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Cool, remote and impersonal, the beauty of Piero della Francesca's Nativity in the National Gallery is such as we usually associate with classical antiquity. The way in which each figure takes its inevitable place in the stillness and luminosity of the surrounding space recalls the slow and measured deliberation of Hellenic architecture. The simplified forms are like marble columns. The effect of suspended motion and timelessness is gained by Piero's skillful rendering of the silvery atmosphere and the precision with which he ha related shapes and color masses.
Giorgione(c.1478-1511) was one of the greatest of the Venetian school of painters: he exerted considerable influence on his contemporaries, including Titian. Like Constable's Cornfield the design of the tempest depends on a vista seen through trees. The subject of this picture, now in the Venice Gallery, has not been identified. Despite the storm raging in the background, the figures suggest ease and peace which somehow is lacking from constable's beautiful presentation of the English countryside.
It was inheritance from his wife's father that, by making him financially independent, enabled constable (1776-1837) to devote himself exclusively to the unremunerative painting of landscapes. His avowed intent was faithful representation of nature.His work had considerable influence not in England only but also, when exhibited in the Paris Salon, on Landscape painting in France. 
The design of the Cornfield depends on a vista seen through groups of trees. The picture is now in the National Gallery.
Raphael's picture in the Louvre of the Virgin and child with St. John was painted, like most of his Madonas, between the years 1504 and 1508 which the artist spent in Florence where he gained much valuable experience.
