Alexandra Kiely is an independent art historian based in the greater New York area. Her work focuses on making art, architecture, and art museums understandable to a general audience. She is the author of The Art Museum Insider, a book that guides those without art history training to have more informed and empowered experiences with art. Visit her website, A Scholarly Skater, and follow her on Instagram.
The Complicated Meaning and Mysterious Origin of The Cloisters Cross
The Cloisters Cross is a beautiful English Romanesque walrus ivory cross, likely dating to the middle of the 12th century. From the moment it...
Alexandra Kiely 9 December 2025
Female Artists of the Peale Family, America’s First Art Dynasty
The Peale family was America’s first artistic dynasty. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) was a prominent American artist and early museum...
Alexandra Kiely 8 December 2025
QUIZ: What Do You Know About Ancient Mosaics?
Alexandra Kiely 6 December 2025
Ravenna’s Byzantine Treasures: Mosaics in San Vitale
The early medieval church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, is most famous for its spectacular mosaics. In a city full of rich, Byzantine-style...
Alexandra Kiely 3 December 2025
All That Glitters: The Sparkling World of Medieval Mosaics
Welcome to the sparkling world of medieval mosaics! Although not as famous as illuminated manuscripts or stained glass, the mosaic was a popular art...
Alexandra Kiely 3 December 2025
Masterpiece Story: Pilgrims Going to Church by George Henry Boughton
Today’s Masterpiece Story is about Pilgrims Going to Church by George Henry Boughton (1833-1905). Even though Boughton grew up in America, he was...
Alexandra Kiely 27 November 2025
Landscape Painters, National Parks, and the American West in Art
The US National Parks are natural and man-made monuments legally set aside for protection and public enjoyment. Yellowstone became the first National...
Alexandra Kiely 18 November 2025
Karl Bodmer’s Portraits of Native Americans
The 2021 Karl Bodmer: North American Portraits exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City showcased compelling 19th-century...
Alexandra Kiely 3 November 2025
Masterpiece Story: Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman
Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman shows a pretty Roman woman and her three children. But it’s much more than that. It has an...
Alexandra Kiely 30 October 2025
