Three religious paintings, including two skilfully-told narratives, a history, and the only nude of his to have survived.
narrative
The seven painted stories, with paintings by Mei, Millais, Leighton, Botticelli, Stillman, and Lancret, and links to each article.
The last story of the last day tells of a bride and mother who undergoes the senseless brutality of her husband, and three superb narrative panels telling the story.
Buried in the introduction to day 4, this became La Fontaine’s fable of Brother Philippe’s Geese, was painted by Boucher and others, entered French idiom, and was alluded to by a vanished painting by Gauguin.
Review of paintings and related articles published here in the second half of 2018, starring Tintoretto, Gérôme. Bonnard, Schiele, and Poussin.
Viewed as classic and fit for narrative painting, Faust is about good and evil, a powerful story which has inspired powerful paintings.
The story of Ghismonda and her lover Guiscardo is not well-known in paintings, but has been well covered, most recently by Hogarth.
From its publication just before Christmas in 1843, Dickens’ story has been hugely popular and extensively illustrated. One set by Arthur Rackham is unquestionably fine art.
Three brothers murder their sister’s lover. A grisly story turned into a poem by John Keats, and a formative painting for the Pre-Raphaelites, and others.
Tasso’s narrative is as complex and interwoven as these six leading characters, from the pious Godfrey to the scheming sorceress Armida.
