The North Wind carries off his betrothed, in eight superb paintings by Rubens, Boucher, Evelyn De Morgan, and others. A miniature history of painting.
narrative
Like Poussin, most of his works are strongly narrative in intent. Did he paint any pure landscapes, or are all his figures actors in his stories?
One king trusts his daughter into the care of his son-in-law, another king. What happens next is horrific, and shown brilliantly by Artemisia Gentileschi and Rubens.
Her image has been used by the French nation, the Catholic church, Napoleon, revanchists, romantics, feminists, and now the extreme right. Here are some of those powerful paintings.
She has been a symbol of French nationalism, of the revanchism following the Franco-Prussian War, and then of early feminism: some wonderful paintings of Joan’s divine visions.
Would such a great narrative painter really paint landscapes which lack a story?
Some of the key paintings telling the story of the grisly death of the satyr Marsyas, who lost his musical contest against Apollo.
A clutch of myths about individual Amazons reveal more about their role in affirming role models in Greek and subsequent society. With some fine paintings too.
More popular today than in classical Greece, these warrior women could have been an opportunity to redress the balance between genders. Here they are at war.
A lighter and formerly very popular story brings to light some masterly paintings, including a superb work by Jan Brueghel the Elder.
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