The devil’s darning needles have had a bad press, and appear in just a few paintings. Here’s a vanitas still life, a meal for chaffinches, and some stranger associations.
Category Archive: Painting
Humans have lived with trees since our origins, and trees feature in many paintings. This explains the importance of sketching them from life, and shows examples of different species and contrasting artists from Rubens and van Ruisdael to van Gogh and CĂ©zanne.
Two groups of paintings: figures seen mostly in planar mirrors arranged vertically, and landscapes reflected by a horizontal water surface.
Venetian walls were too damp for fresco, so their largest painting were made on stretched canvas. Those giants exceed 10 m (33 feet) in their longer dimension, with the largest 22 m (72 feet).
To enable Theseus to retrace his steps out of the Labyrinth, Ariadne gives him a ball of thread, in return for which he promises to marry her. Once the couple escape to the island of Naxos, Theseus abandons her and sails back to Athens.
A painting commissioned by the Grand Duke of Tuscany towards the end of the 30 Years’ War in Europe, details with its figures the suffering resulting from war, rather than the triumph of victory.
A painting for England’s King Charles I to encourage him to make peace with Spain, left by Rubens in 1630. Its figures make clear the meaning of war, as explained here.
Do you know the difference between a caduceus and the rod of Asclepius, what each means? Paintings by William Blake, Renoir, and others explain.
Contents of this series, together with a list of major Naturalist painters and links to fuller accounts of their paintings.
Little used for 400 years, in the 19th century painters extended their scenes by including reflections seen in a mirror. Here are some significant examples.
The Eclectic Light Company 