Scenes from literary sources including Faust, and Dante’s Inferno, then in the 1850 his style becomes less dark, with lucent colour.
narrative
Contemporary of Géricault and Delacroix, he had an interest in mediaeval history, and was intimately involved in politics, including the accession of King Louis-Philippe to the throne in 1830, and the Greek War of Independence.
Scenes from the early life of Christ, carefully referenced to those of the Passion to come, the Virgin Mary, and two other saintly Marys. His last major series.
Paintings of eight well-known folk tales from around the world, including Sinbad the sailor, Queen Wanda, Ivan Tsarevich, William Tell, and Hiawatha.
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.
A prolific period in which he painted the life of Christ for the Scuola di San Rocco, the Gonzaga Cycle, and a smaller series of Venetian histories.
Danaë, raped by Jupiter in the form of a shower of gold; Lucretia, whose rape resulted in the Republic of Rome; Leda, raped by Jupiter in the form of a swan. And a portrait of a Venetian senator.
Why did the Countess of Mercia ride naked through the streets of an Anglo-Saxon town? And who was Peeping Tom?
The first of two looking at the telling of English legends in paintings: Robin Hood and his ‘Merry Men’, popular for the last 500 years.
Six mythological works, which culminate in what is probably his finest of all: the Origin of the Milky Way, analysed in detail here.
