The Private Life of a Masterpiece

It's a painting that lovers of mystery fiction should love. Botticelli's Mystic Nativity is a Renaissance masterpiece crammed with cryptic symbols disguising a dangerous message. But it is much more besides. Painted in 1500, it is a supremely beautiful vision of maternal love, earthly harmony and heavenly ecstasy. However, the painting also has a dark side. Botticelli had to carefully conceal its dangerous meaning, and only a recent chance discovery by a scholar fully unlocked its message.

When Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio completed his portrayal of Christ's betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane in 1602, the image became one of the most celebrated paintings of the age. Two centuries later, however, this most radical of religious images had apparently vanished from the face of the earth, leading it to become known as Caravaggio's lost masterpiece. This documentary tells the story of the painting and its dramatic rediscovery in 1990.

The series concludes with a look at Paul Gauguin 's interpretation of the Nativity scene, a distinctively modern piece in which he depicted the Madonna as a young Polynesian woman, using his pregnant mistress as his model. Far removed from traditional images, it has been hailed for its relevance to the contemporary world.

A closer look at the image that inspired a thousand Christmas cards: Brueghel's Census at Bethlehem. It depicts Mary and Joseph's arrival in the town - but also offers a glimpse into life in a Netherlands village under the rule of foreign invaders.

The first moment in the Christmas story is the arrival of the Archangel Gabriel to tell Mary that she has been chosen to give birth to the son of God. Many painters have depicted this miraculous event, but none better than the great Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck. As befits a man who seemed to mix espionage with painting for his patron, Eyck's picture is full of symbols and half-concealed messages.

A masterpiece of composition, Francesca's widely admired painting depicts the risen Christ - wearing the expression of "a sturdy stevedore", as one art critic put it - while beneath him the guards slumber. Art experts explain the significance of this extraordinary work.

This extraordinary crucifixion scene - inspired by a weird mix of Spanish mysticism and nuclear physics - is often called the 20th century's greatest religious painting. Yet the artist was a notorious blasphemer whose work had provoked outrage in the Catholic Church.

The stories behind three paintings that encompass traditional Easter themes. The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. Dan Brown 's blockbuster The Da Vinci Code may have brought the fresco to a new audience, but historian David Rosand argues that the book suffers from a basic misreading of the painting; here, he guides us through the work's life story.

This erotically charged and hugely popular example of Art Nouveau fused with Symbolism has been the subject of intense speculation since its unveiling in 1908. Who are the two lovers in a rapturous embrace? Is the man or woman in control? And, most tantalisingly, could it depict the artist, a man whose sexual appetite was on a par with Casanova's? Germaine Greer, John Malkovich and former Erotic Review editor Rowan Pelling share their thoughts.

"Bedlam", "scandal", and "hilarity" were some of the words used to describe Georges Seurat's portrayal of Parisians enjoying an outing on the banks of the River Seine. Now it is seen as one of the most popular paintings ever created, and hailed as a masterpiece of pointillism - or divisionism as Seurat preferred to call his technique. But there's even more to it than first meets the eye. Could the woman pictured fishing in fact be angling for something else? And what's the real significance of the woman leading the monkey?

An armoured knight in the thick of battle astride his white charger forms the central figure of a dramatic 15th-century masterpiece by Paolo Uccello. The painting, in three panels, depicts scenes from the battle of San Romano fought between Florence and Siena in 1432. Using one-point perspective Uccello achieved one of the greatest portrayals of men in close combat. Coveted through the centuries the panels became the victims of an extraordinary art crime.

The series that reveals the stories behind famous artworks continues with an examination of the favourite picture of the artist who painted it - the 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. This sublime symbol-laden interior remained in his possession until his death, despite the family being in dire financial straits. A later admirer was Adolf Hitler , who liked it so much that he bought it.

Whistler's portrait of his elderly Puritan mother is one of the most satirised paintings of all time. Yet when his sombre masterpiece was first unveiled, it was seen as a radical departure from the sentimental images beloved of the Victorians, and which Whistler loathed. How did the portrait, born of Whistler's complex relationship with his mother, change the course of painting so drastically?

"My Brothel" is the title Pablo Picasso gave to his depiction of five prostitutes - a painting that shocked even his friends when they first saw it. But how did the piece arise from a rivalry between Picasso and Matisse? What influences did Picasso draw on for his allegory of sex and death? And why does it remain revolutionary to this day?

Viewed as one of the most famous works of art in the world, few people know the history behind Vincent Van Gogh 's painting. Inspired by a bunch of flowers that the artist found lying in the gutter, Sunflowers became a personal favourite of the Dutch artist. A favourite so much that ten versions of the original were made, the first of which helped to form a fruitful yet ultimately fraught relationship with fellow artist Paul Gauguin. Revealing these stories and how Van Gogh 's passion for sunflowers followed him all the way to the grave, this documentary also looks to explain the enduring popularity behind the piece.

Edgar Degas 's bronze sculpture of a ballet dancer wearing a real tutu has become one of the most widely appreciated European works of art. But when the original tinted wax version was first exhibited in 1881 it caused consternation, with contemporary critics dubbing Degas's petite danseuse variously as "a monster' and a "flower of the gutter". This documentary reveals how Degas broke every rule in the book to create his modern masterpiece, and also tells the poignant life story of the sculpture's model.

One of the most widely reproduced images in the world is examined in the second of two films on famous works of art. The Rokeby Venus was painted by Diego Velazquez , court painter to the King of Spain in the 17th century. Described as one of the most erotic paintings ever created, it shows the back view of a woman looking at her reflection in a mirror being held by Cupid. Once forbidden by the Spanish Inquisition, and slashed seven times by a militant suffragette in 1914, today the painting is frequently imitated and admired.

Painted in 1863 by Edouard Manet , this radical work broke every rule in the book as it irrevocably changed the way nudes were painted. Then, as now, audiences were bemused by the bizarre depiction, fraught with curious detail and quotations from other paintings, prompting many to call it the first piece of art about art. An inspiration to many, Picasso created 180 versions of it.

It is one of art's most noted pieces, but it took failures by two sculptors before Michelangelo Buonarroti completed the work in the early 16th century. This documentary reveals the techniques Michelangelo used to re-create the human body so accurately on such a vast scale, and how contrasting interpretations view it as a symbol of either military might or of freedom.

First of two films on the stories behind famous artworks. This documentary traces the eventful existence of Edvard Munch's notorious piece, from its late-19th-century origins to its present-day significance. A disturbing image of an androgynous screaming figure, the work has nonetheless become one of the world's most familiar and reproduced pictures. Artist Tracey Emin is among those who testify to its continuing power.