Antwerp - Museum of Fine Arts (closed for renovations) Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten

Specially noteworthy in the exceptionally well represented Old Netherlands school of 15th C. painting are Rogier van der Weyden's triptych with the Seven sacraments, two small pictures (a Madonna and a St Barbara) by Jan van Eyck, and a large triptych and portrait of Jehan de Candida, both by Hans Memling. Quentin Massys triptych with the Entombment, one of the artist's major works, dates from the early 16th C. Some supreme examples of Rubens' religious paintings hang in the museum, among them his "Last Communion of St Francis", "Adoration of the Magi", "Education of the Virgin" and "Virgin with Parrot". There are also numerous works by the Master's predecessors, pupils and imitators.

The paintings by Jordaens and van Dyck are well executed, though perhaps not quite up to the standard of their finest. In addition, be sure not to miss the very typical examples of 16th and 17th C. Flemish sculpture, the animal paintings and still lifes by 17th C. artists such as Snyder and, from the 17th C. Dutch school, the "Young Fisherman" by Frans Hals and a portrait by Rembrandt.

Of the Italian paintings three are particularly outstanding: the series of small panels by Simone Martini, Antonello da Messina's "Christ on the Cross", and a Titian.