From very humble beginnings in the British colonies in America, he rose to become a leading history painter, friend and painter to the King, and President of the Royal Academy. How?
Category Archive: Life
After he lost Eurydice, Orpheus scorned the company of women. For this, a frenzied mob of Bacchantes overwhelm him, and tear him apart, for which Bacchus is not pleased.
More superb coastal nocturnes by Aivazovsky, Atkinson Grimshaw, Winslow Homer, Edvard Munch, and others.
Although often the preserve of specialists who concentrated on nocturnes, coasts are ideal locations for moonlit views. Caspar David Friedrich, JC Dahl, and more.
Venus had been terrified of Adonis going hunting, and cautioned him about going near savage beasts. But he wasn’t to be put off. Superb paintings by Veronese, Titian, Rubens, and others.
Although born long after the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood dissolved, she continued its principles well into the 20th century.
Painted long after the death of history painting, this shows Botticelli being introduced to the most beautiful woman in northern Italy, in about 1475. Each face is true to life.
The man beats the woman quite unfairly, then on the way home they stop off to make love in a temple. Their misbehaviour is punished. More superb narrative paintings.
From 1886, the colony at Pont-Aven was dominated by the struggling former stockbroker Paul Gauguin. Among his friends was Émile Bernard. Here are some of the works from that period.
For the latter half of the 19th century, Pont-Aven in Brittany was one of the leading centres for painting in France. Here’s its history, from Weber and Wylie to PS Krøyer and Julian Alden Weir.
The Eclectic Light Company 