http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-still-life-with-peaches-c-ad50-anon-1823826.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-still-life-with-peaches-c-ad50-anon-1823826.html ]]> <p>Classical art is often given a classic status. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans have been taken up by many later artists as supreme examples. At least that's true of their statues and buildings. But when it comes to paintings, there's a problem. Very little remains, and what remains is puzzling. </p> Great Works Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/the-flea-1665-robert-hooke-1819454.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/the-flea-1665-robert-hooke-1819454.html ]]> <p>The traditional monster is a composite. The unknown is put together from pieces of the known. It is a work of imagination as defined by Thomas Hobbes: "Imagination being only of those things which have been formerly perceived by sense, either all at once, or by parts at several times", as when "from the sight of a man at one time, and of a horse at another, we conceive in our mind a centaur".</p> Great Works Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-landscape-with-ascanius-shooting-the-stag-of-sylvia-1682-claude-lorrain-1815310.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-landscape-with-ascanius-shooting-the-stag-of-sylvia-1682-claude-lorrain-1815310.html ]]> <p>What's the role of the figure in landscape? Gainsborough had no doubt. It is to "fill a place (I won't say stop a gap) or create a little business, for the eye to be drawn from the trees, in order to return to them with more glee". It's strictly an extra, not a lead.</p> Great Works Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-silence-17991801-henry-fuseli-1811332.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-silence-17991801-henry-fuseli-1811332.html ]]> <p>The psychology of shapes is good business. Find out your shape-personality type and you'll know yourself, both well and profitably. The square? Your colleagues will come to you for help. The circle? People will bring you their personal problems. But the rectangle? It seems you are always the last to know. And the squiggle? Why do you embarrass your friends?</p> Great Works Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000