Alexandra Kiely

Alexandra believes that enjoying the art of the past is the closest she can get to time travel, only much safer. When she's not being an art historian, she can usually be found ice skating and dancing. Visit her at ascholarlyskater.com.

Stories By Alexandra Kiely

Art State of Mind

Book Review: Sister Wendy’s 100 Best-loved Paintings

By Alexandra KielyNovember 9, 2019

Late last year, the art world mourned the death of Sister Wendy Beckett (1930-2018), the quirky British nun who became a world-wide sensation as a television art commentator. Little did we know that the good sister...
Animals

Here Be Medieval Dragons

By Alexandra KielyOctober 24, 2019

Dragons are everywhere in popular culture. People make movies about them, collect stuffed animals of them, and dress up as them for Halloween. They have been staples of every major fantasy series in the past century....
Museums And Exhibitions

John Singer Sargent’s Charcoal Portraits at The Morgan Library

By Alexandra KielyOctober 10, 2019

John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal opened at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York on October 4th. It is the first-ever museum exhibition to focus exclusively on Sargent’s charcoal portrait drawings. It’s a terrific...
Seasons

Welcome Autumn with Jasper Cropsey’s Colorful Landscape Paintings

By Alexandra KielySeptember 23, 2019

Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900) was an American artist of the Hudson River School movement. He is often called “The Painter of Autumn” because of his colorful autumnal landscape paintings. Since today is the first day of...
Impressionism

Matilda Browne, a Forgotten Female Impressionist

By Alexandra KielySeptember 14, 2019

Matilda Browne (1869-1947) was a successful artist in the early 20th century, but unfortunately, few people know her name or her art today. Matilda Browne showed promising artistic talent early in her life. Growing up in...
Impressionism

Painting of the Week: Edward Henry Potthast, Ocean Breezes

By Alexandra KielySeptember 8, 2019

This week’s Painting of the Week is Ocean Breezes by Edward Henry Potthast. It’s a wonderfully vivid work, showing two girls and their mother caught up in the breeze at the beach. Standing in front of...
Impressionism

Florence Griswold – “Patron Saint” of American Impressionism

By Alexandra KielyAugust 28, 2019

Florence Griswold wasn’t an artist or even an art collector, but she was a key figure in American Impressionism. The New York Times even called her the movement’s “Patron Saint”. Florence Griswold (1850-1937) came from an...
Middle Ages

“Angel with Attitude”. Grumpy Angel from The Hyde Collection

By Alexandra KielyAugust 17, 2019

Angel is a painting by Niccolò di Ser Sozzo, c. 1350, owned by The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY. This is an unusual depiction of an angel with her* arms crossed. She’s not the serene...
Animals

The Medieval Bestiary – Cute, Quirky, and Weird Animals

By Alexandra KielyAugust 7, 2019

Of all the medieval manuscripts, bestiaries are definitely the most fun. A medieval bestiary is a book about animals. It’s full of unusual information and charming illustrations about a variety of creatures. Bestiaries were based on...
Baroque

A Secret Revealed in a Dresden Vermeer

By Alexandra KielyJuly 31, 2019

A major German art museum recently revealed an exciting new discovery – a hidden image of a Cupid in Johannes Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, 1657-1659. Conservators at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister...