In their heyday, worked elaborately in gold leaf, but lost with the realism of the Renaissance. Revived by the Pre-Raphaelites, and rarely used for secular figures.
Tintoretto
How Arachne came to a weaving contest against Minerva, but told the truth about gods and goddess, so was turned into a spider.
Turner’s Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, banners in Raphael’s and Tintoretto’s paintings of the Passion, and Friedrich’s Swedish flag.
A small selection of favourites from its huge and eclectic collection, from Duccio in about 1310 to Joseph Wright of Derby and a gem from Thomas Jones.
The stories of Venus and Mars, caught in bed together by her husband Vulcan, and the unrequited loves of Leucothoë and Clytie for the Sun.
Daughter of the King of Sparta, abducted as a child by Theseus, rescued by her brothers, married to the King of Sparta, then given as a bribe in a divine beauty contest.
Two themes now largely forgotten: Christ’s descent into Limbo and Harrowing of Hell, and his supper at Emmaus.
Paintings by Jan van Eyck, Masaccio, Tintoretto and Delacroix with detailed explanations of their reading and background.
Essential pigments for the landscape artist: green earths, malachite, verdigris, copper resinate, Prussian green, viridian, and emerald green.
One of Ovid’s weirdest tales, in which Juno convinces the pregnant Semele to demand her lover Jupiter reveals himself, resulting in her death, caesarian section and his surrogate pregnancy.
The Eclectic Light Company 