Celestial Bodies in Art—Comets, Planets and Stars
When we think about flying objects we usually imagine birds, planes, kites, balloons, or even UFOs! It’s easy to forget that at one point the...
Sarah Mills 20 February 2025
#Symbols
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
Holy Cow! Why Did the Dutch Painters Love Cows?
Every time I look at 17th-century Dutch paintings, I ask myself the same question: why do they always show cows? You will probably think this is a...
Magda Michalska 12 February 2025
Masterpiece Story: Madonna by Edvard Munch
The Norwegian painter Edvard Munch realized the colored lithograph Madonna in 1895. He is considered the precursor of Expressionism, therefore his...
Maia Heguiaphal 9 February 2025
5 Translation Mistakes That Changed Art History
Why did Michelangelo portray Moses with horns? Why are there monkeys in Giulio Romano’s Chamber of Giants? And why does the Nativity scene...
Arianna Richetti 27 January 2025
The Mystery of Dürer’s Magic Square
Many very strange symbols appear in Albrecht Dürer’s famous engraving Melencolia I. Among them is a magic constant 34, a well-known and enigmatic...
Zuzanna Stańska 27 January 2025
Masterpiece Story: The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger
The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger is one of those paintings that we know so well we tend to forget to look closer. It’s like the Mona...
Joanna Kaszubowska 27 January 2025
Why Is She So Hairy? Iconography of Mary Magdalene
Whenever I come across Gothic or early Renaissance representations of Mary Magdalene I always ask myself this question – why is she so hairy? Keep...
Magda Michalska 10 January 2025
Masterpiece Story: Threatened Swan by Jan Asselijn
Swans are normally characterized as graceful birds. They are magnificent and majestic. However, Jan Asselijn displays another side of these elegant...
James W Singer 5 January 2025
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
Circus and Jazz of Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a renowned French artist celebrated for his bold use of color. One of his lesser-known masterpieces, The Circus, is a...
Isla Phillips-Ewen 26 December 2024
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
