This is an index of the 32 well-known stories and narratives from post-classical literary and similar sources which are covered in articles about narrative painting on this blog. These are arranged in alphabetical order, for each giving the type of narrative and its origin, links to the paintings featured here, and a ‘lead’ example painting is shown. There are separate illustrated indexes for other sources of narratives, e.g. Biblical.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), Angelica and the Wounded Medoro (c 1860), oil on canvas, 81 × 65.1 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Walter Crane (1845–1915), La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1865), oil on canvas, 48 × 58 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Walter Crane (1845–1915), Britomart (1900), watercolour on paper, dimensions not known, Library of the Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898), The Prioress’s Tale (1869-1898), watercolour with gouache on paper mounted on linen, 103.5 x 62.9 cm, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898), Cinderella (1863), watercolour and gouache on paper, 65.7 x 30.4 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Évariste Vital Luminais (1822–1896), The Sons of Clovis II (1880), oil on canvas, 197 × 276 cm, Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen, Rouen, France. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Gustave Doré (1832–1883), Dante and Virgil in the ninth circle of hell (1861), oil on canvas, 311 x 428 cm, Musée de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Évariste Vital Luminais (1822–1896), Flight of King Gradlon (1884), oil on canvas, 200 x 310 cm, Musée des beaux-arts de Quimper, Quimper, France. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John Martin (1789–1854), Macbeth (1820), oil on canvas, 86 x 65.1 cm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), The flight of Madeline and Porphyro during the drunkenness attending the revelry (The Eve of St. Agnes) (study) (1848), oil on panel, 25.2 x 35.5 cm, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool England. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), Le Malade Imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) (c 1860-2), oil on panel, 26.7 x 35.2 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John Martin (1789–1854), Manfred and the Alpine Witch (1837), watercolour, 38.8 x 55.8 cm, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, England. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Horace Vernet (1789–1863), Mazeppa and the Wolves (1826), oil on canvas, 97 x 136 cm, Calvet Museum, Avignon, France. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898), The Beguiling of Merlin (1870-4), oil on canvas, 186 x 111 cm, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Liverpool, England. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John Everett Millais (1829–1896), Ophelia (1851-2), oil on canvas, 76.2 x 111.8 cm, Tate Britain, London. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Gustave Doré (1832–1883) Paolo and Francesca da Rimini (1863), oil on canvas, 280.7 x 194.3 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Papin, Christine and Léa, murders (French crime, 1933; play, Jean Genet, Les Bonnes, 1947) Rego, The Maids (1987)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Samuel Palmer, Christian Descending into the Valley of Humiliation (1848), watercolour, 51.9 x 71.4 cm, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. WikiArt.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), Don Quixote and the Dead Mule (1867), oil on canvas, 132.5 × 54.5 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), Rinaldo and Armida (c 1630), oil on canvas, 82.2 x 109.2 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), Roger (Ruggiero) Rescuing Angelica (1819), oil on canvas, 147 x 190 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), Romeo and Juliet. The Tomb Scene (1790), oil on canvas, 177.8 x 241.3 cm, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John Martin (1789–1854), Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (1812), oil on canvas, 76.2 × 63.5 cm, Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), The Lady of Shalott (1888), oil on canvas, 153 x 200 cm, Tate Britain, London. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John Collier (1850–1934), The Sleeping Beauty (1921), oil on canvas, 111.7 x 142.2 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Tristan and Isolde (1916), oil on canvas, 107.5 x 81.5 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.
Image may be NSFW.