It’s a good story that the first month of the year is named January after the two-faced god of transitions, Janus. It’s a shame that isn’t exactly true.
Greek
Were they descended from survivors of the city of Troy, or perhaps they were Greeks? Did the Romans welcome or exterminate them?
Classical history paintings are rarer than those of myth. Even fewer show the most anomalous of classical societies: the Spartans.
Accepted as being one of the greatest painters of all time, he has inspired other Masters including Tiepolo and Botticelli.
Did the ancient Etruscans invent the angel, later to be used in Christian paintings?
Isn’t it odd to have paintings of gruesome deaths and murder of Trojan captives in your family tomb? A mystery unravelled.
Covers 56 well-known narratives from classical Roman and Greek sources, with example paintings.
“The Cambridge History of Painting in the Classical World” edited by JJ Pollitt Cambridge, March/April 2015 Hardback, 22.5 […]
The Eclectic Light Company 