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Celebrating the 500th anniversary of Tintoretto, 18: The Hallmark of Genius
Over the last two months, I have surveyed 111 of the paintings of Jacopo Tintoretto, who was most probably born five hundred years ago today, on 29 September 1518, or thereabouts. He was one of three...
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The Dead Travel Fast: The Gothic Ballad of Lenore in Paint
In the last few days, I showed a couple of paintings by Ary Scheffer which are based on the ‘Gothic’ Romantic ballad Lenore, by the German author Gottfried August Bürger, published in 1774. Here is a...
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Plutarch’s Lives in Paint: 17b Julius Caesar 1
In the great majority of Plutarch’s Lives, he introduces the subject of his biography with a preamble about their parentage, then tells of their childhood and formative years. In the case of Julius...
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Between Klimt, Mucha, and Hodler: The art of Kolo Moser 1, 1891-1898
Around the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries, Vienna was a hotbed of change in art. Several of its leading figures died a century ago this year: Gustav Klimt on 6 February 1918, Ferdinand...
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Radical Views: Egon Schiele 1, 1907-1911
The last of my group of great central European artists who died a century ago this year is Egon Schiele (1890–1918), a protégé of Gustav Klimt who was greatly influenced by him, and in his brief life...
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Jerusalem Delivered: 1 Introduction to a new series
In amost every collection of paintings from before 1900, you’ll come across works with mystifying titles like Tancred Baptizing Clorinda. Those names don’t come from mythology, nor are they Biblical. I...
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Jerusalem Delivered: 2 The start of the First Crusade
It is 1095, another seemingly faceless year between the collapse of the Roman Empire across Europe, and the start of the Renaissance. There are only about fifty million people in the whole of Europe,...
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Jerusalem Delivered: 3 Jerusalem
In early 1099, the main body of ‘armed pilgrims’ who had obeyed Pope Urban II’s call to Holy War, leave the city of Antioch and start their long march to Jerusalem. They leave Prince Bohemond I behind,...
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From Indiscretion to Burlesque: Mazeppa in paint
Most of us do things in our youth which we wouldn’t dare try when we have gained the wisdom of age. For Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), who became a ‘Prince’ of the Holy Roman Empire, one of Europe’s largest...
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Plutarch’s Lives in Paint: 17b Julius Caesar 2
After Julius Caesar’s amorous adventures with Cleopatra in Egypt, and his return through Asia, he resumed his dictatorship in Rome. The following year he was made consul, and crossed into Sicily in...
View ArticleComments temporarily restricted to newer articles
For some weeks, this blog has been targeted increasingly by one specific source of comment spam. I am afraid that I have therefore blocked all further comments on articles which are older than forty...
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Between Klimt, Mucha, and Hodler: The art of Kolo Moser 2, 1899-1910
Between 1897-1907, although primarily trained as a painter, Kolo Moser (1868–1918) was one of the foremost designers in central Europe. He was first a teacher then a professor at the Vienna School of...
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I have returned controls over the posting of comments to normal: you are again very welcome to post comments on articles of any date. Thank you for your forbearance with the restrictions. I hope that...
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Radical Views: Egon Schiele 2, 1912-13
At the start of 1912, Egon Schiele was living with his model Wally Neuzil in the town of Neulengbach, to the west of Vienna. Even there, his lifestyle attracted attention, and local kids started...
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Jerusalem Delivered: 4 Clorinda saves Sophronia and Olindo
Torquato Tasso opens the first Canto of Jerusalem Delivered with a fairly conventional dedication to the muse, and homage to his patron, Alfonso II of Este. His narrative starts by setting events six...
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Plutarch’s Lives in Paint: 18a Phocion
Some are remembered for their achievements in life, others for the injustice of their departure from it. Those who know the works of Nicolas Poussin will recognise the name of Phocion, whose death was...
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Paintings of Autumn 1: 1573-1895
For those of us who live beyond the Tropics, I look on autumn/fall as being compensation in advance for what we’re about to suffer in the winter, and Spring as our reward for getting through. In this...
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Paintings of Autumn 2: 1898-1931
In this second article, I will complete my survey of some of the best paintings of autumn, from the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), Kastanienallee near...
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Between Klimt, Mucha, and Hodler: The art of Kolo Moser 3, 1911-13
In 1907, Koloman Moser (1868–1918) had fallen out with those leading the Wiener Werkstätte and returned to painting. He was successful in this move, and in 1911 had a one-man retrospective exhibition...
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Plutarch’s Lives in Paint: 18b Cato the Younger
Another, perhaps the other, great figure of classical times who is prominent for the moment of his death is Cato the Younger. Plutarch’s Lives also contains an account of his great-grandfather,...
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