Baroque

Georges de La Tour, The Fortune Teller Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Fortune Teller by Georges de La Tour

The Fortune Teller is one of Georges de La Tour’s early masterpieces. The Baroque oil painting, once questioned by the Louvre Museum for its...

Anna Ingram 12 March 2023

Jacob Peter Gowy, The Fall of Icarus, 1635-1637, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Detail. Baroque

The Fall of Icarus: Drama in Baroque Painting

Imagine you’re standing in front of a painting that tells the tragic story of Icarus falling from the sky. The artist’s task was not only...

Lana Pajdas 11 March 2023

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1744, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Artist Stories

Tiepolo: The Last Venetian Master

Mainland Italy is a perfect country for fresco production since it is dominated by a dry climate that preserves frescoes very well. Even though...

Magda Michalska 5 March 2023

News

Vermeer As You’ve Never Seen Before at the Rijksmuseum

This year we have a chance to witness the largest Vermeer exhibition to ever be held. From 10 February to 4 June 2023,  the Rijksmuseum is...

Nicole Ganbold 2 March 2023

* Johannes Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid (c. 1670–71), National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, Ireland. Artist Stories

5 Things You Should Know About Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who lived and worked during the Dutch Golden Age. Along with Rembrandt and Frans Hals, he is considered one of...

Anastasia Manioudaki 2 March 2023

Johannes Vermeer, A Girl Asleep, 1656–1657, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. Baroque

Vermeer’s Desperate Housewives

Johannes Vermeer was a master of ambiguity. His silent and calm interiors, and beautiful Dutch women, although innocent at first glance, seem to be...

Magda Michalska 2 March 2023

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, ca. 1660, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer

Among many representations of domestic scenes of respectable Dutch middle-class households, there is one that never ceases to impress and capture the...

Giordana Goretti 2 March 2023

Johannes Vermeer, Girl With a Pearl Earring, c. 1665, Mauritshuis, Hague, The Netherlands. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

The Girl with a Pearl Earring is usually the first image that comes to mind when we think of Johannes Vermeer. It has inspired multiple references in...

Soledad Castillo Jara 2 March 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Vase with Flowers by Rachel Ruysch

Let’s discuss one of the greatest still-life artists: Rachel Ruysch. Still-life paintings do not draw the crowds at museums. They are often...

James W Singer 28 February 2023

Baroque

Four Groundbreaking Buildings by Francesco Borromini

Francesco Borromini (1599-1667) was the most innovative and imaginative architect of the Italian Baroque tradition. Along with his contemporaries...

Alexandra Kiely 16 February 2023

Women Artists

Maria Sibylla Merian. An Artist Who Changed Science Forever

In the 17th century, it has been widely believed that insects were just spontaneously born of mud, dirt, or rotting flesh, but that notion has been...

Nicole Ganbold 11 February 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt painted this group portrait of seven surgeons and the physician Nicolaes Tulp in 1632. He was only 26 years old at that point. Nicolaes...

Zuzanna Stańska 10 February 2023