Not a Greek myth, this tragic love story is the ultimate ancestor to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and other major works. Here are the best paintings.
Poussin
A challenge to painters: a story of a gender-changing seer, a nymph who becomes no more than an acoustic effect, and a young man who dies of self-love.
One of the most dramatic and vivid myths, causing a ‘Great Fire’ which matches the Flood. Superb paintings from Rubens, Poussin, Moreau.
Who or what exactly is Cupid? How did a mischievous and rather obese infant come to represent love?
Never mock Cupid. As Apollo found it, he’ll get his own back in the cruellest of ways.
This completes the 18 oil paintings. The series continues with another 16 charcoal drawings.
Two triple portraits of ladies of the nobility, which alluded to two quite racy paintings of drunken feasts, and a goddess with 8 breasts. What is going on?
A major influence in Italian art in the 1800s, he was highly skilled in telling stories, and solved problems which had troubled the Masters before.
A simple story with an obvious climax to be shown. But getting the composition right proves a test even for the Masters.
Telling the complex story of how manna saved the Israelites, and starring the master of narrative painting, Poussin.
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