Christian visions of Heaven or Paradise are usually less of a location than an array of figures. Examples from 1475-1916.
Bosch
Varnish has been applied to protect the paint layer. But layers of old varnish discolour and trap dirt and contaminants, letting a painting vanish into the dark.
Masaccio’s 20-panel polyptych, Bosch’s triptych, and one of the most substantial paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. Even Monet’s Grainstacks series.
A collection of paintings with strange incongruities that can make them impossible to read, from Masaccio to Gérôme.
In quest of the Chimera from classical mythology in paintings of Michelangelo, Bosch, de Vos and others.
Paintings that don’t look like they were intended to be, from Leonardo’s Last Supper, to Manet’s cut-up Execution of Emperor Maximilian.
Two birds associated with myth: Zeus’s eagle, often used to indicate his presence in disguise, and the symbol of night and wisdom, the owl.
An allegory of a flawed democracy by Plato, a fragment of a triptych by Bosch, then two paintings in 1922 and 1930. What is its meaning?
A visual history tracing wings back to their origins in messengers of the gods and messenger-gods of the dawn of civilisation, 4 millennia ago.
Rediscovering our iconology and visual tradition, starting with a Ship of Fools, Death and the Maiden, Truth coming out of her well, and the wings on angels.
The Eclectic Light Company 