How Arthur came to be given his sword Excalibur, and how he came to marry Lady Guinevere, who was later to fall in love with Lancelot.
narrative
Associated with Dionysus/Bacchus and his followers, it’s basically a staff decorated with plant matter. Seen here in different variants from Pompeii onwards.
If David’s neoclassicism emphasised form or ‘disegno’, Delacroix was a colourist. Shown here in details of his paintings.
How Uther Pendragon, King of England, came to father Arthur, how Merlin arranged for hi
Paintings by Chassériau, Franz von Stuck, Lovis Corinth, and Félix Vallotton telling this story.
Paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Jordaens, Coypel and an unusual watercolour on ivory by Goya, telling this story.
Paintings from 1400, including Tintoretto’s masterpiece, Veronese, and three by Artemisia Gentileschi, telling this story.
The sign of (human) death. Lots of skulls means mass death or apocalypse. Held by Hamlet, featured in vanitas paintings, and with Mary Magdalene.
Once popular in wall paintings and miniatures across Europe, these legends were revived in the nineteenth century and adopted by the Pre-Raphaelites.
His starting point was Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, progressed through reportage of the Greek War of Independence, the invention of Orientalism, and much more.
The Eclectic Light Company 