History

Quiz

QUIZ: Can You Guess This Ancient God?

Ania Kaczynska 13 December 2025

Painting

José María Velasco: The Master of Mexican Landscapes

In the vast panorama of 19th-century Mexican art, few figures shine as brightly as José María Velasco. Born in 1840 in Temascalcingo, State of...

Jimena Aullet 11 December 2025

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (detail), 1904-07, oil, silver, and gold on canvas, Neue Galerie New York Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I is Gustav Klimt’s most significant work of portraiture. The famous Lady in Gold has as many eye-catching...

Emily Snow 9 December 2025

WTF Art History

Top 10 Weird Christian Relics

Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes… Saintly toes? The variety of saintly relics really offers it all. I hope all of this is not too morbid for you.

Marta Wiktoria Bryll 8 December 2025

Medieval Art

Celebrity Sculptors, Medieval Fraud and Nazi Looting—An Outrageous Story of the Golden Veit Stoss Altarpiece

This is the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world and a national treasure of Poland. Carved over a period of 12 years, the 15th century Veit Stoss...

Candy Bedworth 5 December 2025

Medieval Art

Ravenna’s Byzantine Treasures: Mosaics in San Vitale

The early medieval church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, is most famous for its spectacular mosaics. In a city full of rich, Byzantine-style...

Alexandra Kiely 3 December 2025

A Victorian Christmas card featuring a robin in a top hat and a robin in a bonnet. The text reads: ‘Happy returns. Christmas comes but once a year.’ History

Victorian Christmas Cards: Strange or Timeless?

It’s thanks to the Victorians that the tradition of sending Christmas cards exists. The very first commercial Christmas card was sent in 1843, and...

Jenna Burns 2 December 2025

Quiz

QUIZ: Looted Cultural Objects in Western Museums

Jimena Escoto 29 November 2025

The Real History of Thanksgiving. Samoset is depicted as welcoming Pilgrims in Plymouth in 1621 in this book illustration published in 1853. History. History

The (Real) History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving brings families together to share rich meals featuring turkey, stuffing, and seasonal décor like pumpkins and warm autumn colors.

Errika Gerakiti 26 November 2025

Art of Australia & Oceania

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Looted from Australia

At the end of the 18th century, the British Empire added Australia to its territory. Since the infamous arrival of Captain Cook white people have...

Jimena Escoto 25 November 2025

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Henry VIII of England, ca. 1537, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.  History

Royal Portraits: The Art of Image

Shakespeare once wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” For monarchs...

Abreeza Thomas 24 November 2025

Fashion

Dressed in Power: Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo by Agnolo Bronzino

The best-known image of Eleanor of Toledo also features one of the most beautiful dresses in art history. Don’t be too distracted by the beauty of...

Vithória Konzen Dill 17 November 2025