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Painting story
Bubbles by John Everett Millais
Millais painted his grandson watching a soap bubble in 1886; Pears soap turned the picture into one of the most famous adverts of its time.
Painting Stories
The meaning and history of famous paintings: what they show, where the originals hang, and how each one is recreated by hand in oil on canvas.
Painting Analysis articles
Painting story
Medea by Evelyn De Morgan
The sorceress Medea walks through a marble palace with a small vase of poison, troubled rather than raging, in De Morgan’s 1889 painting.
Painting story
Ulysses and the Sirens
Ulysses strains at the mast while bird-women Sirens swoop around his deaf crew: Waterhouse’s 1891 scene from the Odyssey.
Painting story
Ulysses and Argus by Briton Rivière
Ulysses and Argus depicts the moment from the Odyssey of Homer in which the long-absent hero, returned to Ithaca in disguise, is recognised only…
Painting story
The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais
A blind musician turns her face to the sun while her sister looks back at a double rainbow: Millais’s Pre-Raphaelite picture of the senses.
Painting story
Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward
Discover Luke Fildes’s 1874 Casual Ward: a winter queue, children, admission tickets and the Victorian system behind a night’s shelter.
Painting story
Aurora Triumphans
Explore Aurora Triumphans by Evelyn De Morgan: dawn loosening her bonds, departing Night, red-winged trumpeters and the artist’s recovered authorship.
Painting story
The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott sets out on her last journey, candles guttering at the bow: Waterhouse’s 1888 painting of Tennyson’s poem.
Painting story
Sympathy by Briton Rivière
A girl sent to the stairs in disgrace and the bull terrier who comforts her: Rivière’s much-loved Sympathy of 1877.
Painting story
Ophelia by Millais
Ophelia shows Shakespeare's heroine floating in a stream among wild flowers, still singing as she drowns, painted by John Everett Millais in 1851…
Painting story
The Doctor by Luke Fildes
A doctor watches over a sick child through the night in a poor cottage: Luke Fildes’s The Doctor, painted in 1891 for Henry Tate.
Painting story
The Love Potion by Evelyn De Morgan
A sorceress in gold pours a red potion beside her books of magic and a black cat, while lovers embrace outside the window.
Painting story
Adoration of the Shepherds
Explore Honthorst’s 1622 Adoration of the Shepherds in Cologne: the radiant child, Mary, praying hands, Joseph and the ox in a dark stable.
Painting story
The Supper Party
Look closer at Honthorst’s Supper Party: the lute player, dark foreground diner, candlelight and the dental episode at the right of the Uffizi scene.
Painting story
The Prodigal Son by Eugène Burnand
A white-bearded father wraps his returning son in his cloak: Eugène Burnand’s quiet, moving picture of the prodigal son’s homecoming.
Painting story
Loke and Sigyn by Mårten Eskil Winge
Loki lies chained beneath a serpent while his wife Sigyn holds a bowl to catch its venom: Winge’s 1863 scene from Norse myth.
Painting story
Christ Before the High Priest by Gerard van Honthorst
A single candle lights the high priest’s accusing finger and Christ’s silent face: Honthorst’s candlelit trial, painted in Rome around 1617.
Painting story
The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection by Eugène Burnand
Peter and John run to the empty tomb at dawn, faces full of hope and fear: Eugène Burnand’s Easter painting of 1898.
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Curated collectionsOdyssey, Magic and Witchcraft, Famous Women, Landscapes and more.Artists A to ZEvery painter in the catalogue, with an archive of their works.Art movementsRenaissance to Expressionism: what defines each and who led it.Top 100 most famous paintingsThe ranked list, with the story behind every entry.
