Also dated (1562) and bearing the monogram ‘JB’, is an early oil painting by Joachim Beuckelaer depicting a dramatic episode from the Old Testament: The Judgement of Solomon. Two women dispute a child before the king, each claiming to be its mother. Through his famous test of wisdom, Solomon exposes the false mother.

Beuckelaer unfolds the scene in a composition that is as rich in colour as it is in detail. The finely nuanced emotional responses of the figures heighten the drama of the scene. The painting was recently rediscovered in a Swiss private collection, and dates from the period in which the artist emancipated himself from his milieu and developed an independent pictorial language.

Jan Lievens, who as a young artist shared a studio in Leiden with his contemporary Rembrandt, and later oriented himself towards the art of Peter Paul Rubens, painted an atmospheric landscape with a church. It once formed part of the collection of the British politician Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson (1784–1851). A particular feature of this panel painting is the branded mark on the reverse of the Antwerp panel maker Guilliam Gabron.

A richly detailed depiction of the Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy, Catherine of Alexandria, James the Less and Anthony Abbot originates from Florence, circa 1410–1415. The painting is attributed to the circle of Gherardo Starnina and Lorenzo Monaco.