G. F. Watts Hope, 1885-86, London, Tate Britain Hope is one of the Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity) traditionally represented as women. In 1886 George Frederick Watts completed two versions of his take on one of the Virtues, the subject of many images since antiquity and the Renaissance. He sold the original version and […]
Gaetano Previati Dance of the Hours, 1899, Milan, Fondazione-Cariplo The immediate inspiration for the painting was a short ballet The Dance of the Hours which appeared at the end of the third act of the opera La Gioconda, composed by Amilcare Ponchielli. It was first performed in Milan in 1876. But the iconography hails from […]
Akseli Gallen-Kallela Lake Keitele, 1905, National Gallery, London I first saw this painting about fifteen years ago – not long after it was purchased by the National Gallery in 1999. I caught sight of it across a room full of Post Impressionist masterpieces; its distinctive originality immediately drew me towards it. A decade or more […]
Gustav Moreau Jupiter and Semele, 1895, Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris This work assaults the eye with myriad forms constructed from a kaleidoscope of colour. The heavily impastoed surface builds, in places, to further enhance the jewelled surface – every inch is encrusted with detail. As one peers more closely, various vegetative and animate forms detach […]