Tintoretto to a friend, Antonello’s cartellini, Alma-Tadema’s dedication of a wedding present in some graffiti, and some mysterious Venetians.
painting
It’s sometimes hard to read a painting without understanding an inscription. Masaccio, Rossetti, Moreau, Corinth and Botticelli gives us some clues.
Rembrandt’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Tintoretto, William Blake, and Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s painting of Sappho each rely on words.
Vasari claimed that he was trained by Jan van Eyck, but he probably learnt under an Italian artist in Milan before becoming the first Master in oils.
Painted on two panels of oak using egg tempera, it combines gold and raised details to mimic precious stones. How it was made.
To see his art, look not at Fantin’s groups of human figures, but at these crowds of flowers and fruit.
Short summary of their history, art, and their role in the evolution of painting in the twentieth century, with copious links to articles here.
Just before he ascends to the terrestrial heaven on top of the island-mountain of Purgatory, Dante dreams of sisters Leah and Rachel, from the Bible.
Hosting Lord Byron’s Alpine Witch, as the birth canal for Thomas Cole’s ‘Voyage of Life’, and an attempt by Courbet to return to the womb? The versatility of caves.
Before folk history changed with the concept of human evolution, caves were sacred places inhabited by hermits, or figures from myth.
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