European Art

Johan Thomas Lundbye, View from Kitnæs on Roskilde Fjord, 1843, National Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: View from Kitnæs on Roskilde Fjord by Johan Thomas Lundbye

View from Kitnæs on Roskilde Fjord by Johan Thomas Lundbye is a masterpiece of 19th century Danish landscape painting. It set a new standard for the...

James W Singer 6 June 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660) was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and one of the most important painters of...

Joanna Kaszubowska 6 June 2022

Art History 101

Everything You Must Know About Las Meninas

This is one of Velázquez’s largest paintings in which he worked very hard to create a complex and credible composition that would convey a...

Zuzanna Stańska, Nicole Ganbold 6 June 2022

Surrealism

Marion Adnams: A Teacher Who Turned Into a Surrealist

Would you ever suspect one of your teachers to be a painter? Marion Adnams, a modern languages teacher from Derby, England turned out to be a hidden...

Magda Michalska 4 June 2022

Baroque

5 Greatest Baroque Painters and Their Works

Peter Paul Rubens, Caravaggio, Diego Velázquez, Rembrandt van Rijn and Nicolas Poussin – they were the five greatest painters of the 17th century.

Pola Otterstein 2 June 2022

European Art

The Most Painted Woman in the World Was Lesbian: Suzy Solidor

Born in 1900, Suzanne Louise Marie Marion, known as Suzy Solidor, was a French artist who sang and acted in movies, but over time she became most...

Pola Otterstein 2 June 2022

Painting

Famous Painters and Their Children

On June 1st, 1925, the World Conference for the Well-Being of Children held in Geneva, Switzerland, proclaimed June 1 to be International...

Magda Michalska 1 June 2022

Painting

These 4 Cute Children by Joshua Reynolds Will Make You Miss Childhood

Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the British Royal Academy founded in 1768, was an exemplary painter. Having traveled to Italy on his...

Magda Michalska 1 June 2022

Painting

Double, Double Toil and Trouble: Witches in Art and Modern Media

One of my favorite parts of the Halloween season are the scary and cult classic movies shown on repeat all month long. The fact is, we can actually...

Rachel Witte 31 May 2022

Jacobus Vrel (act. ca. 1650-1670), A Woman at a Window Waving at a Child, Fondation Custodia, Frits Lugt Collection, Paris Artist Stories

A Dutch Mystery: Jacobus Vrel

Jacobus Vrel is a ghostly figure in art history because, up to this moment, there is almost no official data about him. No record of his existence...

Irina Diana Calu 30 May 2022

Fashion

Dress Like a Byzantine Empress – Byzantine Art in Fashion Collections

Have you ever wondered how Byzantine art stepped onto the catwalk? It all started with Empress Theodora and a Byzantine-inspired piece of jewelry...

Ela Bobek 28 May 2022

History

Enslaved Black Models in European Art: Anonymous Objects?

Portraits of Black people are rare in European art history. Let’s be clear: they were there, in society, but they rarely made it into art, except...

Candy Bedworth 27 May 2022