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Sculpture

Donatello’s Mary Magdalene: Penitence and Salvation

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...

Soledad Castillo Jara 19 September 2023

Nike of Samothrace, ca 200-175 BCE, Parian and Lartian marble, Paleopoli, Samothrace, Greece, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Nike of Samothrace

Nike of Samothrace is the masterpiece of an unknown Hellenistic artist. While the artist’s story may be unknown, the statue’s story is as complex...

James W Singer 18 September 2023

indian partition Asian Art

Pritika Chowdhry: Evoking the History of the Indian Partition

The narrative of the Indian partition lingers in the secluded corners of memory and experience. The partition of India and Pakistan, and later...

Urvi Chheda 18 September 2023

Cecilia Beaux, Twilight Confidences, 1888. Women Artists

Cecilia Beaux in 10 Paintings

American painter Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) cannot be neatly pigeonholed into any artistic category. Rather, she sits at a curious intersection...

Natalia Iacobelli 18 September 2023

Photograph of Vinnie Ream taken between 1866 and 1876. Source. Detail. Women Artists

Vinnie Ream: Should a Teenage Girl Sculpt Abraham Lincoln?

Vinnie Ream became the first woman to win a US government commission for a statue in 1866—at the age of 18! She created a life-sized figure of...

Kathie Manthorne 18 September 2023

Art History 101

Japonisme: Western Fever for Japanese Art and Culture

During the mid-19th and 20th centuries, Western art saw the birth of Japonisme. The term was coined by Philippe Burty in 1872 and refers to the craze...

Jimena Escoto 18 September 2023

Ancient Art

Have You Ever Seen Ancient Sculptures’ Colors?

We admire the beauty and plasticity of ancient sculptures, how harmoniously they fit into the surrounding landscape. But we rarely ask ourselves the...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 September 2023

Ancient Rome

How to Identify a Roman Emperor by His Beard

How many times have you walked into a museum full of statues or busts and not been able to tell one ancient sculpture from another? It can be...

Lauren Dorsey 18 September 2023

Women Artists

Emma Amos: The Story of Postmodernist African-American Artist

Emma Amos is a great example of how a Black woman artist can confront racism and sexism in the art world. On May 20th, 2020, Amos left us at the age...

Arianna Richetti 18 September 2023

Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610, Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano, Naples, Italy. Baroque

Caravaggio’s Last Painting: The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula

In May 1610, Caravaggio completed The Martyrdom of St Ursula. Two months later, he was dead. We investigate the story behind his last commission,...

Catriona Miller 17 September 2023

Post-Impressionism

Vincent van Gogh’s Last Painting?

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh painted one of his best-known artworks, Wheatfield with Crows. The painting is on display in The Van Gogh Museum in...

Heather Johnson 17 September 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Gustav Klimt’s Last Painting – Lady with a Fan

Since its creation, at the end of Gustav Klimt’s life, Lady with a Fan was controversial. The piece was shown to the public only three times,...

Giordana Goretti 17 September 2023