Masterpiece Story: Still Life with a Golden Goblet by Pieter de Ring
Why is food such a popular image for art and culture? For millennia it has been a source of inspiration from ancient Roman mosaics through Dutch...
James W Singer 22 December 2024
#Dutch Golden Age
Two Shades of Love in Vermeer’s Paintings
Many of the paintings by Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675) focus on the theme of love. Some of them involve music, letters, or a glass of wine,...
Tom Anderson 16 December 2024
Maria Sibylla Merian. An Artist Who Changed Science Forever
In the 17th century, it has been widely believed that insects were just spontaneously born of mud, dirt, or rotting flesh, but that notion has been...
Nicole Ganbold 9 December 2024
Carel Fabritius in 10 Paintings: Rembrandt’s Most Promising Pupil
Any biography of Carel Fabritius (Dutch, 1622–1654) is necessarily short; there simply is not much known about him. He was born in Beemster, a...
Tom Anderson 9 December 2024
Masterpiece Story: Young Woman Peeling Apples by Nicolaes Maes
Today’s Masterpiece Story is about this lovely genre painting by Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693), a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in...
Alexandra Kiely 8 December 2024
Masterpiece Story: Woman at Her Toilet by Jan Steen
Jan Steen’s Woman at Her Toilet is a provocative masterpiece of genre paintings because of its visual complexity and seductive allure, inviting...
James W Singer 8 December 2024
Masterpiece Story: Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch
Gallant Conversation by Gerard ter Borch is a genre painting filled with a mysterious narrative. What are the three people doing? Why are they in a...
James W Singer 8 December 2024
Yes, Santa Claus Is Real! His Name Is St. Nicholas
Who dressed in winter robes, bestowed gifts under the cover of night, and became a hero to children? This describes Nicholas of Myra, a Middle...
Helen Jeffery 6 December 2024
Art and Science in Vermeer Paintings
As a scientist, I have always been attracted to images of science in works of art—whether a portrait of Newton, a depiction of Galileo using his...
Tom Anderson 28 November 2024
A Small Guide to Still Life Symbols
You may think that all those marvelous Dutch still lifes from the 16th and 17th centuries were just some random sets of fruits, vegetables, and...
Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 26 November 2024
Beautiful Chinese Porcelain in Dutch Still Lifes
Chinese culture has always been an object of European fascination – in art history, we see it in paintings, ornaments, architecture, fashion, and...
Nicole Ganbold 26 November 2024
