©NTPL / John Hammond

'View of Dordrecht' by Aelbert Cuyp (1620 –1691). Oil on canvas, 68.3 x 192.8 cm. Ascott, Buckinghamshire.

This ravishing landscape, recently displayed in the Aelbert Cuyp exhibition in Washington and London, is one of the most beautiful paintings in the collections of the National Trust. Painted around 1658, it shows the artist’s native Dordrecht from the north-east, at the junction of several of the city’s most important and busiest waterways. The scene is bathed in the warm hazy light of late afternoon, creating the mood of Italianate serenity for which Cuyp’s work became renowned.

©NTPL / John Hammond

'Lady Frances Cranfield, Countess of Dorset' (c1623-87) by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599 –1641). Oil on canvas, 187 x 128 cm. Knole, Kent.

This portrait was probably painted just before the sitter’s marriage to Richard Sackville, later 5th Earl of Dorset, in early 1637. The marriage was particularly important for Knole, because Frances inherited the estates of her father, thus bringing many important paintings and furniture to the home of the Sackvilles. This lovely portrait, combining elegance and naturalness, is typical of the 'careless Romance' with which Van Dyck depicted the young aristocratic women of England and which revolutionised English portraiture in the 17th century.

©NTPL / Derrick E Witty

'Love Among the Ruins' c1894 by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898). Oil on canvas. Wightwick Manor, West Midlands.

'Love Among the Ruins' is among the finest of Burne-Jones's late works. It was painted in 1894, four years before the artist's death. The rich yet muted colour and wistful depiction of the ephemerality of love and youth are typical of the older Burne-Jones.

©NTPL / John Hammond

'Commodore the Hon. Augustus John Hervey' (1724-79) by Thomas Gainsborough (1727 –1788). Oil on canvas, 232 x 152 cm. Ickworth, Suffolk.

Gainsborough probably painted this portrait in 1767, when Hervey was in Bath for his gout, an affliction from which he later died. Despite the strong sea-faring theme of this picture, Hervey’s active life at sea had in fact ended by the time this was painted. He left the Navy for good in 1775 when he succeeded his brother as Earl of Bristol. After a convoluted history, the picture now hangs at Ickworth, the Hervey’s family seat.

©NTPL / John Hammond

'The 'Sun of Venice' Going to Sea' after JMW Turner. The painting is displayed in The Drawing Room at Knightshayes Court in Devon. The original is housed in the Tate Gallery.

©NTPL / Prudence Cuming

'The Choice of Hercules' by Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665). Oil on canvas, 91 x 72 cm. Stourhead, Wiltshire.

Poussin’s painting shows the muscular Hercules having to chose between Vice and Virtue, symbolised by two women. He looks towards Virtue, dressed in white, who points up towards the difficult rocky path, whilst Vice, accompanied by Cupid, indicates the easier sunlit valley behind. This picture, bought at the Duke of Chandos’s sale in 1747, is one of Henry Hoare’s most important acquisitions remaining at Stourhead. Known as 'The Magnificent', Hoare completed the building of Stourhead (started by his father), amassed notable collections of paintings and sculpture, and created what is probably the most beautiful landscape garden in England.