Using shadows to tell or add detail to a visual story. Examples by Robert Campin, Gérôme. William Holman Hunt, Lovis Corinth and others.
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Paintings by William Blake, William Holman Hunt, Albert Edelfelt, Albin Egger-Lienz and others.
Inscriptions in paintings that reveal the story, or quote from its literary source, from Rembrandt to the Pre-Raphaelites.
Examples of painted fables from the 19th century, from Landseer, Millet, Moreau, Klimt, Morisot, Hodler, and Pierre Bonnard.
In the latter half of the 19th century, a new narrative form developed, primarily among British painters: the open narrative, or problem picture.
Weaving turned yarn into fabric ready to make into garments. Associations include industry, passing time, fidelity, and the myth of Arachne.
Two new narrative themes that became distinctive in the mid-19th century were contemporary English poetry, and the legends of King Arthur.
Unwittingly, and outside their manifesto, the Pre-Raphaelite Brethren developed a new British narrative painting.
From Venus covering herself with her hair, to combing through the hair for nits and lice. Artists include Botticelli, Rossetti and Degas.
As the fiery reds of falling leaves change to dull earth browns, and we get the odd flurry of snow, we know that winter is almost upon us.
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