From the Flemish artist Paul Bril, to Claude Lorrain, and then through the French ports of Claude-Joseph Vernet to the oil sketches of Valenciennes.
Bril
Originally a marsh just outside the city’s walls, it came to be the heart of the city, a market, meeting place, and the political hub.
Who were the Romans, who built their city and its empire? This series looks at the history of Rome as shown in paintings, starting here with its forefather, Aeneas maybe?
Popular with painters during the early 1600s, copper sheets were used by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam Elsheimer, David Teniers the younger, William Blake, and Joseph Stella, among others.
A small selection of the wonderful coastal landscapes painted by Claude Lorrain or Gellée.
His family name wasn’t Tassi, he planned to steal paintings, intended to murder his wife, had an adulterous affair with his sister-in-law, and raped Artemisia Gentileschi. But he has one redeeming feature.
How northern landscape painting was taken to Italy, and started its long journey to acceptance, and eventually Impressionism.
No matter how old and jaded you get, you can always appreciate the breath-taking view from the top of a hill, as the earth sweeps out in myriad details, as far as the distant horizon.
The Eclectic Light Company 