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Birds and death in paintings

What have birds got to do with death? Ed Dickenson reveals some of the hidden meanings in our paintings

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Paintings featured in this video:

The Virgin and Child by Master of the Borgo Crucifix

The Baptism of Christ by Piero della Francesca

The Trinity with Christ Crucified

The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius by Carlo Crivelli

The Adoration of the Kings by Jan Gossaert

The Judgement of Paris by Peter Paul Rubens

The Madonna and Child ‘La Madonna del Gatto’ by Federico Barocci

The Holy Family with Saints by Garofalo

The Virgin and Child with Saints by Jacob Jordaens

The Graham Children by William Hogarth

Still Life with Lemons by Juan de Zurbarán

Still Life: Vanities by Harmen Steenwyck

A Woman in a Red Jacket feeding a Parrot by Frans van Mieris the Elder

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ 

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