Inscriptions in paintings that reveal the story, or quote from its literary source, from Rembrandt to the Pre-Raphaelites.
Campin
A grisaille turned into a trompe l’oeil, symphonies in white, making the transition to oil paints, an exercise for pupils, and vibrant primary colours.
Once the mark of rural poverty, thatched roofs were common throughout the countryside of Europe. Here are some up to the 1890s.
From the shadowed silhouette painted by the legendary Dibutades to paintings of families involved in shadow play.
Paintings from 1263 to 1504 show how the traditional Nativity developed. Examples by Duccio, Campin, Botticelli and Fra Bartolomeo.
Although painting and sculpture are closely allied, it’s curious to depict sculpture in painting. Examples range from early grisailles to ribald depictions of the Roman god Priapus.
From Duccio, Campin, Maurice Denis, Joseph Stella and others. Paintings which changed this most popular of motifs, and were innovative, from 1311-1933.
It’s sometimes hard to read a painting without understanding an inscription. Masaccio, Rossetti, Moreau, Corinth and Botticelli gives us some clues.
Since the decline of egg tempera and fresco in the Renaissance, oil paints have predominated. They rely on drying oils as their binder, which give them longevity and versatility.
Was painting ‘invented’ by the maid of Corinth? What is ‘shadow play’, and how have painters extended it to religious works? A short history of shadows in painting.
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