Spinning natural fibres like wool into yarn was “women’s work” and had several connotations, here explored in paintings, and the origin of the word ‘spinster’.
painting
Two artists painted panoramas full of miniature stories, which assembled into broad summaries of contemporary society: Frith and Ford Madox Brown.
He didn’t start painting in Impressionist style until about 1870, and a decade later was migrating towards what became Post-Impressionism.
A merchant has a wife and identical twin sons, with identical twin servants. They are separated by a shipwreck. Years later, chaos ensues.
On board RMS Carpathia as it rescued survivors from the Titanic was Cooper, the skyscraper painter, already at work on his gouaches of the scene.
Millet was a central figure in American fine arts, as well as a painter in mid-century Salon style. When returning from Europe he and his friend died after the Titanic struck an iceberg.
The complicated story of Medea, who provided Jason with intelligence and potions to enable him to steal the Golden Fleece. A femme very fatale.
Paintings of sorceresses, who combine dark arts and seduction. Circe with Odysseus and Scylla, Melissa, Armida, Morgan le Fay and others.
Two new narrative themes that became distinctive in the mid-19th century were contemporary English poetry, and the legends of King Arthur.
Describing himself as a Realist, normally avoiding painting landscapes, but concentrating on ballet dancers and ‘modern life’, he was the odd one out.
The Eclectic Light Company 