We give presents at Christmas after the 3 kings. So what is myrrh, and what are its origins in paintings? A grim story of incest, deceit and metamorphosis.
Titian
Live models for figures, landscape oil sketching in front of the motif, the sensuous nude, narratives with multiple readings, incredibly loose brushwork, and so much more than portraits.
Is it just a quirky re-telling of the myth of Arachne and her weaving contest? What do the foreground and background have in common? A superb visual riddle, perhaps.
Three religious paintings, including two skilfully-told narratives, a history, and the only nude of his to have survived.
The best of the 111 paintings shown in this series, to mark the half millennium which has elapsed since his birth.
His 8 Last Suppers from 1547 to around 1593 compared with contemporary versions by Titian, the Bassanos, and Veronese. A true feast.
Danaë, raped by Jupiter in the form of a shower of gold; Lucretia, whose rape resulted in the Republic of Rome; Leda, raped by Jupiter in the form of a swan. And a portrait of a Venetian senator.
Six mythological works, which culminate in what is probably his finest of all: the Origin of the Milky Way, analysed in detail here.
Major works for the ceiling of the Sala superiore in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, centred on ‘The Brazen Serpent’, ‘Moses Striking the Rock’, and ‘Gathering of the Manna’.
Two more informal Last Suppers, a votive of the Doge who ruled Venice at the time, and the perils of black grounds.
The Eclectic Light Company 