A wide-ranging selection of appealing and interesting watercolours, covering most of Blake’s career and themes.
narrative
One of the greatest German painters, he covered several genres and has proved very influential. The start of a broad and more balanced view of his work.
He still couldn’t repeat his earlier success in the years running up to the Franco-Prussian War. But some paintings have been under-appreciated.
Two paintings of the buried dismemberment of a victim: one theatrical narrative, the other a serene reverie of anti-theatrical non-narrative. And an oriental witch.
He took the Salon of 1864 by storm, but was barely noticed with 2 more paintings the following year. Why?
Some stories sound plausible, but are problematic when you try to paint or photograph them. Here’s a good example, with attempted solutions by Reni, Rubens, Moreau, and others.
Three major paintings, each very ambitious, but abandoned, reworked, and abandoned again, give insight into his progress in changing history painting.
Moreau’s extraordinary paintings have been described as Symbolist, Decadent, even Surrealist. They are notoriously difficult to read – here is some help.
The final group of charcoal drawings brings disaster and redemption, with increasingly rich detail and symbolism.
The first group of charcoal drawings traces the man’s life as an adult, from solitude in a vast forest, to a bacchanalian orgy.
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