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Commemorating the centenary of the death of Hans Thoma: 2, from 1886
One century ago today, 7 November 1924, the German painter Hans Thoma died in Karlsruhe, Germany. This is the second of two articles commemorating his life and art. Prior to 1886, he had struggled to...
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Interiors by design: Studios, history and light
The revival of paintings of interiors in the middle of the nineteenth century flourished in several ways. For some, it was an opportunity to reveal their studio, and perhaps provide the viewer with a...
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James Tissot’s Anglo-French stories: 1, France
If you want to see fine paintings, visit more provincial galleries. While they don’t have many van Goghs, Rembrandts or Vermeers, you will have the chance to see some of the best paintings by artists...
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James Tissot’s Anglo-French stories: 2, to England and return
When the French painter James Tissot arrived in London in the summer of 1871, he had just a hundred francs to his name, and had left his reputation behind. He was soon earning more than enough to pay...
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Changing Paintings: 45 Dryope, Byblis and Iphis
After he has told us of the birth of Hercules, Ovid uses Alcmena’s link with Hercules’ former lover Iole to introduce several obscure stories, starting with the transformation of Dryope. Iole tells the...
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Reading visual art: 172 Fool
Jesters or fools appear to have originated as entertainers in ancient Rome, and were features in many of the royal courts in Europe. Among the most famous are those in the plays of William Shakespeare....
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Reading visual art: 173 Sage
Sage and wise people are harder to distinguish visually, without using the cliché of the white-haired and bearded figure more commonly seen as Father Time. To the Romans, the personification of Wisdom...
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The Real Country: Market
Markets rose to become an important feature of many towns during the Middle Ages. Initially they provided the opportunity for farmers with excess to trade that for other produce or money, and for...
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Interiors by Design: The artist’s studio
In the seventeenth century, Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici started collecting self-portraits of painters. This collection has grown to include over two thousand paintings, sculptures and drawings, and is...
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Painting outdoors with William Merritt Chase at Shinnecock 1
In 1891, plein air painting, particularly in oils, was a relatively new technique in the US, and growing rapidly in popularity. It was Janet Hoyt who first invited William Merritt Chase (1849–1916) to...
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Painting outdoors with William Merritt Chase at Shinnecock 2
In 1891, William Merritt Chase was invited to teach the skills of painting en plein air in the east of Long Island, New York. The following year he moved his family from New York City to live in their...
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Changing Paintings: 46 Orpheus and Eurydice
Book 9 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses ended with several obscure myths that have been painted little, but Book 10 opens with one of the greatest and most enduring stories of the European canon: that of...
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Reading visual art: 174 Butterfly, narrative and symbolic
Butterflies are now most strongly associated with their beauty, fine summer weather, and the transience of their existence. In visual art, they have other interpretations that seem strange today. This...
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Reading visual art: 175 Butterfly, natural
With the Age of Enlightenment, former associations of butterflies became obscure, and they were most often included in increasingly faithful paintings of natural history. Johann Amandus Winck...
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The Real Country: Trades
Those living in the country succeeded largely by self-help. Many skills were common knowledge, augmented by advice and help from the more experienced. If your roof was leaky, then you didn’t normally...
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Interiors by Design: Drawing Rooms
Names used for the rooms in middle- and upper-class homes have changed over the years, and are horribly inconsistent. Bedroom, kitchen and dining rooms are relatively straightforward, but when you come...
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Boccaccio’s Decameron: paintings of Cimon and Iphigenia
In the 650 years since Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron started to sweep across Europe, this collection of a hundred short stories has proved one of the most enduring works of literature. I have already...
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Boccaccio’s Decameron: paintings of Lisabetta’s tragedy
Some of the hundred individual stories told by Boccaccio in his Decameron only attained fame much later. A good example is the tragic tale of Lisabetta related by Filomena on the fourth day, when it...
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Changing Paintings: 47 The cypress tree, and the abduction of Ganymede
After telling the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, Ovid relates a series of shorter myths involving transformations. He introduces these by listing each tree that gave Orpheus shade as he sang in...
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Reading visual art: 176 Peace, mythical and ancient
Painting war and conflict is demanding on composition and technique, but how about painting peace? In this week’s two articles examining how to read visual art, I show how some of the masters have...
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