COVE

Karl Schinkel’s painting Castle by the River (1820) offers a glimpse of what was once a man-made architecture entirely absorbed by nature. The background of the artwork involved two artists, Schinkel had created this oil painting based on the narrative of a poet, Clemens Brentano. There are several elements of verism as Schinkel provided a detailed and realistic approach to the abandoned structure by overlaying it with vegetation and wildlife. Although realism was introduced in the 1850s, Brentano’s narrative rendered a subtle introduction while honouring the deserted castle's...

Henry Fuseli’s 1781 oil on canvas painting The Nightmare depicts a sleeping woman being tormented by an imp and mare as she sleeps. The woman may be Anna Landolt, a woman Fuseli loved but who did not return his feelings. Her rejection deeply impacted Fuseli, leaving him psychologically tormented. As a result, he created this painting, where he expressed his feelings by subjecting Landolt to the same mental torture she made him experience. Similar themes are present in Samuel Coleridge’s 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Akin to Fuseli, Coleridge suffered psychological...

Located at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Thomson Collection of Ship Models, The Prisoner of War model of Victory, a British Three-decker 100 Gun Warship was created sometime between 1795 and 1815. Made out of fruitwood, brass and bone, it was created in Great Britain, presumably by French sailors. The chief mode of international travel during the Romantic era, sailing ships were crucial to narratives involving exploration, discovery and tourism. Despite the importance of ships, life at sea was dangerous and often terrifying, with travellers and seamen at great risk of malnutrition...

Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775 - 1851)

Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino, 1839, Oil on canvas

91.8 × 122.6 cm (36 1/8 × 48 1/4 in.), 2011.6

On Display at The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

 Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino, portrays the city of Rome in the “modern” day under the hazy light of a rising moon and setting sun. The artist, Joseph Mallord William Turner, was known as  “the painter of light” due to his inclination towards using brilliant colour in his landscapes and seascapes, and frequently painted Rome and various other...

"Vase", c. 1780-1790
Josiah Wedgwood (est. 1759)
Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
On Display at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Taken on iPhone, Object Number: 928.22.10

This vase was manufactured in England, by Wedgwood company founder Josiah Wedgwood. There is not much information about the vase, nor the collection it has come from itself, this piece was just the beginning of the Wedgwood Company. This black basalt vase looks as though it belongs in a time period prior to its creation, but the vase was actually made as an imitation of...

Eighth drawing in an Unnamed Collection of vignettes illustrating Confessions, 1825

Artist: Paul Delaroche

Appears in the British Museum’s online collection

© The Trustees of the British Museum

This simple French style drawing is the eighth in a series of vignettes illustrating Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions. With dimensions of 61 millimetres in height and 85 millimetres in width, this small picture was produced in 1825 by French artist Paul Delaroche, and contrasts his more famous dramatic paintings of historical scenes. The sketch...

James Ward (1769-1859)

Gordale Scar (A View of Gordale, in the Manor of East Malham in Craven, Yorkshire, the Property of Lord Ribblesdale) c. 1812-1814, exhibited 1815

Tate Collection

This painting was composed by James Ward sometime between 1812 and 1814, and is made up of oil paint on canvas. It was exhibited in 1815, so had received acclaim well within the artist’s lifetime. The composition depicts a scene of towering limestone cliffs near Settle, Yorkshire, as well as an assortment of cattle resting and grazing at the base of the cliffs. The painting was...

Joseph Wright of Derby’s painting, “Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the
Bay of Naples” created in 1776, was inspired during his time in Italy from 1773-1775, where
Wright was constantly surrounded by extensive artistic inspiration. Wright’s inspiration for
“Vesuvius in Eruption” came from his time in Naples where he observed Mount Vesuvius.
Unfortunately, he never actually witnessed the remarkable volcanic eruption, thus his creation
depended greatly on his imagination (Tate, 1991). Wright expresses his inclination to illustrate
the...

This model ship, like many others on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario, is part of the Thomson collection, a massive collection of over 2000 works of art, all donated from Ken Thomson’s personal art collection. Among these donations was a collection of 130 model ships, all dating between the 17th century to 20th century. The model depiction of a British or French ship-of-the-line is primarily crafted of bone and horn, with silk to craft the ropes, and wood to function as a base. Intricately crafted and finely detailed, the exact maker of this model ship is unknown, but was most likely...