Without a title and the story in a fable, paintings can be hard to identify, and even harder to read. Examples from 1500-1751.
de Vos
In quest of the Chimera from classical mythology in paintings of Michelangelo, Bosch, de Vos and others.
The popular parable from the Gospel of Luke, told in paintings from the 17th century, including Rubens, Rembrandt, and Murillo.
Concludes a history of the unicorn in paint, from travellers’ tales and Paulus Potter, through Gustave Moreau into the early 20th century.
Loyal to their master or mistress, often to the point of self-sacrifice. Paintings by Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velázquez, Courbet and Bonnard.
The use of symbols in paintings from the Renaissance to the start of the nineteenth century, with van Eyck, Rubens, Girodet, and others.
Western paintings of devils from Michelangelo to Fuseli show the great influence of Hieronymus Bosch.
Never previously popular except as illustrations, paintings of fables became common in the Dutch Golden Age, and again in the work of a great animal painter around 1750.
Curious still lifes and more containing allegories about the emptiness and futility of life on earth, and its brevity. Even seen in Cézanne and Jacek Malczewski.
Telling the complex story of how manna saved the Israelites, and starring the master of narrative painting, Poussin.
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