The experience of colour in our buildings, indoor environments, clothing and objects we look at has changed. What used to be a privilege of class is now all but universal.
Béraud
From two pairs of unicorns drawing the Duke and Duchess of Urbino to a horse-drawn fire engine racing through the countryside, how animals have drawn people everywhere.
Where did milliners come from? How does it take 5 hours to choose a hat? What did Ouled Naïl women wear on their head? More wonderful paintings of hats and their owners.
Why did Bosch show people wearing funnels on their heads? Why the Roundheads? How to tell priestly rank by the hat, and more about chaperons and top hats.
Paintings by David, Richard Dadd, Carl Larsson, Pierre Bonnard, and Jean Béraud exploring the roles of writing in the nineteenth century.
In the late 19th century painters turned attention to depicting rainy conditions, with Caillebotte’s closely observed views, and effects on colour.
The hill that rises from the densely-packed streets of Paris, painted by Jongkind, Alfred Sisley, Ilya Repin, Renoir, and others.
More virtuoso glassware as painted by William Holman Hunt, Chase, De Nittis, Vallotton, and others in the 19th century.
In search of realist or naturalist paintings of ballooning and early powered flight. Some surprises, and paintings by Watteau, Puvis de Chavannes, and Henri Rousseau.
Exposure to colour was, for centuries, determined by class. The poor lived in largely drab worlds, but the rich surrounded themselves with vivid hues. This all changed in the late 19th century and the 20th.
The Eclectic Light Company 