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Renaissance artists of Tuscany
Feel like my education has been lacking… And I have been to Florence and still ignorant! Giotto was revolutionary, according to Kenneth Clarke. Art (Byzantine) before that had been decorative – busy, fancy – he simplified the backgrounds to concentrate on the story, he painted actual people, with 3D solidity and natural looking garments. My…
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Raft of the Medusa
1816, the French naval vessel Medusa ran aground, leaving behind a huge improvised raft with 147 survivors, abandoned by the other crew who escaped on longboats. On their second night adrift off the coast of W Africa, orgy of destruction developed, precipitated by fear – people attacked each other, and attempted to break off sections of…
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Hokusai's Great Wave
Great wave off Kanagawa From 1830s. Seen as archetypal Japanese but actually not that old: Prussian blue used (ie synthetic dye from Germany), perspective is European! Japan was still closed to all but a few Chinese and Dutch traders until 1859 having closed its borders to trade for some 200yrs, but this shows how European…