A worked example of Poussin’s instantaneous narrative shows how a single image can tell a story, and examples of the fall of Icarus show the importance of timing.
narrative
Orpheus’ attempt to take his bride Eurydice back to life from the underworld fails when he looks back at her. He is later torn limb from limb by Bacchantes, and rejoins her.
Examples from Velázquez, Waterhouse, Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Frith, and Ford Madox Brown of some of the most spectacular narrative paintings.
The great Thracian bard, and accomplished poet and musician, he could charm the animals with his lyre. But when he married Eurydice she died shortly after the ceremony.
A selection of these precursors to modern comic books from about 1263 to 1700. Some are based on rectangles, but others are arranged in the round.
Heracles unwittingly sets up his later death when he thinks the centaur Nessus is trying to abduct his wife Deianira, and shoots him in the back with one of his arrows poisoned with the blood of the Lernean hydra.
Revived in the 19th century, stories painted by JMW Turner, Camille Corot, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Lovis Corinth, Aksel Johannessen and Thomas Hart Benton.
After rescuing Hesione from a sea monster, he wrestled with Achelous for the hand of Deianira in marriage, and created the cornucopia.
Twenty-three scenes integrated into Memling’s Passion, nine into Tintoretto’s huge Crucifixion, and three into Poussin’s Gathering the Manna.
Heracles pays the penalty for multiple murders, as he is subjugated, stripped of his lion-skin and club, dressed in women’s clothing, and forced to serve Queen Omphale.
