(A stroll around the Walker II) 

Last year the Walker Art Gallery re-opened their rooms of Old Master paintings after a three-year refurbishment. In the second of my occasional series, A stroll around the Walker, I will think about the display of works from the 'High Renaissance' - or, more broadly, works from the 16th Century. 

These are hung in the second half of Room 1 (actually two separate rooms) and in Room 2. The paintings include famous images by Hans Holbein and his workshop, and by one of his successors as 'court artist', Nicholas Hilliard, of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I respectively. These form part of a section devoted to portraiture in the Renaissance. Another theme is Madonna and Child - which, like the portraiture, is represented by paintings from both north and south of the Alps. There are works by artists as diverse as Lucas Cranach, Hans Baldung Griend, Titian, Montagna (a wonderful contemporary of Bellini) and Lavinia Fontana (after Michelangelo!), and we will also look at the 16th Century drawings currently on display in Room 4 - dedicated to temporary displays of the Walker's sizeable collection of works on paper.