Modern interpretations of this highly popular theme in Christian religious painting, from William Blake to Joseph Stella in 1929-33.
Stella
A glimpse inside Botticelli’s studio, an artist who foresaw his own death, an unusual Birth of Venus, the Ship Fools, and more painted stories from 1922.
Examples from Gustave Moreau, Georges Clairin, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Paul Nash, Joseph Stella, and Nikolai Astrup.
Huge clam shells were a common feature in paintings of the birth of Venus, and other classical myths. They also feature in many ‘vanitas’ paintings.
From Aphrodite to Vesta, a reference summary of all the major Classical goddesses, with links to individual accounts.
More modern landscapes by Paul Nash, Anna Hills, Lesser Ury, Lovis Corinth, Pierre Bonnard, Emily Carr, and Joseph Stella’s Cubist masterpiece.
Nine very different nativities, from the apocalyptic warnings of a martyr, through the Emperor Augustus, to Maurice Denis’ nativity in a contemporary French town.
In search of warmth during winter, we go in search of palm trees. In these secular paintings, they appear in modern conservatories and on the Mediterranean coast.
From Monet’s rhythmic arrays of poplar trees on the banks of the River Epte to Holder’s arrays of figures, more examples of this technique.
Wisdom, crafts including weaving, and warfare, she’s a popular figure in paintings from Mantegna to Klimt, and a contestant in the Judgement of Paris.
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