He took the Salon of 1864 by storm, but was barely noticed with 2 more paintings the following year. Why?
Moreau
Some stories sound plausible, but are problematic when you try to paint or photograph them. Here’s a good example, with attempted solutions by Reni, Rubens, Moreau, and others.
Three major paintings, each very ambitious, but abandoned, reworked, and abandoned again, give insight into his progress in changing history painting.
Moreau’s extraordinary paintings have been described as Symbolist, Decadent, even Surrealist. They are notoriously difficult to read – here is some help.
First of two parts looking at the many great paintings of Andromeda’s rescue from sacrifice to Cetus.
Byrne-Jones tried to tell the complex story of Perseus and Andromeda in a series of 10 paintings. Here is the story and background.
The last of the great classical narrative painters, his huge canvases explored lesser-known tales from Greece, Rome, and Scotland.
Taking stock on which narratives should be used, and what techniques should be used to represent them in paintings.
Beautiful painterly works showing Arthurian and classical legends, in the years before the First World War.
How the quest to reform history painting only confirms its traditional narrative tools.
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