brown's painting was the first picture he made in the spring following the end of WW1. It suggests the start of the cycle of life and new beginnings after the shattered landscapes he witnessed in France and Belgium during the war.

Joan Sloan had an affinity (obsession, even) for Isadora Duncan's dancing and wrote of her several times in his diary. He also did numerous paintings, drawings, and monotypes of her. Here (1911) Sloan depicts her as a cumulus cloud of pink flesh.

Henry Tonks was a teacher of enormous influence at the Slade School, a significant artist and one of the great defenders against the rapid rise of modernism in the 20thC. This work (c1930) shows his friend, the artist Philip Wilson Steer (seated grey hair) at home in Chelsea.

According to the poet and writer Guillaume Apollinaire, this portrait by Jean Metzinger (1910) is not only the first cubist portrait, but it was also the first cubist portrait he sat for before the famous ones by Marcoussis, Modigliani, Picasso and Larionov.

'A Wiltsire Landscape,' (1928) casts up an early morning mood - a magic realm. By the time of this work, William Nicholson had married Edie Stuart-Wortley and moved to the Old Manor House in the village of Sutton Veny in Wiltshire.

Claude Francis Barry’s paintings of WW1 are amongst the most accomplished of his works, with his images of searchlights across London being the most evocative - here (1918) he used small concentrated dots of colour to create an atmospheric haze of light.

Felix Vallotton's noir sensibility shows in his Hopper-like portrait (1896) of Felix Fenéon the editor of the literary and arts magazine La Revue Blanche working at night by a window, the dark panes framing piles of blank white paper.

'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.

'In the Kitchen.' (1961) Reginald Brill's fascination with people led to him closely studying the human form and everyday activities. His recognition faded after his death in comparison to his contemporaries; only now is he beginning to receive the attention his work is due.

Toulouse-Lautrec and Albert Belleroche were exact contemporaries who first met at the age of eighteen. Belleroche painted Toulouse-Lautrec’s portrait and shared with him an admiration for the model and actress Lili Grenier, whom he depicts here asleep in a work from 1890.

Ruskin Spear's portrait is of Sir Robin Darwin, the great-grandson of Charles Darwin who as principal in the 1950s made the Royal College of Art a leading force in arts education and changed the image and fortunes of the Royal Academy. He was also a fine landscape painter.

Still-lifes often appear slightly unreal: while their rendering is lifelike, their compositions are detached from any natural setting. In this work by James Fitton (c1950) each object is firmly modelled in cool light, and we can clearly sense its place within the arrangement.

'Playa de Valencia,' was painted at the end of the summer of 1910 by Sorolla on El Cabañal beach, Valencia - it centres on one of his familiar motifs, fishermen landing the day's catch.

When Whistler showed 'Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket,' in 1875, he outraged the chief moralist of art John Ruskin: 'I... never expected to hear a coxcomb ask 200 guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.' And so a lawsuit began.

'The Figure at the Window,' (1907) shows why Austin Spare was once hailed as the next Aubrey Beardsley and attracted extravagant praise from Augustus John, and John Singer Sargent, who described him as England's greatest draughtsman.

'The Aldwych, London.' (1955) Charles McCall's London is often made up of views from a corner of a city street - his paintings have a strong sense of colour and painterliness just like his mentor Samuel Peploe.

Painted in 1913, 'Corner of the Church of San Stae, Venice,' John Singer Sargent has abandoned the 18thC panoramic tradition and painted a cropped version of the church, creating a more visually dynamic and arresting viewpoint.

'Edie.' (1918) Following the loss of his son Tony and his wife Mabel in 1918, William Nicholson swiftly remarried. Edie Stuart-Wortley (painted here by William) whose husband Jack was killed in WW1, had been closer to Ben Nicholson, who was said to have been in love with her.

Made in 1881, Georges Seurat's drawing offers us a view of the Hôtel des Invalides, the complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement in Paris containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldiers' home.

Zinaida Serebriakova painted 'Bleaching Linen,' a few months before the October Revolution in 1917 - as always with her work of this period there's a sense of Nicolas Poussin's influence, a style that would change after the Soviet period as Serebriakova struggled to sell her work

In late 19thC France, the modern world looked bright, bold, joyous. And here it is in pictorial form in Paul Signac's 'Les Andelys, les bains' (1886). It was a time of astonishing experimentation when artists were rethinking how we see.

'A Lady by a Fireside,' (c1890) is a lovely example of Scottish artist Robert Brough's characteristically flamboyant brushwork. After training in Paris, he established a studio in Tite Street, London near to that of his friend and mentor John Singer Sargent.

This is one of the studies (1885) John Singer Sargent made for 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.' The lanterns which we can see here were painted with very thin layers of paint; this allowed the light to seem like it was emanating from within rather than just sitting on the surface.

'Childhood.' (1926) Frederick Cayley Robinson’s pictures are almost always of people; denizens of a silent, timeless world; a frequent theme is the care for the young and the old. He created a variety of moods and atmosphere in his paintings to evoke complex emotional responses.

Wilhelm Marstrand’s pictures contain elements that very clearly identify the scenes as Venetian. This work of an unidentified bridge is from his trip to Italy in 1854. Like so many others, Marstrand was fascinated by a city where all transport is made either on foot or by water.

Santiago Rusiñol was one of the great painters of the late 1890s who revitalised the Spanish art scene and ushered in modernity. This picture (1897) of his wife Anna (with Rusiñol in the mirror) shows the clear influence of Whistler.

'Coast Scene at Brighton: Evening.' This view, painted in May 1828, depicts the setting sun over Shoreham-by-Sea, west of Brighton. The melancholy character of the picture may be linked to the declining health of John Constable's wife Maria, who died six months later.

'Man Reading.' (1904) John Singer Sargent's portraits balance looseness and definition, what might be called Old Master-casual; faces and hands rendered just tightly enough to stay alive. The sitter is Nicola d'Inverno, Sargent's Italian valet and a frequent model.

Anne Redpath often favoured a more muted palette than the vivid colours of her contemporaries. Greys became central to her work—she wrote of using it as a colour rather than a background, underscoring her belief that even the most neutral tones carry emotional and visual weight.

'Lunch,' was painted in the spring of 1918 and shows Harold Harvey's increasingly vibrant, highly decorative style of work. One of the finest interior paintings of his home in Newlyn, Cornwall; from the choice of clothes to the Egyptian wall-hanging, the painting sings colour.

'Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead.' In the summer of 1821, John Constable began making direct studies in the open air of cloud formations. These were mostly made from the high ground at Hampstead village - an ideal observation point.

'Alone and warming his five wits, the white owl in the belfry sits.' Tennyson was a great fan of William Webbe who painted this exquisite picture in 1856. Though Webbe is included in Percy Bate's early study of the Pre Raphaelite movement, he remains a mysterious figure.

'A Quiet Day in the Studio,' was painted by Sir John Lavery in 1885 a period where he was matching himself against the Salon masters, as much as against Whistler and had begun to experiment with naturalism - often seen to be in competition with photography.

'Beach at low tide.' Landscapes by Degas are comparatively rare, yet they remain among his most compelling works. He created his first important group of landscapes in 1869, the year this work was made during a trip to the Normandy coast around Cabourg and Villers-sur-Mer.

John Vicat Cole began painting London shop fronts while studying at the Royal Academy Schools; like Whistler, he was fascinated by the details of the architecture and what the shops sold. This is the frame maker James Bourlet on Nassau Street, London. (c1930)