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Chagall painted this picture after the death of his wife Bella, following many years of happy partnership. Bella wears her wedding dress, and floats in the sky above the town where they married in Russia. Chagall has pictured himself as a young man leaning from their house to hold his wife.
Despite the couple's physical separation, the picture's shadowy colours create an otherworldly space in which their love can continue. The magnificent arrangement of roses and lilies below the pair seems to express both love and sadness.
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In a scene from a biblical story, Jacob is shown reproaching his father-in-law, Laban. Jacob had expected to marry his sweetheart Rachel, in return for working as a shepherd for Laban. Instead, Jacob found his bride was Rachel's older sister, Leah. She stands sadly, while Rachel is perhaps the figure in the shadows.
Jacob's heart remained true to Rachel, and she became his second wife after seven more years of labour. The story was probably seen in 17th-century Netherlands as an allegory of religious faith rewarded by divine love.
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The beautiful princess Psyche is shown in front of the magical palace of Cupid, mythical god of love. The scene illustrates an ancient Roman story. After Psyche discovered Cupid's identity, he abandoned her. In despair, she threw herself into a river, but was saved. Her love survived many difficulties and eventually she was reunited with Cupid.
The mood of mystery and romance made this one of the French painter Claude's most popular pictures.
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According to an ancient poem by the writer Musaeus, Hero was a priestess in the temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Her lover Leander lived the other side of a wide sea channel, in present-day Turkey. Every night, he swam across to see her. Turner shows Hero and Leander on the shore. Cupid and the god of marriage, Hymen, hold up lights.
The wild sea and sky match the tragic ending of the story. Leander drowned in a storm and Hero then threw herself in the water to be reunited with him in everlasting love.
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Hunt's Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece shows a scene from a romantic story. After Isabella's lover Lorenzo was killed by her brothers, she buried Lorenzo's head beneath a basil plant.
Skulls on the basil pot and wilted roses on the floor refer to the way death has parted the lovers. However, a biblical quotation on the cloth beneath the pot describes how pure love never ends. This was perhaps a testament to Hunt's love for his wife. She was the model for Isabella, but died before the painting was finished.
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The biblical parable of The Good Samaritan told how a Jewish traveller was left for dead by robbers. Only a supposed enemy, a Samaritan, offered help. Bassano shows a purse on the Samaritan's belt, which refers to his payment for a sick bed at a local inn.
In the background, Bassano included a view of his home town in Italy. His aim was to bring home the relevance of the call to 'Love thy Neighbour' to his sixteenth-century audience.
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The story of Hagar and Ishmael is one of divine love. It is included in Christian, Jewish and Islamic writings. It tells how Abraham's wife Sarah gave him her servant Hagar so he could have a son. Later, Hagar and her son Ishmael were cast out by Sarah.
The Italian artist Guercino has chosen the moment when Ishmael is on the point of death in the wilderness. An angel appears and shows Hagar where to find water. Hagar's face shows her despair giving way to joy at their salvation.
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The title of this painting is from a poem by the nineteenth-century American writer Walt Whitman. He described an unbreakable partnership between two men, living a life of 'loving' and 'thieving'. For Hockney, the poem suggested the way gay partnerships had to exist outside the law at this time. Until 1967 homosexual relations were illegal in the UK.
The love between these two young men gives them strength to face opposition. The picture celebrates the idea of love triumphant and unrestricted.
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