Biography to the death of Darius the King of Persia, with superb paintings by Degas, Elisabetta Sirani, Altdorfer, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and more.
Degas
One of Degas’ close friends, he illustrated many books in the late 19th century. His paintings were good enough to be bought by Degas, as this selection shows.
His grand spectacle of The Age of Augustus was brave, but less successful than more modest paintings of Russian soldiers, or a comic duel.
Marthe starts painting, but Bonnard falls in love and has an affair. More superb paintings, here mainly in northern France.
A steady stream of colourful landscapes, from the south and north of France, with many still lives, and the occasional nude figure. But Bonnard also had something of a crisis to deal with.
He established the unique regime and society of Sparta, with communal meals, harsh selection of newborn babies, and devotion to the state. He enforced those with selfless ingenuity.
Spring is here, in the UK the season of umbrellas. Here are paintings by Caillebotte, Krohg, Degas, Renoir, and others showing umbrellas used to shelter from the rain.
How could I follow my 85-part account of Ovid’s Metamorphoses? With the greatest collection of biographies of classical figures, an inspiration to Charlotte Corday herself.
His masterpiece is a prime example of Naturalism, but he was a close friend of Degas and Renoir, and a major patron and collector of Impressionism.
A look back at some of my favourite articles on painters and painting, from Moreau and Salome, to Merson’s tame wolf.
