A man furtively making off with two loaves, Vermeer’s Milkmaid, baking bread in rural Sweden, a traditional baking oven, and glistening alongside mackerel and glassware.
Zorn
Tuna fishing in Spain, goldfish sold as pets or in a Berlin flat, underwater with a diver, and in many still lifes, including those of William Merritt Chase, the master of fish.
Degas’ photos of women bathing, Gérôme supporting photography as a fine art, Pierre Bonnard’s snaps of Marthe, and the extreme realism of Ellen Altfest.
A dance to the music of time, the hours, Muses, sirens, winged putti, faeries, maidens fearing death, mid-summer feasts and folk dancing.
Knitting and crochet as a sign of history, Welsh identity, the bored chaperone, the height of a party, or a peaceful and productive pastime.
Paintings of Istanbul and its surroundings by Alberto Pasini, Anders Zorn, Michael Zeno Diemer, Paul Signac, and pioneer Osman Hamdi Bey.
Hatboxes from Shakespeare to the Champs Elysées, the wig-box of hanged highwayman, Dickens’ cashboxes, and the painter’s pochade.
The development of landscape painting of the coast of Cornwall, from the late 18th century, through the Newlyn School, to the 1890s.
Fish markets from Turner, Zorn, Pradilla, Sorolla, and further afield with Alberto Pasini and Théo van Rysselberghe.
How some landscape painters blurred the view to paint, while others have depicted motion blur, depth of field effects, or an edge hierarchy. Links to each article in the series.
The Eclectic Light Company 