To celebrate the life and work of Dante, a small selection of paintings inspired by the Divine Comedy, and his ‘Vita Nuova’.
Blake
From 1826-1835, Samuel Palmer painted in solitude in a tumbledown cottage in rural Kent. His paintings from that period share a unique vision of an enchanted countryside.
From mythology, Mercury’s caduceus and the Aesculapian Staff, walking sticks as a device indicating age, and those carried by travellers.
Named after the artist and poet, he was precious, and went on to be a very successful portraitist. Here some of his narrative and other works.
Anders Zorn, William Blake, John Constable, the amazing Pre-Raphaelite Kate Bunce, and Samuel Palmer’s painting of Sir Guyon and the Palmer.
Nine very different nativities, from the apocalyptic warnings of a martyr, through the Emperor Augustus, to Maurice Denis’ nativity in a contemporary French town.
Claude Lorrain’s view of Delos, Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks, several versions of the Flight to Egypt, including one by William Blake, and more.
Three senators conspired with thirty others to end Caesar’s passion for royal powers. One artist ignored convention and painted two superb accounts.
Seldom shown in lead roles, superb paintings by masters including Botticelli, Blake, Renoir, and Velázquez, and one strange myth to finish.
Paintings and illustrations by Gustave Doré and Walter Crane, two of the 19th century’s major illustrators, and both accomplished painters.
