The heavily embroidered story of Cossack hetman Ivan Mazepa was turned into a narrative poem by Lord Byron, and inspired paintings by Géricault, Delacroix, Vernet, and others.
Vernet
A visual history tracing wings back to their origins in messengers of the gods and messenger-gods of the dawn of civilisation, 4 millennia ago.
Paul Bail left Antwerp, taught Tassi in Rome, who in turn taught Claude Lorrain. Claude-Joseph Vernet learned in Rome, then advised Valenciennes, and so French landscape painting came home.
Travel by sea was hazardous. Here are paintings of shipwrecks from Tintoretto to the early 19th century, as an introduction to The Tempest.
Fishing with rod and line plays a significant part in the myth of Daedalus, and adds calm and timelessness to many landscapes.
Technically very challenging, most are painted in the studio, but some are quite unreal, and others suffer from the moon illusion.
From the Flemish artist Paul Bril, to Claude Lorrain, and then through the French ports of Claude-Joseph Vernet to the oil sketches of Valenciennes.
From Tivoli, near Rome, in 1757, through the Alps with Wolf and Turner, to remote Albania as seen by Edward Lear, artist and poet.
These became popular during the 18th century, revealing models and those painting them, assistants, and many others. They also became complex allegories.
Churchyards and graveyards in the art of William Hogarth, Caspar David Friedrich, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Louis Welden Hawkins, and others.
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