A summary history from 1700 to the 20th century, with examples of major paintings, and links to each of the detailed articles in this series.
Turner
Invented by Paracelsus and popularised in a novella, poems and plays, Ondine became popular in painting, then in 1962 in medicine.
The complicated story of Medea, who provided Jason with intelligence and potions to enable him to steal the Golden Fleece. A femme very fatale.
A vast canvas with an apocalyptic vision of death and destruction? It must be one of John Martin’s, then. Another distinctive British narrative painter.
One of the greatest British narrative painters of the 19th century, a small selection of his best from Eris picking a golden apple in 1806 to the slaveship of 1840.
Reflections seen in landscapes from Dürer’s pioneering watercolour, through Poussin and Turner to Monet, Sisley and Neo-Impressionists.
Snakes and serpents in myth, legend and religion are thoroughly sinister and bad, with one curious exception. A journey across centuries of images.
A river cruise starting with JMW Turner at Maidenhead in the Berkshire countryside, and ending with Whistler at Battersea Bridge.
From Nabi women climbing stepladders to gathering plums in baskets, with a visit to the garden of the Hesperides, and ending in the garden of Eden.
Moving around changed greatly in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the advent of canals, steam ships and trains, hot air balloons, and the bicycle.
The Eclectic Light Company 