Instead of splitting scenes into separate frames as in comics, in the Renaissance they’d be integrated into a single image
Cranach
Two birds associated with myth: Zeus’s eagle, often used to indicate his presence in disguise, and the symbol of night and wisdom, the owl.
Spinning natural fibres like wool into yarn was “women’s work” and had several connotations, here explored in paintings, and the origin of the word ‘spinster’.
The popular story of the Judgement of Solomon is a great challenge for visual art. Here are some of the better attempts at solution, from Raphael to Blake.
From Nabi women climbing stepladders to gathering plums in baskets, with a visit to the garden of the Hesperides, and ending in the garden of Eden.
In 23 scenes from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his Resurrection, Memling tells what takes a Gospel six chapters in a single painting.
Added to portraits to indicate the sagacity of the subject, owls were dear to the heart and brush of Hieronymus Bosch.
Paintings of knights in armour from Raphael in c 1502, through Ingres’ rescue of Angelica, to Arthurian legends and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Artegall and his iron servant Talus progress on his quest. They come across Amazons who, led by their queen, capture knights, put them in women’s clothes and force them to perform women’s work like spinning. This fate is in store for Artegall too.
Three to seven sisters who guard Hera’s golden apples in a land ‘to the west’, painted by Burne-Jones, Leighton, Turner, Sargent, and more.
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