Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Zaga Christ by Giovanna Garzoni
The remarkable Portrait of Zaga Christ is considered the earliest known portrait of a black sitter in Western art. It represents an unusual...
Guest Profile 20 February 2025
Masterpiece Stories
Masterpiece Story: Queen Mother Idia of Benin
Africa is a beautiful continent filled with sweeping landscapes and mighty rivers. Its history is filled with great kingdoms and large empires. Its...
James W Singer 17 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Madeleine by Marie-Guillemine Benoist
What is the message behind Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s Portrait of Madeleine? The history and tradition behind this 1800 painting might explain...
Jimena Escoto 16 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies
Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies is an enigmatic and highly unusual imaginative portrait made in 1650s England. It reveals a fascinating story...
Nicole Ganbold 16 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley by Girodet
Although representations of Black people were overlooked in European art for a long time, current social and political movements participate to...
Amélie Pascutto 16 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: The African King Caspar by Hendrik Heerschop
White subjects have dominated the Western art tradition for millennia, while people of color have been vastly underrepresented and misrepresented.
James W Singer 16 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: A Ride for Liberty by Eastman Johnson
The cool morning dew blew against their warm sweaty skin as the horse led them towards the free North. Stories of another life, a free life,...
James W Singer 16 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: The Monkey Painter by Jean-Baptiste Chardin
It’s tacky! It’s funny! It’s weird! Yes, Jean-Baptiste Chardin’s The Monkey Painter is definitely not what you would consider in good taste.
James W Singer 12 February 2025
Constructing Racism in Western Art – Hans Makart and the Case of Cleopatra
When Netflix cast Black actress Adele James as Cleopatra in a docu-series on the life of the famous Egyptian queen, the world went viral in a heated...
Kero Fichter 10 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Reclining Mother and Child II by Paula Modersohn-Becker
Does any image say primal love more than this powerful painting by Paula Modersohn-Becker? It is an artwork that includes not just children but also...
Candy Bedworth 9 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Street, Dresden by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
The swirling crowds and electric lights of the modern city. This is the subject of today’s Masterpiece Story, created by one of the greatest...
Zuzanna Stańska 9 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Fate of the Animals by Franz Marc
Fate of the Animals is an Expressionist masterpiece by Franz Marc that captures Marc’s admiration of animals and pessimism of...
James W Singer 9 February 2025
