16.4 Painting Stories and Finding Stories in Paintings

Dr. Karen Magro

16.4 Painting Stories and Finding Stories in Paintings

Learning Objectives

Discover the story behind the painting through close observation and research into the socio-cultural, political, and historical background of the painter.

Analyze the following questions and prepare a report or presentation on your findings:

-What is going on in these paintings? Describe what you see.

-Research the story about one of these works of art or find another painting that you would like to learn more about.

Discover what might have inspired the painter to visualize the particular scene/subject.

Create questions about the work of art that connect to the socio-cultural and political context of 2024.

Find other paintings that tell a story and synthesize your findings in a visual essay.

A woman with a halo kneeling and praying to a sleeping infant in a garden — Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), *The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child*, c. 1485. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15593825” by Scottish National Galleries is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A ship swaying violently against a massive wave as people struggle to remain on board — Rembrandt (1606-1669), *Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee*, 1633. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. “https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10953” by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

A group portrait of an assembly of civic guards patrolling the streets at night — Rembrandt (1606-1669), *The Night Watch*, 1642. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. “https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/SK-C-5” by Rijksmuseum is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A portrait of a woman looking away behind an open half-door — Rembrandt (1606-1669), *Young Woman at an Open Half-Door*, 1645. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten. “https://www.artic.edu/artworks/94840/young-woman-at-an-open-half-door” by The Art Institute of Chicago is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A landscape view of a colossal tower and its surrounding civilizations — Hendrick van Cleve III (c. 1525–1589), *Construction of the Tower of Babel*, late 16th to early 17th century. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51231921” by Kröller-Müller Museum is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A massive wooden horse on a cart being pulled by people on a dirt road — Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804), *The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy*, c. 1760. The National Gallery, London, United Kingdom. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=173986” by Wikimedia is licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.

A peasant girl standing outside a small cottage in the forest staring into the distance as spirit-like figures appear behind her — Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), *Joan of Arc*, 1879. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, United States. “https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435621” by Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A female bartender leaning on a marble countertop filled with alcoholic drinks while looking back at the viewer — Édouard Manet (1832-1883), *A Bar at the* *Folies-Bergère*, 1882. The Courtauld Gallery, London, United Kingdom. “Un bar aux Folies-Bergère d’E. Manet (Fondation Vuitton, Paris)” by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

For more information about Édouard Manet and his paintings, please open the link here.

A man and a woman sitting across from each other at a dinner table with a butler standing beside the man — William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910), *The Marriage of Convenience*, 1883. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland.
Courtesy: Glasgow Life Museums. “https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/le-mariage-de-convenance-85546/search/actor:orchardson-william-quiller-18321910/page/1/view_as/grid” is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery Note about the Painting:

“In this painting Orchardson tantalizes us with a taste of how the rich lived. A master of storytelling and psychological drama he marvellously captures the couple’s relationship, the title explaining clearly the mismatch of this glamorous young woman and the elderly gentleman. He painted two other pictures that start and end the story – ‘The First Cloud’ and ‘After’ (where the gentleman is on his own). Treating them almost like episodes in a soap opera, Victorians would flock to the Royal Academy to view the next installment of the story.” (Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland and Art UK, 2023).

A man watching a woman sleep in her room — Walter Crane (1845-1915), *The Briar Rose*, 1905. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. “https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-briar-rose-83631” is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

A woman sitting beside a monster-like creature near a tree under the night sky — Edmund Dulac (1882-1953), Illustration from “*The Sleeping Beauty and other fairy tales from the Old French*” (originally published 1910) by Charles Perrault (1628-1703) and Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944). “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110113542” by Internet Archive is licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.

“Ah! what a fright you have given me! she murmured.” (p. 117, The Sleeping beauty and other fairy tales from the old French by Charles Perrault and Arthur Quiller-Couch with illustrations by Edmund Dulac). Project Gutenberg. Public Domain. Retrieved Project Gutenberg, April 25, 2023 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51275/pg51275-images.html

A group of men look dazed and sit around a long table filled with drinks. — Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931), *The Problem (Symposium)*, 1894.Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation Mänttä, Finland. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92331102” by Taide Art is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A woman wearing all white stands on a boat which floats out to a gloomy sea, driven by a large group of people. — Évariste Vital Luminais (1821-1896), *Psyche and Charon crossing the River Styx in Hades*, 1884, Nantes Museum of Art, Nantes, France. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4252629” by Nantes Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0.

Painting Myths

Psyche was thought to have paid Charon to cross the underworld in search of Eros. To learn more about this myth please open the links here and here.

For more information about myths in paintings please open the link here.

A woman with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched stands in a room next to a chair and a window. — Frederick Sandys (1820-1904), *Morgan le Fay*, 1863-1864. Birmingham Art Galleries and Museums, Birmingham, England. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15217599” by Birmingham Art Galleries and Museums is licensed under CC0 1.0.

For more information about the sorceress Morgan le Fay, please open the links below.

Stories of Le Morte D’Arthur (the Death of King Arthur)

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15551/15551-h/15551-h.htm

Three people travel on a long boat out to sea under a grey, smoky sky. — Frank William Warwick Topham (1838-1924), *The Voyage of King Arthur and Morgan le Fay to the Isle of Avalon*, 1888. Taken from: Sotheby’s, New York, *Old Master & 19th Century European Art, Including Property from The Forbes Collection: The Panorama of Champigny*, 27 January 2012. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18430290” by Wikimedia is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A man in the desert looking at the body of a dead woman laying at rest beside a burial pit in the ground — Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929), *The Burial of Manon Lescaut* (1878). Star Sainty Gallery, London, United Kingdom. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=108881872” by Wikimedia is licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.

A woman in a dress sitting across from a man playing the piano enclosed by a folding screen in a room with a violinist nearby — Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929), *The Duet*, 1883. Private Collection, France. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93178299” by Sotheby’s is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A creature that is half-human and half-horse instructs a nude boy in the art of archery — Auguste Clément Chrétien (1835-1913), *The Education of Achilles*, 1861. “https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87081612” by Rauantiques is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A cottage with lush plants in the forest — Josephine Joy (1869-1948), *Irish Cottage*, c. 1935-1938. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., United States. “https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/irish-cottage-12770” by Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC0 1.0.

A cluster of wild animals in the foreground with two groups of humans settling an agreement in the background in a forest — Edward Hicks (1780-1849), *Peaceable Kingdom*, c. 1834. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States. “https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/610” by Brooklyn Museum is licensed under CC0 1.0.

Brooklyn Museum Notes:

“In this Edenic scene inspired by a passage from the Book of Isaiah, Edward Hicks visualized the peaceful coexistence of God’s creatures, depicting animals and children in the right foreground along with a vignette in the background of William Penn’s treaty with the Lenape. Hicks idealized the encounter between British colonists and Indigenous people, creating fictions of harmony. Ultimately, the Lenape were forced out of Pennsylvania owing to fraudulent land deals perpetrated by Penn’s sons.” (Brooklyn Museum, New York City)

A woman under a tree with three black pumas at her side — Frederick Stuart Church (1842-1924), *The Black Orchid,* 1907. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., United States. “https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/black-orchid-4808” by Smithsonian American Art Museum is licensed under CC0 1.0.

Frederick Stuart Church created a world of innocence and beauty after seeing the horrors of World War I. His innovative illustrations has a major influence on the Arts and Crafts movement in America and Europe. To read more about the FSC please open the link here.

Draw/Write/Symbolically Represent Your vision of peace.

Create a short story or script based on a painting you find compelling.

Teaching Resources can be found here and here.

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Artistic Literacies: Creative and Imaginative Learning in a Global Era Copyright © 2024 by Karen Magro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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