A Roman hero, intended to be consul, is banished because he wouldn’t get on with common people. When he can defeat Rome, who can stop him?
Alma-Tadema
Never paint children or animals, says the rule. This tribute to artists who ignored the rule shows work by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Goya, and others to Mary Cassatt.
This play, responsible for the burning down of the Globe Theatre, tells the story of Henry’s divorce from Queen Katherine and the birth of Queen Elizabeth I.
Based on Plutarch’s Lives, this play contains some of the most memorable quotations in English, and has been painted quite frequently.
The enjoyment of being idle, indulgence of relaxation, and blissful laziness: that’s dolce far niente for you, in paintings to chill out with.
Why are women sometimes shown as having very pale skin? Why did they apply cosmetics to make their faces whiter? Ask the ancient Egyptians.
Harriet Backer’s canonical masterwork, Nikolai Astrup shows his technical skill, two wonderful views by Pierre Bonnard, and from Eric Ravilious.
A banquet with a river god, a pitched battle at his friend’s wedding which turned into a full-scale war, a relationship involving incest, suicide and violent death, and the abduction of Helen – quite the career of a Greek hero.
Churchyards and graveyards in the art of William Hogarth, Caspar David Friedrich, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Louis Welden Hawkins, and others.
After his banishment from Rome, Caius Marcius co-led the Volscians and brought them almost to the city’s gates, ready to invade. He was then sent a deputation of women.