Classical history paintings are rarer than those of myth. Even fewer show the most anomalous of classical societies: the Spartans.
Delacroix
Who was Ovid, and how did he come to write so much on mythology? Illustrated with some fine paintings of his life by Poussin, Delacroix, and Turner.
The grandson of the founder of Thebes suffers a grisly fate when he stumbles across the goddess Diana bathing naked.
Mentor to Gustave Moreau, his brief career showed his brilliance. Claimed by Ingres to be ‘the Napoleon of painting’.
Moreau’s extraordinary paintings have been described as Symbolist, Decadent, even Surrealist. They are notoriously difficult to read – here is some help.
Delacroix’s famous painting of Marianne, personification of the French nation, does not stand alone. Here is a small collection.
Also a grim story of suicidal disembowelling, and a propaganda painting for Napoleon.
Since they were first shown at the end of the 1800s, Tissot’s 350+ paintings of the life of Christ have been controversial, but much loved.
The most brilliant history painter of his early career, he became a great teacher, and influenced many artists of the 1800s, including Delacroix.
Tales of grisly executions, and failed experiments in updating storytelling in paintings.
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