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Sargent’s Allusion to an Absent Dog
Quotation, borrowing, reference, allusion: whatever you call it, a lot of paintings seem to include passages, elements or features which have previously appeared in other paintings. Although common, it...
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Book Review: The Vincent Van Gogh Atlas, Denekamp and van Blerk
“The Vincent Van Gogh Atlas” Nienke Denekamp and René van Blerk, with Teio Meedendorp Yale UP and Van Gogh Museum, November 2016 Hardback, 25.4 x 19.7 cm (10 x 7.8 in), 181 pp., £16.99/$25.00 ISBN 978...
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Porting from WordPress to Storyspace, 5: galleries and timelines
In my last article, I elaborated on my main thread using a sidethread, to enrich my hypertext narrative. So far I have been paying a lot of attention to those threads, and have neglected two other...
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Pre-Raphaelite Landscapes 7: Ruskin’s role
The nineteenth century saw great change in painting, and in the role of art critics. Previously the major external influences over painting were patrons and purchasers, and other painters through their...
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Brief Candles: Adriaen van de Velde
… Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. (William Shakespeare, Macbeth Act 5, scene 5.) I...
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Into the Light: John Godward, Aestheticism in the extreme
One of the commonly-quoted propositions of the Aesthetic movement was that painting could become more like music, which was argued to be a purely sensory experience, without narrative or ‘meaning’....
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Sargent’s prim ladies reach for Priapus and Bacchanalia
I recently wrote about an example of allusion in the portrait paintings of John Singer Sargent, based on Bruce Redford’s excellent new book. I cannot resist one more – this time relying on both Redford...
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Into the Light: Hans Gude and the grandeur of Norway
The Pre-Raphaelite landscape painters were by no means the only artists in the mid-nineteenth century who placed high value on detailed realism and painting true to nature. These were as important to...
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Dolce far niente: the apogee of Aestheticism
The Italian phrase dolce far niente means (literally) sweet doing nothing – it is the very enjoyment of being idle, the indulgence of relaxation, blissful laziness. If ever there was a hallmark of a...
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Porting from WordPress to Storyspace, 6: glossary and index
I was feeling quite pleased after my last article in this series sorted out two of the remaining issues with my hypertext account of the history of oil painting. Until yesterday, when I realised that I...
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Into the Light: Frederick Sandys, Rossetti’s shadow?
When examining Pre-Raphaelite landscape painting, I briefly mentioned the work of Frederick Sandys (1829–1904). His name is often omitted from lists of Pre-Raphaelites, but I hope here to convince you...
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Into the Light: Ivan Aivazovsky, Master Mariner
Think of nineteenth-century paintings of shipwreck and rough seas, and (if in Europe or America) you’re almost certain to bring to mind JMW Turner. Allow me to introduce the master of marine painting...
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Tyger’s eye: the paintings of William Blake, 1 – the challenge
Given his popularity and influence, William Blake (1757–1827) is not an ‘easy’ artist. I have been intending to write this article, introducing my new series examining his paintings, for several...
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Into the Light: Henrietta Rae and the academic nude
For a long time, women artists, no matter how successful, were prohibited from attending life classes. Indeed, with the strict moral codes of the late nineteenth century, painters such as Thomas Eakins...
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Tyger’s eye: the paintings of William Blake, 2 – The Ancient of Days
If we should read Blake’s writings in order to better read his paintings, is that sufficient? In the introductory article to this series, I took Blake’s painted etching The Ancient of Days (c 1821) as...
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Into the Light: Annie Swynnerton
Two of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768 were women: Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman. Despite that, it did not admit another woman as an Associate (the step before becoming a full...
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Tyger’s eye: the paintings of William Blake, 3 – biography
William Blake was born on 28 November 1757 in what is now Broadwick Street, Soho, London. In 1767 or 1768, he started as a pupil at a drawing school in The Strand. In 1772, he started a seven-year...
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Into the Light: Helen Allingham’s eternal countryside
Europe and America had some pioneering women artists during the nineteenth century, many of whom I have now covered in this series. One I have not yet mentioned is Helen Allingham (1848-1926), who with...
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Tyger’s eye: the paintings of William Blake, 4 – Pity, painting Shakespeare’s...
In 1795, William Blake decided to offer twelve large colour prints, made using a process similar to monoprinting, in which he laid a coloured design out on a flat surface, and brought paper into...
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The Story in Paintings: Henry Fuseli, Swiss Gothic
At the end of the eighteenth century, when William Blake was developing his artistic career, the Royal Academy had two influential and very controversial members: James Barry, who became Professor of...
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