#mythology

Sculpture

Masterpiece Story: Perseus with the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa is a sculpture that is commonly overlooked. In fact, it could be the most regularly overlooked...

James Wray 17 January 2025

Asian Art

Why Is Shiva Blue? The Churning of the Ocean of Milk

The churning of the ocean of milk is a momentous event in Hindu mythology that appears in the Bhagwat Purana, Vishnu Purana, and the Mahabharata. It...

Maya M. Tola 16 January 2025

Asian Art

Dragons in East Asian Art

Imagination is the only limit to the stories and myths about dragons. From East to West, storytellers paint them as creatures of fire, of deep...

Yifan Xia 16 January 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: An Allegory with Venus and Cupid by Agnolo Bronzino

An Allegory with Venus and Cupid by Agnolo Bronzino from the National Gallery in London is one of the most mysterious masterpieces of Mannerism. It...

Joanna Kaszubowska 29 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Birth of Venus by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The Birth of Venus is probably the most famous painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and it is considered a masterpiece of French Academic...

James W Singer 29 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sleeping Venus by Giorgione and Titian

Giorgione and Titian’s Sleeping Venus is a masterpiece of the Venetian Renaissance school of painting. It explores sensual nudity through a...

James W Singer 29 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus by Sir Joshua Reynolds is a complex masterpiece of mythological allusion, seductive implications, and historical...

James W Singer, 29 December 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660) was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and one of the most important painters of...

Joanna Kaszubowska 29 December 2024

Quiz

QUIZ: Guess the Greek Myth

Anastasia Manioudaki 21 December 2024

Romanticism

The Poetry in Painting—Turner’s Ovid in Exile

This petite (9.5 x 12.5 cm, 3 3/4 x 4 in.) oil on canvas by J. M. W. Turner contains big things: big landscapes, big stories and big skies. It is an...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 18 December 2024

Constance Mayer: constance mayer Women Artists

Constance Mayer and Pierre Prud’hon: Better Together?

Constance Mayer (1775-1821) was one of a generation of women artists who took advantage of the new freedoms offered by the French Revolution. She...

Catriona Miller 16 December 2024

Quiz

QUIZ: Can You Guess This Ancient God?

Ania Kaczynska 14 December 2024