First imported through Venice by 1300, it became more precious than gold until it could be made synthetically from 1830. The queen of pigments.
van Gogh
From dice shooters in a rough tavern, through Bastien-Lepage’s Little Chimneysweep, to poverty in Catania, and destitution in Paris.
With Frits Thaulow in Norway, van Gogh in Arles, the construction of what is now the MusĂ©e d’Orsay in Paris, and what can happen a railway carriage.
Fireplaces and hearths, from a small town in the country, a dozing fisherman’s wife copied by Vincent van Gogh, a fire in a studio, and those in suburban homes.
From those run and staffed by religious orders around 1600 to the 19th century’s revolution in nursing, and dazzlingly white interiors with radiators.
Paintings by Gustave Courbet, Paul Signac, Marie Bracquemond, Vincent van Gogh, LA Ring, Carl Larsson, Maurice Denis, William McGregor Paxton, Édouard Vuillard, and Pierre Bonnard.
The origin of werewolves, early psychiatry, colourful Venice, a coast of foreboding, a brilliant plein air nocturne, London’s best paintings, visual truth, and more.
Stories of the origin of the Italian pine and cypress trees, and a far more dubious account of Jupiter’s abduction that’s found in an advert for beer.
Beauties by William Holman Hunt, Gustave Doré, Bruno Liljefors, Vincent van Gogh, Odilon Redon, Richard Dadd and others.
The humble vegetable that enabled Europe’s population boom in the 19th century. When diseased by blight, it resulted in more than a million deaths.
The Eclectic Light Company 