From the fur-trimmed cloaks of Jan van Eyck, to the soft folds of Lisa Gherardini’s dress: clothing and fabrics painted in oils.
van der Weyden
The other half of the festival of Easter has been painted far less. Yet without Resurrection, Easter and all Christian belief would be worthless.
Yellow ochre, orpiment, Naples yellow, lead-tin yellow, Indian yellow, chrome yellow, and cadmium yellow – most toxic or at least harmful to someone.
Miniature landscape views embedded in more conventional paintings were not uncommon during the Renaissance, before landscape was established as a genre.
Born 200 years ago today, he should have been one of the major artists of the 19th century, but died when he had only just turned 37.
From 1450-1650, paintings of ‘Christian sibyls’ who foretold the birth of Christ, became important motifs for painting. Here’s a selection.
Showing two or more scenes from the same story in a single painting (multiplex narrative) is common, effective, and good art. Examples from Masaccio, Memling, Bosch, and more.
Lead-tin yellow features in many paintings of the Old Masters, until about 1750. It was then replaced and forgotten until 1940. Examples in major masterpieces from Rembrandt, da Vinci, Vermeer, and others.
Painters of the early northern Renaissance founded modern Western landscape painting, and developed the first examples of staffage.
Mentor to Gustave Moreau, his brief career showed his brilliance. Claimed by Ingres to be ‘the Napoleon of painting’.