The old notion of “slaying the dragon” has had a pervasive presence in our culture for centuries, yet few know the actual origins of the popular expression. One story that certainly increased…
art history
The name Monet is perhaps one of the most recognizable in the world of art, but overwhelmingly, it is associated with the life and paintings of …
Museum-goers, this author included, are often guilty of walking past still life paintings of food, dismissing them as dull and anodyne. Yet, taking in the context of when they were created, these…
So much of what we know about art comes from art historians, but how much do we know about the art historians themselves?
Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and …
Can the visual arts capture movement in stillness? This slideshow traces the representation of dance, particularly of dancing groups, through western…
Copying within the context of the art world has evolved over the centuries. What was once understood as a vital tool for study and learning is now often perceived, especially by laymen, as a kind of…
In a new Art & Object series, we’ll take a look at some of history’s greatest jewelry stories, showing you how and why jewelry is such a powerful artistic, cultural, and historical artifact.
These eight artists bent the rules when branding themselves. Although they worked across two centuries, all chose to adopt their mother’s family names instead of abiding by the traditional patriarchy…
On Easter Monday, April 21st, Pope Francis– head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the …
Much as the late nineteenth-century American myth of Manifest Destiny was used to justify westward expansion, many history paintings worked to shape and uphold stories of superiority and inferiority…
Grisaille made a name for itself in European artwork. Literally meaning “greyness” in French from the prefix gris, the method reached its peak of prominence during the sixteenth century. The…
The newly expanded Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary in Virginia is a fitting showcase for …
On a visit to a museum, one usually hones in on the quest to take in as much art as possible. As one walks between galleries, absorbing centuries of art, an expected but often overlooked…
In the 1940s, Disney famously released a series of movies that were either shorter features or a collection of separate segments with or without a vaguely-defined overarching theme, known as…
