It’s easy to confuse anatomising, an autopsy, and surgery. Here’s a guide to their different readings, with some of the finest example paintings.
Hogarth
It’s not a colour at all, say some, while the Impressionists wanted to banish it from the palette. But throughout the history of painting, the blackest black has remained vital.
Take some blue glass, grind it, and turn it into paint: Smalt is one of the strangest of pigments. It extensively used until replaced by Prussian Blue in the early 1700s, and is making a comeback.
Used since Roman times, it was common in the dress of saints. Highly toxic, it was progressively replaced by cadmium red in the late 19th century.
The role and work of the family physician was painted not infrequently in the late nineteenth century. Starting with a Rembrandt, here are some examples.
In his later years, he painted some unusual religious works, including an episode from the life of St Thomas of Villaneuva, and the heavenly and earthly trinities.
We’re easily convinced of the reality of 2D images – as when early audiences panicked as the Lumières’ train ran at them in a movie. How has our exposure to pictures changed, though?
Two notable paintings about slavery, some genre scenes of travel, and a final expedition to South America.
The final group of charcoal drawings brings disaster and redemption, with increasingly rich detail and symbolism.
The first group of charcoal drawings traces the man’s life as an adult, from solitude in a vast forest, to a bacchanalian orgy.
The Eclectic Light Company 