Starting from Manet’s notorious painting of a picnic in 1863, socialising at mealtime became a popular theme in paintings that weren’t in the least bit Impressionist.
Frédéric
The scales of justice, prominent on many courts of law, and Vedders’ warning of corrupt legislation, for weighing souls entering paradise, or apples in a Brittany market.
More secular stories from Belgian coal mines, the Kalevala, Nabi public gardens, family life, to the 12 panels of the Ghent Altarpiece and Japanese woodblock prints.
Three panels, hinged together, first for an altarpiece, later for secular narratives. Examples from 1420, through those of Bosch, to the Eve of St Agnes by Arthur Hughes.
The interiors of an artist’s studio, realistic or fantastic, those of the Netherlands a century earlier, a cotton office in New Orleans, and more.
The humble vegetable that enabled Europe’s population boom in the 19th century. When diseased by blight, it resulted in more than a million deaths.
The primary attribute of Iris, with the soothing song of Amphitrite, bearing the Norse deities to Valhalla, the sign of God’s covenant after the Flood, and at the Last Judgement.
Shepherds, children tending geese or with their parents working in the harvest, Sargent’s friends slumbering in their siesta, and an enigma.
More fascinating paintings of the studios of William Merritt Chase, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Jacek Malczewski, Claude Monet and others.
Another boating party, William Merritt Chase’s family in Brooklyn, an 18th century pique-nique, and Bonnard’s friends by the sea.
The Eclectic Light Company 