Ever noticed how stern everyone looks in paintings? Here are some exceptions from Frans Hals, Murillo, Vermeer and others.
Lefebvre
Titian seems to have understood exactly what Vittoria Colonna wanted, and in doing so changed art.
As narrative painting went into decline, Ophelia became even more popular. From Henrietta Rae through sub-aqua views to Waterhouse’s obsession.
Hosting Lord Byron’s Alpine Witch, as the birth canal for Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’, and an attempt by Courbet to return to the womb? The versatility of caves.
Originally a portraitist in academic style, he was a Nabi in the early 1890s before developing his own simple but strange figurative paintings.
Although known for his paintings of nudes, many of his subjects were fully-clothed, and most were powerful women who overcame adversity.
With the exception of his early history paintings and a few portraits of men, his entire career was devoted to painting beautiful women.
Invented by the alchemist Paracelsus, these water nymphs became popular in the 19th century with prose poems and a novella. Here they are in paint, by Turner, Waterhouse, Gauguin, Schiele, and others.
Why did the Countess of Mercia ride naked through the streets of an Anglo-Saxon town? And who was Peeping Tom?
Already trained and accomplished, she went to Paris in 1887, where she established herself as the leading American woman painter.
The Eclectic Light Company 