Reduced to viewing the blossom online? Here are wonderful paintings of tree blossom from Millais, Sisley, van Gogh and others.
Burne-Jones
From Mantegna and dancing Muses, through Rubens and Rochegrosse with the legend of Perseus, to a portrait by Odilon Redon.
Myrrh makes its appearance as one of the 3 gifts of the Magi, then as an attribute of Mary Magdalene. A history in paintings by Bosch and others.
It’s sometimes hard to read a painting without understanding an inscription. Masaccio, Rossetti, Moreau, Corinth and Botticelli gives us some clues.
The Circe of Arthurian legend, for much of the time she battles with King Arthur. But when he is mortally wounded in battle, they are reconciled. Stories in paintings.
How Perseus came to behead Medusa, and how her head restored order to the worst wedding reception ever. In paint, of course.
Paintings from 1750 on didn’t show ‘Christian’ sibyls, but returned to their classical meaning. Then came Turner’s marvellous narrative landscapes.
Even Poussin used this narrative form. Here are other example right up to 1947, including paintings by Corot, Munch, Corinth, and others.
Boy meets girl but has to swim a mile in treacherous waters to keep meeting her. When she tells him how she burns with passion, he pushes his luck in the sea.
The trickery involved in building the first city of Troy results in its destruction. How Achille’s parents marry, and what happens at their wedding.