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.
narrative
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.
One rich gent falls in love with another rich gent’s wife, but she isn’t interested in him. She comes up with a ploy to be rid of his attentions, which backfires, but ends up in two glorious paintings.
Twenty cantos summarised with the very best of their paintings by Delacroix, Teniers the Younger, Domenico Tintoretto, Poussin, Tiepolo, and others.
The most frequently-painted of Boccaccio’s hundred stories, shown here from Rubens to Frederic, Lord Leighton. But there’s much more to the story than that.
The last challenge to the delivery of Jerusalem is the attack of the massed army of the Egyptians. It brings Armida’s reconciliation with Rinaldo, and more fine paintings.
Between 1778 and 1815, many narrative painters painted stories from Ossian, based on myths claimed to have been discovered and collected by a Scottish poet, which could well be a hoax. Does it matter?
A gruesome story of two dead lovers which is used to persuade a young woman to be more responsive to her wooing. Painted by Botticelli and Ghirlandaio.
With an army from Egypt on its way, the crusaders have no time to lose. Rinaldo removes the spells preventing them from cutting timber, and they are soon assaulting the city of Jerusalem.
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