Diego Velazquez's most famous painting...

"Las Meninas", one of the most famous of Velazquez's paintings, was comissioned as a portrait of the Spanish Royal family. Instead, it is the artist's statement about the personalities, relationships and ironies of that family.

Notice how the king and queen are actually placed far in the back, reflected in a mirror..... in fact, the painting is meant  to place  YOU as the king and queen.

The doll-like girl in the middle is their daughter, with her "ladies in wait" on either side. 

The artist himself is shown in the painting, wearing the red seal of his rank proudly on his chest.

Notice how the background shapes line up on diagonals, aimed at the daughter? See how the artist leads you into and through the painting-

Margaret Bowland

A good example of a painter "telling a story", Bowland uses references to historic painter's work (like Velasquez) using modern subjects....
She has impressive skill at drawing and painting realistically, but that is greatly ENHANCED by her strong IDEAS..

See more about her here.....

Yuqui Wang's painting build on the past...

Wang describes his influences from the Pre-Raphaelites

Jacob Fossum's Nairrative paintings

Look how this talented painting major is using images (things you can name) in his paintings to tell a story..... His blog mentions that he likes the "Peter Pan" stories and combined them with Michelangelo's "Pieta" sculpture in his work.
Here is a photo of the "Pieta" and then one of Jacob's paintings....

Michelangelo's "Pieta"