Among the leaders of the French Revolution, he was almost guillotined alongside Robespierre, but got on well with Napoleon, and was even offered the post of court painter to King Louis XVIII.
David
Successful on his 4th attempt at the Prix de Rome, he became the leading Neoclassical painter and painted history and other narratives. Then he became embroiled in the French Revolution.
Fine paintings from Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolomeo, Gerard David, Beccafumi, Lavinia Fontana, Tintoretto, El Greco and Murillo.
How Lycurgus got the Spartans to keep his laws, the 300 at Thermopylae, a Spartan poet supporting warriors in the 2nd Messenian War, and the role of Sparta in the start of the war against Troy.
The remarkable story of how Lycurgus laid down the oral laws of Sparta, to create the perfect male warrior. Paintings by Degas, Delacroix, David and others.
Perseus and Andromeda, the death of Medusa, Proserpine abducted by Pluto to Hades, weaving contest between Minerva and Arachne, Lycians turned into frogs, Marsyas flayed, Jason and the Golden Fleece, and the origins of Theseus.
Romulus ploughs the boundary of the city of Rome, then defeats the Sabine king Tatius, marries his daughter, and is eventually taken to be the god Quirinus.
Ariadne, Bacchantes, Sappho, Queen Guinevere, Salome and Judith in ecstasy, in paintings by Lovis Corinth, David, Rossetti, Gustav Klimt and others.
The Greek fleet is stuck in the port of Aulis due to strong winds and heavy seas. A seer tells Agamemnon the only solution is to sacrifice his daughter to Diana.
The young Theseus is almost poisoned by Medea, Medea creates a poison potion for Jason to gain the Golden Fleece, the death of Socrates, and of Phocion.
