Short summaries of each of the articles in this series looking at the reality of life and work in the country from 1500 to the early 20th century.
history of painting
Hard manual labour and human shields in the First World War, before Tennis at Newport, Jack Dempsey boxing, and a final Summer Fantasy.
Originally intending to be a pro sportsman, became one of the pioneers of the Ashcan School with his gritty scenes of ordinary people in New York.
The lover of Venus is gored in the groin by a wild boar, and dies in pools of blood to be transformed into red anemone flowers.
Paintings by Frits Thaulow, Emile Claus, Lesser Ury, Hans Andersen Brendekilde, Lovis Corinth, Tom Thomson and others. Brrrr!
Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Aelbert Cuyp, van Ruisdael, Caspar Wolf, Jongkind, Whistler and others of ice on rivers, canals, lakes and the sea. Brrrr.
One for sorrow, two for joy, according to the rhyme. Magpies play cameo roles in several major paintings, as shown here.
Told by an oracle she shouldn’t marry, she challenges any man to a running race to win her hand in marriage. When Hippomenes succeeds, things go wrong for the couple.
Fourteen major painters whose anniversaries I’ll celebrate or commemorate during this New Year, from George Bellows to Jacques-Louis David.
Boudin’s beach paintings heralding Impressionism, the turn of the plough, the flax harvest, stave churches, an early mermaid, Turner’s white rabbit, and more.
The Eclectic Light Company 