Classical history paintings are rarer than those of myth. Even fewer show the most anomalous of classical societies: the Spartans.
Degas
Music and musicians have been very popular themes for paintings since before the Renaissance. How successful are they in evoking our auditory imaginations?
There are many important anniversaries to celebrate in paintings this year: here are some tasters.
Moreau’s extraordinary paintings have been described as Symbolist, Decadent, even Surrealist. They are notoriously difficult to read – here is some help.
He built his career from scratch three times, but today is known for his paintings of fashionable women. There is more to his art than that.
In his later works, he turned to biting satire of the courts, artists, and even their dealers. His was a very different form of Impression.
An Impressionist, whose incisive drawings and paintings were often controversial – and now almost forgotten.
Some of the Impressionists did paint (possibly) narrative works. But they didn’t always work out.
Conclusions: did he paint Impressions, and was he a member of the Impressionist group?
The final four and a half years of De Nittis’s career were busy, productive, and successful.
The Eclectic Light Company 