Badminton, tennis, rowing regattas and races, and boxing, pictured by George Bellows, Alfred Sisley, Thomas Eakins and others.
Alma-Tadema
Storm in the Bay of Biscay, a deep fake of 1808, a dedication for a wedding present, the Trojan Horse, and remarkable modern narratives.
Before photography, the only opportunity to see your face, painters took advantage of the Venus Effect to break optical rules and show faces that couldn’t have been seen in the mirror.
The original Greek myth was almost unknown in paintings until the mid-19th century, then, slightly changed, it became one of the most popular myths in paintings.
Inscriptions in paintings that reveal the story, or quote from its literary source, from Rembrandt to the Pre-Raphaelites.
Signatures written on scraps of paper, or in books, with comments, dedications in graffiti, and an apocalyptic vision of Botticelli.
When he returned to London from Italy in 1921, he became increasingly distressed with the advent of modernism, and died the following year, a century ago today.
He died a century ago, perhaps the last painter to paint art for art’s sake, avoiding narrative or meaning. Paintings from the first half of his career.
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?
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.
The Eclectic Light Company 