Rape, ejection from society, transformation into a bear, then into a constellation: poor Callisto, but some superb narrative paintings.
Titian
Who or what exactly is Cupid? How did a mischievous and rather obese infant come to represent love?
Salome has become a femme fatale, the author of John the Baptist’s death, and a potent erotic symbol. But that was not the original story.
His later paintings, after 1858, are quite different from those he made when a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. How?
Delacroix’s famous painting of Marianne, personification of the French nation, does not stand alone. Here is a small collection.
The advent of wet-in-wet, canvas supports, fewer layers, impasto, and visible brushstrokes.
An unusual and original portrait, originally part of an altarpiece. Bosch’s strange plants are starting to play a major role.
There have been four different readings of this well-known painting. Does any of them work, or should we look to a different account?
First of two parts looking at the many great paintings of Andromeda’s rescue from sacrifice to Cetus.
Despite difficulties over attribution and other mysteries, he was key to the development of the Venetian style.
The Eclectic Light Company 