Romanticism

Carl Gustav Carus, Woman on the Balcony, 1824, oil on canvas, Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden, Germany. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Woman on the Balcony by Carl Gustav Carus

Woman on the Balcony is an intimate portrait of a person lost in thought. There is no action and no obvious story to interpret. However, its quiet...

James W Singer 2 July 2024

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

What a horror spectacle! Some dark, irrational forces must be at play here. Henry Fuseli painted The Nightmare in 1781. It is probably his most...

Ruxi Rusu 20 May 2024

Herstory

Caroline von der Embde—Female Empowerment Through a Painted Selfie

Women artists’ self-portraits have always struck audiences—no other motive proved as ideal for promoting their careers in a male-dominated...

Kero Fichter 13 May 2024

A dark brown horse rears on its hind legs; an olive green background: George Stubbs, Whistlejacket, c.1762, The National Gallery, London, UK. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Whistlejacket by George Stubbs

If you visit London’s National Gallery, you can’t miss Whistlejacket. George Stubbs’ life-size, rearing stallion is visible down a...

Catriona Miller 25 February 2024

William Blake The Ancient of Days, from Europe A Prophecy, 1794, watercolor etching, The British Museum, London, UK. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ancient of Days by William Blake

The Ancient of Days, designed, printed, and hand colored by William Blake, was the frontispiece of his 1794 poem Europe a Prophecy. An epic...

Catriona Miller 3 January 2024

Romanticism

Philipp Otto Runge: The Seer of the Mysteries of God

Philipp Otto Runge died of consumption at the same age as Christ, which to those who believe in signs might be crucial since Runge was a mystic who...

Magda Michalska 26 October 2023

Romanticism

9 Facts About Caspar David Friedrich You Should Know

Caspar David Friedrich, one of the most important German artists of his generation, was born on this day in 1774. He is mostly known for his...

Zuzanna Stańska 5 September 2023

Romanticism

William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience Explained

William Blake was undoubtedly a genius. And, as it usually happens with geniuses and people ahead of their time, he was scorned and disregarded by...

Magda Michalska 22 August 2023

The Duchess of Alba and "la Beata" painted by Francisco Goya, 1795 Artist Stories

The Story Of Duchess of Alba – Francisco de Goya’s Muse

Few women in 18th-century Spain captured the imagination of contemporaries as thoroughly as Doña María de Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez...

Zuzanna Stańska 1 July 2023

Artist Stories

Did Goya Make a Career?

Goya’s paintings are often disturbing and very very dark. It’s because his activity coincided with the last period of the Enlightenment, the...

Magda Michalska 17 June 2023

Artist Stories

Francisco Goya: The First Modernist?

Renowned as one of the most influential Spanish artists, Francisco Goya’s artistic prowess continues to bewitch and intrigue art enthusiasts...

Wendy Gray 17 June 2023

Romanticism

Francisco Goya’s Tapestry Cartoons

Francisco Goya’s work is well-known as dark and pessimistic. This reaction to his work is not uncommon, mostly due to the circumstances of his...

Anna Ingram 17 June 2023