The first of 4 articles looking at an extraordinary narrative series of 34 paintings, many of them quite beautiful.
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Classified a Symbolist, his style was uniquely visionary. Here are some of the masterpieces of Symbolism, which still inspire today.
The visual tradition of a stairway to heaven appears quite recent. I propose that Blake was its originator.
Job being smitten by boils, a Count left to starve to death, the ghost of a flea, and one of Blake’s most complex and enigmatic paintings: true genius.
His oils and pastels were rich in colour, full of flowers and light, and radical visions even by today’s standards.
A famous British Admiral, a former Prime Minister, Chaucer and his Canterbury pilgrims, and the last bard alive – all subjects for these remarkable paintings.
First shown in the Salon at the age of only 18, Vincent van Gogh spotted his talent. Not only was it cut short, but his paintings are vanishing.
His early career, drawing extraordinary ‘noirs’ in charcoal, making lithographs, and starting to paint in oils.
Fifty paintings of scenes from the Bible: they could easily have been so bland. Not for Blake, though, whose genius shines through.
There’s a lot more to this painting than first meets the eye: a bit of Brueghel, some Leighton, and even some Signorelli.
The Eclectic Light Company 