Take some blue glass, grind it, and turn it into paint: Smalt is one of the strangest of pigments. It extensively used until replaced by Prussian Blue in the early 1700s, and is making a comeback.
van Dyck
How Vertumnus tried to trick Pomona into loving him, then told her a threatening story. Neither worked: it was being himself that won her in the end.
The popular story told concisely by Ovid, and painted brilliantly by van Dyck, Leighton, Rubens, Brueghel, and others.
How could a woman succeed as an innovative professional painter during the Renaissance, and live to the age of 92?
How Sargent’s portrait of a young New York bride turned into a provocative account of The New Woman.
A busy period of work mainly in his New York studio, Chase met and painted with Whistler in London, and Sargent in New York.
Rubens’ methods were extensively documented by a contemporary. Do they reveal or conceal any dark secrets?
Tackled by several Masters, this well-known story has also been well-shown. Which painting provides the best narrative?
Poussin was by no means the only artist to paint the narrative of Rinaldo and Armida. Here are many more.
The Eclectic Light Company 