Paintings of odalisques, slave markets, and Turkish baths became popular in the nineteenth century. What was the Orientalist fantasy, and why?
Category Archive: Language
Seaweed is one of the few ‘crops’ confined to the coast. Its harvesting and processing, performed almost exclusively by women, has been shown in paintings of Brittany, particularly by Gauguin and his circle.
With Troy ablaze, Aeneas prepares to flee the city. He and his wife persuade Aeneas’ father to be carried on his son’s back.
Troy is sacked and burning, and its women being taken away as trophies. Two stories stress the horror, as a princess is sacrificed for fair winds, and a callous murder is avenged.
He was remarkably successful, a truly self-made artist, who rose from nothing to international renown. But did he ‘occasion a revolution in the art’?
Ajax and Ulysses put their claims to the Greek leaders to be given the arms and armour of Achilles, after his death. The outcome is a shock.
Admiral Lord Nelson died in similar circumstances to General Wolfe – leading his force to victory, although here at sea in the Battle of Trafalgar. Cue for a ‘modern history painting’.
A curious short tale of an unfortunate death, then the divine conspiracy which led to the death of its greatest warrior, Achilles, in the Trojan War. More Rubens…
West turns to a series of more classical mythological stories for his paintings between 1792 and 1802. These include Shakespeare, the Bible, and the first novel.
The ultimately disastrous wedding feast ends with its guests killing one another in a series of pitched battles, after one guest tried to abduct the bride.
The Eclectic Light Company 