Used by all the masters from about 1300, including Leonardo da Vinci, Veronese, Rubens and Rembrandt, this pigment was lost in the early 18th century and wasn’t rediscovered until 1940.
Veronese
How ancient Egyptians painted women white and men more swarthy in colour. Separately, colour coding of devils brought similar distinctions.
The lover of Venus is gored in the groin by a wild boar, and dies in pools of blood to be transformed into red anemone flowers.
When the centaur Nessus tried to abduct Hercules’ wife, he was impaled by an arrow. He set up the later death of the hero, who was destroyed by poison in his own arrow.
Pitched battles at the weddings of Hippodame and Pirithous, and Andromeda and Perseus. The Trojan War resulting from the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, and turning water into wine with Veronese.
One of Ovid’s best stories, of a man who inadvertently kills his wife when she suspects him of having an affair with a nymph when he should be hunting.
First Perseus turns Atlas to stone for his failure to offer him hospitality. He then flies on to rescue the beautiful Andromeda, who’s going to be the next meal for a sea-monster.
Two themes now largely forgotten: Christ’s descent into Limbo and Harrowing of Hell, and his supper at Emmaus.
Mercury takes a fancy to Herse, but Minerva makes her sister Aglauros jealous. When she tries to block the god, he turns her to stone.
The Last Supper, Veronese’s series of New Testament feasts leading to his appearance before the Inquisition, and Belshazzar’s Feast.
