The Prix de Rome changed in the 19th century. Its subjects became more obscure, and its successes few and far between.
Merson
Three paintings within 5 years, usually claimed to be responses to the Dreyfus Affair. But one was much more about modern art and photography.
Highly original visual stories, of the Soldier of Marathon, Saint Francis of Assisi and the Wolf of Agubbio, plus illustrations for ‘Notre Dame de Paris’.
The bohemian quarter of Paris, painted by van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec (who lived there for 20 years), Renoir, Pierre Bonnard, and others.
Look for series covering the life and paintings of Raphael, the Swedish Anders Zorn, Amedeo Modigliani, and articles on others with anniversaries this year.
Fra Bartolomeo, Tintoretto, Blake, Merson, Tanner, and a very special nocturne by Adam Elsheimer show this popular story.
A fantasy self-portrait naked with a skeleton on his lap, and one of the most haunting depictions of rural deprivation. A very unusual artist indeed.
The influence and inheritance of Naturalism is hard to judge even now. Given the dramatic change in painting in the 20th century, its greatest inheritance may be in photography.
Great paintings by Rubens, David, Rembrandt, Merson, Sciuti and Tiepolo telling some of the best stories from Plutarch’s ‘Lives’.
The story of ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ has become something of a modern legend. Here are some of the paintings made of its story, before it obsessed early filmmakers.
The Eclectic Light Company 