The characteristic of arousing surprise for the observer is typical for the so-called Wunderkammer or Cabinet of Curiosities. These are real rooms of wonders where, in an undifferentiated mix of art and science, of naturalia and artificialia, the...

Why did Michelangelo portray Moses with horns? Why are there monkeys in Giulio Romano’s Chamber of Giants? And why does the Nativity scene represent Jesus with an ox and a donkey? Well, these amongst others are all mistakes...

During the Italian Renaissance, women artists were not allowed the same access to artistic education as men. Sofonisba Anguissola, however, used her rare access to artistic training to achieve a successful international career. She paved the way for...

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, better known as Donatello, was a sculptor born around 1386 in Florence, which is also the city in which he died in 1466. His work evidences the shift towards naturalism and perspective...

Everyone has heard about the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece at the Louvre museum in Paris. But you have probably never heard about… her illnesses! Doctors sometimes try to make a medical diagnosis of the main characters...

It is well known that Italy is a motherland of world masterpieces. Renaissance paintings, baroque architecture and Italian opera are the children of Italy. From the first decades of the 18th-century, the Russian emperor, Peter the Great, sent...

In the last weeks, we have heard a lot about doctors and healthcare workers, thinking of them as present-day heroes facing up to death. But what do they usually do in everyday life? This journey will go through...