Physiognomy originated in ancient Greece, but was codified by Lavater in 1772; phrenology followed from 1796, and together they attracted many painters.
Bosch
Once the mark of rural poverty, thatched roofs were common throughout the countryside of Europe. Here are some up to the 1890s.
One of the world’s most famous paintings, a conversation piece for his noble friends, was commissioned by a Count with strange voyeuristic tastes.
Raphael and Tintoretto creations, Noah’s thanksgiving, Bosch, and two wonderful paintings of Orpheus and the Animals.
Added to portraits to indicate the sagacity of the subject, owls were dear to the heart and brush of Hieronymus Bosch.
How many verbal stories or movies tell dozens of different stories? Here are paintings that are not only so rich in narrative, but tell all those stories at the same time.
Two famous hay wains, Goya’s stone cart, horses and carts assisting a heavy steam crane in Paris, and carrying goods in the centre of New York in 1911.
Examples of surreal visual art from Bosch in about 1500, through Piranesi’s Imaginary Prison, Richard Dadd, to Félix Vallotton in 1892.
Bishop’s crosier, monarch’s sceptre, field-marshal’s baton, or just another fashion accessory?
From mythology, Mercury’s caduceus and the Aesculapian Staff, walking sticks as a device indicating age, and those carried by travellers.
