European Art

Baroque

Francisco de Zurbarán: The Spanish Caravaggio

Francisco de Zurbarán was one of the major Spanish painters of the 17th century. He is especially known for his religious subjects and for the...

Vithória Konzen Dill 7 November 2022

William Blake, Death on a Pale Horse, ca. 1800, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK. Art State of Mind

Not Only in Movies: The Apocalypse in Art

Recently, all over the world people have felt like they were “in the middle of the apocalypse”. Why does everyone naturally associate that word...

Camilla de Laurentis 7 November 2022

Baroque

Dark Shadows of Seville in Murillo’s Paintings

Apart from fulfilling commissions for churches and noblemen’s mansions, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted genre scenes depicting poor children in...

Soledad Castillo Jara 7 November 2022

Animals

The Medieval Bestiary – Cute, Quirky, and Weird Animals

Of all the medieval manuscripts, bestiaries are definitely the most fun. A medieval bestiary is a book about animals. It’s full of unusual...

Alexandra Kiely 6 November 2022

Animals

7 Images of Dürer’s Animals That Are Better Than Trip to a Zoo

Albrecht Dürer’s keen interest in nature was a typical manifestation of Renaissance curiosity. Animals were not generally considered to be...

Zuzanna Stańska 6 November 2022

Olafur Eliasson - Under the weather, 2022 Review

Olafur Eliasson’s Investigation of Time and Space at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence

Nel tuo tempo (In your time), which recently opened in Florence, is Icelandic-Danish Olafur Eliasson’s largest exhibition and first solo show in...

Carlotta Mazzoli 3 November 2022

Alexandre Cabanel, Cleopatra, 1887, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cleopatra by Alexandre Cabanel

Queen Cleopatra is a popular subject today – as she was in the late 19th century. Alexandre Cabanel’s Cleopatra explores a single moment of her...

James W Singer 3 November 2022

Art History 101

Orientalism – Quick Explanation

19th-century Europeans were fascinated by the Near East and North Africa. Everything began roughly around the time of the Napoleonic invasion of...

Magda Michalska 3 November 2022

Painting

11 Famous Funeral Paintings of Western Art

Funeral practices are deeply ingrained in all cultures. Varied traditions around the globe reflect widespread beliefs and values. On this day when we...

Zuzanna Stańska 1 November 2022

Ancient Art

Living Memories: The Funerary Stelae of Ancient Cyprus

The majority of sculpture that survives from ancient Cyprus are funerary stelae, elaborate grave markers to commemorate the dead. Possessing an...

Marga Patterson 1 November 2022

Edvard Munch, Love and pain, 1895, oil on canvas. The Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway. Bizarre

5 Vampire Paintings in Art

Vampires are one of the most known mythical creatures in history. The origins of their legend date back to ancient civilizations. Some ancient...

Errika Gerakiti 31 October 2022

History

Joanna of Castile: Story of a Misunderstood Queen in Portraits

Joanna of Castile, also known as Joanna the Mad, was never expected to inherit the throne of Castile and Aragon in the 16th century. Due to her...

Anna Ingram 31 October 2022