How we got from one of the most senior gods, and a winged young man, to a chubby infant armed with a bow and arrow, let alone an unknown former saint.
Bronzino
From about 1530, painting started to change. Brushstrokes became visible, anatomy exaggerated, composition less balanced and ideal. First Mannerism, then came the Baroque.
In Florence, stories told in paintings became increasingly secular, and ingeniously integrated multiple scenes from the single story into one painting.
Was a primordial deity, attendant at Aphrodite’s birth, or her son by Ares/Mars? When did he get his bow and arrows? Answered in fine paintings.
Often an excuse for a classical nude, at least two paintings show her clothed, and many reveal her love affairs.
Father Time, a grey-haired old man with a beard, wearing ultramarine blue, and holding a scythe and hourglass.
Great paintings by Botticelli, Bosch, Titian, Tintoretto, the Carraccis, and others, showing multiplex narrative.
Some of the key paintings telling the story of the grisly death of the satyr Marsyas, who lost his musical contest against Apollo.
Who or what exactly is Cupid? How did a mischievous and rather obese infant come to represent love?
Telling the complex story of how manna saved the Israelites, and starring the master of narrative painting, Poussin.
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