Painting the Fall of the Roman Empire
After many centuries, we are still wondering why the Roman Empire disappeared. Many theories try to explain it: wars, ideological problems, a chaotic...
Celia Leiva Otto 11 June 2023
Ancient Rome
Three Unique Portrayals of Europa’s Abduction Myth
The mesmerizing realm of Greek mythology is one of the greatest sources for artists to exhibit their technical brilliance and unique interpretations.
Erol Degirmenci 9 May 2023
Masterpiece Story: Mithras Slaying the Bull
Mithras Slaying the Bull is a compilation of the entire religious and symbolic images of Mithraism. It reflects promised immortality and personal...
James W Singer 14 April 2023
St. Peter’s Basilica—Layers of History
St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the most iconic buildings in Western culture. But, the facade we see today is the culmination of centuries of...
Ledys Chemin 10 April 2023
The Curious Lure and Strange Beauty of Ancient Anatomical Votives
Eerie, mysterious, and fascinating, ancient anatomical votives represent literal parts of people’s past. When most people think of a votive object,...
Marga Patterson 3 April 2023
The Ancient Queen and the Modern Sculptress: Zenobia by Harriet Hosmer
Harriet Hosmer, the 19th-century American sculptor from Watertown, Massachusetts was the exceptional talent behind the towering sculpture of Zenobia.
Maya M. Tola 16 March 2023
Ancient Bikini Girls from the Roman Mosaics
If you have ever wondered when the history of the bikini began, it started at the same time and place in history as philosophy, mathematics, and art:...
Magda Michalska 15 March 2023
The Lansdowne Heracles at the Getty Villa
Heracles (or Hercules) is perhaps the most frequently depicted hero in Greek and Roman art. This sculpture from approximately 125 CE, known as the...
Maya M. Tola 29 December 2022
Khaled al-Asaad — The Hero of Palmyra
Five years ago on August 18, 2015, the world-renowned Palmyran expert Khaled al-Asaad was brutally murdered by the Islamic State (ISIS) after weeks...
Maya M. Tola 18 August 2020
Gradiva: What Did Freud and the Surrealists See in Her?
A woman who walks. That’s what Gradiva (the name of an anonymous woman from an antique bas-relief) means, as given by a fictional character...
Magda Michalska 27 April 2020
Roman Holidays: Italian Landscapes Through the Eyes of Russian Artists
It is well known that Italy is a motherland of world masterpieces. Renaissance paintings, baroque architecture and Italian opera are the children of...
Guest Profile 23 April 2020
Titian’s The Death of Actaeon (Metamorphoses VIII)
A whistle-stop tour of each of the seven Poesies, which the Renaissance master delivered Philip II of Spain in the 1550s and early 1560s, finally...
Isla Phillips-Ewen 13 January 2020
