European Art

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Miranda by John William Waterhouse

The subject of this eerie painting by John William Waterhouse is Miranda, a character from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. She was detained on...

Guest Author 3 March 2026

Romanticism

Somewhere at Sea—Ivan Aivazovsky and His Marine Art

Many artists painted the sea, but only Ivan Aivazovsky was completely devoted to it. Over his long life (1817–1900), he dedicated thousands of...

Elizaveta Ermakova 3 March 2026

Baroque

Artemisia Gentileschi: A Changing Landscape for the Discourse of Art History

A lot of 16th and 17th-century art focuses on mythological tropes and origin stories that are deeply embedded in misogyny and sexual violence.

Guest Author 2 March 2026

Architecture

The Long History of the Duomo of Siena

The magnificent Santa Maria Assunta or the Duomo of Siena is one of Italy’s most important landmarks and a fine example of Italian...

Maya M. Tola 2 March 2026

Review

Disobedient — A Novel About Artemisia Gentileschi

Review of Disobedient by Elizabeth Freemantle. A novel about the early life of Baroque Italian artist Artemesia Gentileschi

Candy Bedworth 2 March 2026

Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Cat at Play, ca 1860-78, oil on wood panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cat at Play by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip

Cat at Play is a masterpiece by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip who deserves to have her legacy revised and her fame revived. Art does not need to be radical...

James W Singer 1 March 2026

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Breakfast of Birds by Gabriele Münter

Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) was a German Expressionist painter born in Berlin and most known for her landscapes and use of color. She developed a...

Heidi Werber 1 March 2026

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Zaga Christ by Giovanna Garzoni

The remarkable Portrait of Zaga Christ is considered the earliest known portrait of a Black sitter in Western art. It represents an unusual...

Guest Author 1 March 2026

Quiz

QUIZ: Who Painted These Spring Paintings?

Errika Gerakiti 28 February 2026

Mary Delany, Rosa Gallica, 1782 Women Artists

Mary Delany’s Flower Collages

Mary Delany was a socialite of 18th-century England. She is known for being one of the earliest members of the Bluestocking Society, but was also an...

Anna Ingram 27 February 2026

Painting

Van Gogh’s Marvelous Flower Paintings

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was an incredibly prolific artist whose paintings are known all over the world. Besides self-portraits and landscapes,...

Camilla de Laurentis 27 February 2026

OLGA WISINGER-FLORIAN, Summer‘s Evening (Roses in Full Splendor), 1896 © Leopold Private Collection Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna/Manfred Thumberger Painting

Olga Wisinger-Florian: The Queen of Flower Paintings from Vienna’s Golden Age

For a long time the memory of Viennese flower painter Olga Wisinger-Florian slumbered underneath a duvet of withered petals. Who knew that it was she...

Kero Fichter 27 February 2026