A nymph cursed by Hera to repeat the words just spoken to her, and a youth who falls in love with his own image. Together the result in some of the finest narrative paintings.
Poussin
Known in one spectacular myth, in which he brings the chariot of the sun crashing down to scorch the earth. Paintings by Poussin, Tintoretto, Rubens and Moreau.
The way that distant hills fade in contrast, detail and colour, and how their hue shifts towards cooler colours. From Antonello (1475) to Thomas Girtin.
Whether gentle, young and pipe-playing or hoary and older, he had the body of a man and the legs of a goat. Is he tender, or ribald?
With Umberto Eco as our guide, explore Parnassus, the Garden of Earthly Delights, Alcina’s island, Colchis, and the Garden of the Hesperides.
Although painting and sculpture are closely allied, it’s curious to depict sculpture in painting. Examples range from early grisailles to ribald depictions of the Roman god Priapus.
The Pyrrhic War, against the Greeks under Pyrrhus, left the Romans in charge of the whole of Italy. Then came the Carthaginians, who were beaten in the First Punic War.
The Gauls took the whole city of Rome, apart from its Capitol, but were then effectively put under siege themselves. The city was looted and sacked.
Telling a story in a standalone painting, and telling one in illustrations, are very different. Examples by Masaccio, Poussin, Crane, Rackham, and Hogarth.
After his banishment from Rome, Caius Marcius co-led the Volscians and brought them almost to the city’s gates, ready to invade. He was then sent a deputation of women.
The Eclectic Light Company 