Irish portraitist John Lavery depicts his wife Hazel in 1927, sketching outside in the sunlight. Hazel was famous for her beauty, & Lavery used her as the model for “a female personification of Ireland” which appeared on Irish banknotes for many decades

Spectacular stained glass and decorative murals by Józef Mehoffer in the recently-restored Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Turek, Poland (photo: Marcin Derucki)

In the relatively undisturbed countryside outside Paris, Henri Biva depicts the river in the early morning, focusing on strong light effects and foliage detail (Morning at Villeneuve l’Etang: From Waters Edge, 1905)

Cartier made this stunning bandeau for Lady Mountbatten in 1928. Its Indian-inspired “Tutti Frutti” design features sapphires, rubies and emeralds engraved in the shape of leaves, buds and berries (V&A Museum, London)

In Europe, all swans were white, & the expression “black swans” was used to signify a virtually impossible contradiction in terms ~ until de Vlamingh's Dutch expedition actually saw them when exploring the Swan River, Western Australia in 1696-97. Here’s a 1790 depiction of one

In this 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic, mallard ducks and purple swamphens fossick for snails (Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome; photo HEN-Magonza)

Sometimes, homely objects from the past are far more evocative than possessions of the powerful rich ~ here, from Egypt 1,400 years ago, this design on a child’s linen tunic, woven with pink, blue & green ducks, flower petals & central animal face collections.mfa.org/objects/70038

In a fishing port, an older woman comforts a younger one ~ probably her daughter ~ who holds her head in despair, grieving the loss of her fisherman husband (“Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break”, by social realist Walter Langley, 1894) mydailyartdisplay.uk/2011/06/page...

Pause to admire these superb dwarf kingfishers from Australia and South-east Asia ~ Rufous-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx rufidorsa) ■ Azure Kingfisher(Ceyx azureus) ■ Oriental dwarf kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) www.flickr.com/photos/kaybs...

In a fishing port, an older woman comforts a younger one ~ probably her daughter ~ who holds her head in despair, grieving the loss of her fisherman husband (“Never Morning Wore to Evening but Some Heart Did Break”, by social realist Water Langley, 1894) mydailyartdisplay.uk/2011/06/page...

300 years after Velázquez painted Las Meninas (“Maids of Honour”), Picasso, a long term admirer of the work, created his own version (1957). He would ultimately produce over 50 versions of the same painting

Valentin Serov’s painting Girl with Peaches is a portrait of Vera, the 12-year-old daughter of a prominent art patron ~ essentially, a fresh impressionistic study of the way sunlight falls on objects and materials (1887)

JW Waterhouse did two paintings inspired by the poem ‘Gather ye Rosebuds While ye May’, covering the theme of transience & beauty. The first shows a young woman presenting a bowl of roses, with a mirror behind her; & the second was painted a year later (1908/09)

The invention of photography had major impacts on art. Some artists imitated photographic effects. Others deliberately differentiated their works from the “diabolical invention” ~ compare Van Gogh’s portrait of Eugene Boch, & a photo of him www.artinsociety.com/pt-1-initial...

In 1820s Paris, a bizarre fashion craze ~ "giraffomania" (typically, yellow with dark spots) ~ was inspired by a celebrity giraffe from Africa who walked across France to meet the King www.artinsociety.com/the-art-of-g...

French artist Henri Rivière depicts the village elders watching as the sailing fleet returns at sunset (colour lithograph, 1906)

Danish artist Hans Andersen Brendekilde had a passionate interest in cultivating flowers, and often featured them in his paintings. Here, a child and an older woman chat outside in a vibrant cottage garden (Fishing Village c 1915)

British artist Cyril Power’s colour linocuts of sporting pursuits display an extraordinary blend of grace, rhythm, power and speed (1930s) ~ here, a rowing eight / hockey players / relay runners

500 years ago, Vittore Carpaccio painted 2 scenes of life in Venice. One (at L) ended up in a junk shop. The other (at R) was praised as the world’s most wonderful painting. But weirdly, it turns out they’re actually two halves of the one painting (far R) artinsociety.com/carpacciorsq...

Procession of white-dressed girls and women, carrying glowing Chinese lanterns, winds its way through Cornish fishing village ~ possibly Newlyn ~ to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 (George Sherwood Hunter)

‘At the Lübeck Orphanage’ was painted in 1894 by the early German impressionist Gotthardt Kuehl. The orphanage, in Kuehl’s hometown, was originally founded in the mid-16C to care for destitute children after a period of famine and epidemics

Charles Courtney Curran’s ‘On the Heights’ (1909) ~ in the bright sunshine, three young women in white dresses are sitting in a rock ledge, quietly contemplating an unseen view

During the spring of 1888, Van Gogh was in a fury of work depicting the “tremendous gaiety” of the blossoming trees ~ here’s his ‘Flowering Orchard’

Marvellous detail in this globe from a painting of the then recently-executed Charles I & wife Henrietta. Many objects in the painting are symbolic ~ such as death (skull), impermanence (bubbles), worldly riches (globe). Atttributed to Carstian Luyckx, 17C

Edmund Berninger’s The Bay of Naples, with a hazy Vesuvius looming beyond, its smoky plume dwarfing the chimney smoke at far L (late 19C)

In 1996, highway construction in Lod (in present-day Israel) uncovered impressively well-preserved Roman mosaic floors from a 3-4th century luxury villa. Here are panels depicting wildlife & marine scenes metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at...

Admiring the astonishing precision of Vermeer’s depiction of an elaborately decorated jug, in this detail from his early ‘The Procuress’. The intense blue decorations are done with lapis lazuli (1656) www.essentialvermeer.com/details/deta...

“His spatter is masterful, but his dribbles lack conviction”, New Yorker, 2 Dec 1953 (Peter Arno)

The unexpected perils of hyper-realism (Chon Day, Saturday Evening Post, 1957) www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/10/cart...

Alphonse Mucha depicts exhausted Slavic peasant woman as she sits, hopelessly alone, in frozen, famine-struck field, throwing back her head in resigned despair. As the wolves move in, does the star represent hope? (Winter Night, 1920s)

French artist Léon Cauvy moved to Algeria when he was 30 and lived & worked there for the rest of his life. Here’s his Port d’Alger, View of the Town (1922)

In the 30 Years War, soldiers in graveyard of burnt-out church set to defend village against a column of troops approaching through distant cornfield. At L, priest administers last rites to dying soldier. Over the hill, a village burns (C F Lessing, 1848) eclecticlight.co/2018/09/27/l...

Tortoises & guinea pigs just minding their own business as Noah (in red) contemplates the daunting logistics of rounding up & loading a profusion of animals & birds into the Ark (Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1613) imagediver.tumblr.com/post/1385397...

In this intriguing painting by Jean-Eugène Buland, a young woman in immaculate white sits outside church, her hands indicating she is soliciting charity, and a tattered blind beggar approaches offering a coin. So, who's is really deserving of the charity? (1880) eclecticlight.co/2025/02/05/r...

French artist Thomas Bossard reveals a fresh new way for people to experience famous paintings

Poet Emily Dickinson, like William Blake, saw “heaven in a wild flower”. As a young girl, she assembled a detailed herbarium with 400 annotated pressed specimens of her “beautiful children of spring”, mainly from near her childhood home (1840s) www.brainpickings.org/2017/05/23/e...

Claude Monet’s painting of the verdant Parc Monceau in Paris during the spring of 1876 www.metmuseum.org/Collections/...

“I’m trying to explore my dark side, but I’m beginning to worry that I may not have one” (Chris Madden) www.chrismadden.co.uk/cartoon-gall...

In these striking colour linocuts, Sybil Andrews, a longtime associate of Cyril Power, brings gritty drama and dynamism to country life (1930s)

In 1875 Édouard Manet said "a painter can express everything he wants with fruits or flowers…My main ambition is to become the Saint Francis of still life". Here’s some of what he did ~ Carnations & Clematis in Crystal Vase / Detail from A Bar at Folies-Bergère

Just enjoying the dynamism of English modernist Cyril Power’s linocut ‘The Tube Station’ (1932)

A last testament ~ in 1890, Vincent van Gogh moved to Auvers-sur-Oise for medical treatment. During this short period he created many paintings, including this vibrant ‘Farms near Auvers’. It was still unfinished at the time of his death in July

The intricately-carved stone latticework of ‘The Tree of Life’ in the window of 16th-century Sidi Saiyyed Mosque in Ahmedabad, India, named after the Ethiopian nobleman (& ex-slave) who commissioned it

Here’s a challenge ~ which one of the figures depicted in this altarpiece has been attributed by many to Leonardo da Vinci? (Baptism of Christ, 1470, Uffizi) (For the answer, read the following backwards) .gnitniapehtfotfelrafehtnolegnaehT

In Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee, sailors struggle desperately for control, while calm Christ is in the stern with disciples ~ one of them, in red, is being sea-sick, & one (who resembles the artist) looks out at us. This painting was stolen in 1990 & never recovered

Dutch artist Casper Netscher’s “undisputed masterpiece”, The Lace Maker, depicts young woman with embroidered coif & brilliant red bodice, quietly absorbed in her work. Artist’s name is on the painting on the wall (1662, Wallace Collection) wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMP/eMuseumP...

A breezy day, a choppy sea & the gleam of a fitful sun ~ the catboat ‘Gloucester’ returns from successful day fishing, with boy at the tiller, two others help balancing the boat and the father adjusting the sail, in Winslow Homer’s Breezing Up/ A Fair Wind (1876) NGA Washington

On a train, leering cigar-smoking gent invades personal space of tearful long-haired young woman in mourning. She looks directly at us ~ is she wanting us to intervene, or is her right hand already coolly reaching for a hat pin? (The Annoying Gentleman, Berthold Woltze, 1874)

Beautiful in its simplicity ~ this blue & white Roman/Greek mosaic glass bowl from 1st century BC, made from fusing numerous slices in moulds “till they melted together into a swirl of colours” getty.edu/art/exhibiti...

Tucked away in the background of Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow (1565) is this easy-to-overlook detail showing villagers using ladders in an attempt to dowse a chimney fire in a snow-capped cottage