Seen in more complex variants by Tintoretto and Memling, and in modern paintings by Corot and Thomas Hart Benton.
narrative
Instead of splitting scenes into separate frames as in comics, in the Renaissance they’d be integrated into a single image
A violent and bloody revenge tragedy, very popular at the time, brings what may be the only contemporary sketch of one of Shakespeare’s plays.
The fictional Marcus Sextus, Napoleon pardoning the rebels of Cairo, and Narcissus where he shouldn’t be: disinformation in history painting.
Perception changed with photography, and we came to interpret blur, lines and other devices as indicating motion.
Motion can be implied against the rules we learn about how the world works. It can also be shown in billowing garments.
One of King Priam’s sons falls in love with a Trojan woman late in the Trojan War. When Hector is about to duel with Achilles, what could possibly go wrong?
Two birds associated with different beliefs: Hera or Juno’s peacocks, and the white dove as a physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Two birds associated with myth: Zeus’s eagle, often used to indicate his presence in disguise, and the symbol of night and wisdom, the owl.
Paintings by William Blake, William Hogarth, Henry Fuseli, Paul Delaroche and others for this popular tragedy and history.
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