They were once common across northern Europe, now only 31 remain. JC Dahl salvaged one and painted, and Harriet Backer painted the unique interior of another.
Axentowicz
A dance to the music of time, the hours, Muses, sirens, winged putti, faeries, maidens fearing death, mid-summer feasts and folk dancing.
Life in the country has its idyllic moments: a worker lying in the sun and flowers, a meal with violin music, country dancing, and courting, even among the cows.
Juana the Mad, who refused to let her husband be buried, resurrection of the drowned, funerals in the Carpathians, and fear of being buried alive.
The origin of Helen, perhaps, ready to be served to Mercury and Jupiter, caged in Rome’s Capitol, or cared for young girls.
Candles in Candlemas, as votives, at pardons and funerals, and snuffed out as part of excommunication. Used in sorcery, allegory, and Vanitas.
Mountain people painted in the late 19th century: Hutsuls by Axentowicz and others, and those of the Engadine by the stateless Segantini.
A plain near Dresden, the floodplains of Silesia, Backwaters in Essex, York Harbour on the coast of Maine, the Pontic Steppe, Skagen in Denmark, and more.
More paintings of music, from the Aesthetic watercolour of Marie Spartali Stillman to folk dance, and Vuillard’s friends playing in his apartment.
Don Quixote, Netherlandish Proverbs, grain fields in Ukraine, a flock of sheep in a boat, the Golden Horn, pastels and kabkabs.
The Eclectic Light Company 