The most frequently-painted of Boccaccio’s hundred stories, shown here from Rubens to Frederic, Lord Leighton. But there’s much more to the story than that.
Boccaccio
A gruesome story of two dead lovers which is used to persuade a young woman to be more responsive to her wooing. Painted by Botticelli and Ghirlandaio.
Set in a framing story of the Black Death striking Florence, its ten characters each tell ten stories over two weeks. Many fine paintings result.
In 1348, the Black Death killed about half the population of Florence, then the hotbed of the early Renaissance. That is the frame story for Boccaccio’s Decameron.
A link between the downfall of Medea and a series of stories about the hero Theseus, this was a subject for the Prix de Rome. Includes a little-known Poussin.
Dragged to a dungeon by her hair, she had committed no crime – indeed, she had only been faithful to her husband.
Her time in Florence brought maturity to her work. She then painted a series of major paintings, although you’d be pushed to find any in European collections.
His painting Flaming June may give the impression that he produced eye candy to please the Victorian taste. That turns out to be false.
