From Velázquez’s pioneering sketches of 1630, through Valenciennes in 1780, to Constable, Corot, and Pissarro, Manet and John Singer Sargent in the late 19th century.
painting
The development of fully-rigged sailing ships in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and JC Dahl.
Played for the Danse Macabre in the Middle Ages, a favourite of Hieronymus Bosch, and Joseph Stella in the early 20th century.
The double pipe with reeds played by Marsyas in his doomed contest with Apollo, blown by the Sirens, and more.
Perseus describes in his wedding speech how he beheaded Medusa, and how she came to have snakes in her hair.
Into the 20th century, fog became a popular compositional device. Examples from Monet, Pissarro, Vallotton, Hodler and others.
Introduced to European painting by JMW Turner and Caspar David Friedrich, fog effects became popular in the later nineteenth century.
From the Dutch Golden Age onwards, they’ve become fashionable for a while. Examples from Whistler, Turner, Kuindzhi, van Gogh, and others.
Inspired by the coastal nocturnes of Claude-Joseph Vernet, Friedrich, Carus and JC Dahl painted them often. Includes a remarkable oil sketch.
A teacher then Director of the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, he also painted narratives. Since his death a century ago, he and his paintings have been forgotten.
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