Pierrot and Harlequin went on to be clowns in the circus, and Pulcinella became Mr Punch in popular Punch and Judy shows. And they live on still.
history of painting
Clown figures including Harlequin, Pulcinella and Pierrot are derived from the commedia dell’arte, a favourite of Watteau and other painters.
Unwittingly, and outside their manifesto, the Pre-Raphaelite Brethren developed a new British narrative painting.
Missing from the First Impressionist Exhibition were the paintings of this promising figurative Impressionist who had been killed in the Franco-Prussian War.
A controversial story of a moneylender getting revenge when a borrower defaults, and demanding a pound of flesh.
The heavily embroidered story of Cossack hetman Ivan Mazepa was turned into a narrative poem by Lord Byron, and inspired paintings by Géricault, Delacroix, Vernet, and others.
Weren’t Cossacks Russian? Well, some were, but they may also have founded Ukraine following the Great Revolt of 1648. Here’s the evidence in paintings.
From Venus covering herself with her hair, to combing through the hair for nits and lice. Artists include Botticelli, Rossetti and Degas.
The stories of Samson, whose prodigious strength depended on not having his hair cut, and Mary Magdalene, who dried Christ’s feet with her hair.
A painter of superbly composed and crafted religious and other narrative, a key figure in art education, who enjoyed the support of Queen Victoria.
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