Paintings from 19th century masters including JMW Turner, the Swiss specialist Alexandre Calame, John Ferguson Weir, and Gustave Courbet in exile.
Courbet
Arduous demands can be made on models, who are always seen in paintings but never credited. Gérôme’s Emma Dupont, Joanna Hiffernan, and Renoir’s Lise Tréhot.
Start with genre paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, add Géricault’s ‘Raft of the Medusa’, Courbet and Millet’s social realism, Manet and Lhermitte and you’ve made Naturalism.
Unusual self-portraits painted using mirrors by Courbet, Corinth, Bonnard, Gentileschi, Peeters, and Velázquez.
Pygmalion painted by Edward Burne-Jones and Gérôme, the painted frieze of the Parthenon, Eakins and the sculptor Rush, Lovis Corinth’s portrait, and a cheeky monkey by Watteau.
Venus born surrounded by colourful fish, in the element water, in a feeding frenzy by Turner’s Slave Ship, with mermaids, and brought ashore ready to eat.
Painting using a palette knife, by Courbet, Renoir and Anna Althea Hills. fingerpainting by Leonardi, and ling brushes in the hands of Whistler and Sorolla.
Guards throwing dice in the Crucifixion, gambling in Bosch’s vision of Hell, in a dingy tavern, losing an entire estate, and being played by young street urchins.
Parrots as extras in myths, witnessing Eve taking the apple from the serpent, and as companions to a succession of beautiful women.
Paintings by Gustave Courbet, Paul Signac, Marie Bracquemond, Vincent van Gogh, LA Ring, Carl Larsson, Maurice Denis, William McGregor Paxton, Édouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard.
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