The Second Circle of Hell, in which those whose sin was lust are blown by eternal storms. The story of Paolo and Francesca, and many wonderful paintings.
Rossetti
This new series will travel with Dante and Virgil as they visit Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, looking at the many masterworks inspired by the poem.
Paintings from 1750 on didn’t show ‘Christian’ sibyls, but returned to their classical meaning. Then came Turner’s marvellous narrative landscapes.
Gretchen and Faust become lovers, but her mother dies as a result of Faust’s sleeping potion, and he kills her brother in a sword-fight.
From Dante Gabriel Rossetti, through Lovis Corinth, to Alphonse Mucha and Christian Krohg – modern masterpieces.
From Jan van Eyck’s trompe l’oeil, through Tanner’s fiery cross, to the modern young Polish woman of Jacek Malczewski.
Two painters: one married Charles Dickens’ daughter and stopped painting, the other became a prolific illustrator, including books by Dickens’ grand-daughter. The Victorian Web at work.
A powerful and well-educated woman, rumoured to have murdered one of her three husbands, painted at the time, and later by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
This story remained almost unknown and unpainted until it suddenly became popular after 1850. Paintings by Etty, Rossetti, Cabanel and others.
The late 19th century took gambling upmarket into glitzy casinos. Seen in paintings by Courbet, Rossetti, Félix Vallotton, and others.
