After his divorce, his son the King of Rome. Disaster on the retreat from Moscow, and exile on the island of Saint Helena. The rapid rise of Napoleon III and his military failure against Prussia in 1870.
Gérôme
Emperor Napoleon I, a Corsican of Italian origin who died on a remote British island in the South Atlantic. Paintings of his early military successes, and the Empress Joséphine before their divorce.
Although of ancient origin, it took 7 centuries for Europeans to use them to cover the floor. They can be exotic in chinoiserie, luxuriant, worn and threadbare, or vibrant.
How the rich paid to walk on planks to cross muddy streets, and hussars helped ladies over mud ruts, children at play, roads in London and Leeds, and a cheeky ploughboy.
The origin of werewolves, early psychiatry, colourful Venice, a coast of foreboding, a brilliant plein air nocturne, London’s best paintings, visual truth, and more.
By William Blake, Gérôme, Fritz von Uhde, Maurice Denis, Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, and Joseph Stella. Merry Christmas!
Pygmalion carves an ivory statue of the perfect woman, and prays to Venus for a bride in its likeness. When he showers the statue with his kisses, it turns into the woman he wanted.
Views from outside looking up and in, including David and Bathsheba, Romeo and Juliet, an early plein air landscape, and Goya’s majas.
Threshing cut cereal using flails, horses towing a roller, oxen trampling the corn, a sledge, a hand-cranked machine, and a large threshing machine. With Monet’s grainstacks.
King Candaules killed, Phryné acquitted of impiety, Musidora watched while bathing, a nude on a beach, and Bonnard’s partner Marthe.
The Eclectic Light Company 