Never paint children or animals, says the rule. This tribute to artists who ignored the rule shows work by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Goya, and others to Mary Cassatt.
Brueghel
The personification of the west wind, to the Greeks gentle and responsible for bringing the start of the growing season, and the abduction and rape of a nymph who became Flora.
Starting from Egyptian blue in ancient times, pigments preferred by painters for sky blue have changed repeatedly. Here’s a brief history.
From Jan van Eyck to Caillebotte and Claus, these paintings show the view beyond an open doorway, commonly as a means of incorporating a landscape.
This is when the year should really begin. A celebration of the real New Year from Botticelli to Pissarro, aided by Sisley, Van Gogh and others.
Fishing with rod and line plays a significant part in the myth of Daedalus, and adds calm and timelessness to many landscapes.
Raphael and Tintoretto creations, Noah’s thanksgiving, Bosch, and two wonderful paintings of Orpheus and the Animals.
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.
Introduced to Europe from the New World in the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I loved them, and Jan Brueghel the elder and his son included them in many of their paintings.
The fourth ‘basic plot’ is the story of voyage and return, for which we turn to Ovid’s account of this couple, and a dozen superb paintings. But does the model fit?
The Eclectic Light Company 