Example paintings showing instantaneous, multi-image, multi-frame and polymythic narrative, from Poussin to Waterhouse.
Ferrari
One of Ovid’s weirdest tales, in which Juno convinces the pregnant Semele to demand her lover Jupiter reveals himself, resulting in her death, caesarian section and his surrogate pregnancy.
Another remarkable sequence by Bosch, followed by Ferrari’s fresco account of the Life and Passion of Christ, ending with the Passion of the Apostles.
Telling a more complex story such as the Passion is more demanding. This traces how it broke out of frames, ultimately into Tintoretto’s masterpiece.
Easily told in words, stories are harder to paint. Here are five main methods used, explained and shown in examples from the masters.
Not an easy story to paint, Ovid’s clear account has been largely ignored. Because it is now too absurd to show?
Bosch’s Passion Scenes is an unusual painting, combining multi-frame and multiplex narrative in the round. Is it unique?
The Eclectic Light Company 