European Art

Renaissance

7 Facts You Didn’t Know About Primavera by Botticelli

La Primavera by Sandro Botticelli is one of the most famous paintings of the Renaissance. Its fame rests not just on its visual appeal, but on the...

Zuzanna Stańska 20 September 2024

Pieter van Aelst, Christ's Charge to Peter, from the Acts of the Apostles Renaissance

Renaissance Tapestries 101: Religious, Political, and Magical

Renaissance tapestries are the most underestimated subject in art history. As expensive and enormously large works of art, tapestries attributed to...

Anna Ingram 20 September 2024

Renaissance

Spot a Rug: Ottoman Carpets in Renaissance Paintings

Art history has always been inseparable from international trade exchanges and the mingling of nations and cultures. Manuscripts, works of art,...

Magda Michalska 20 September 2024

Anguish August Friedrich Schenck Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Anguish by August Friedrich Schenck

Surrounded by menacing crows, a mother sheep wails in anguish as her lifeless young lamb rests on a snowy bed. This scene, painted by August...

Montaine Dumont 18 September 2024

Painting

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey: Unveiling the Life of England’s Nine-Day Queen

Paul Delaroche’s Execution of Lady Jane Grey is a mesmerizing piece that captures the essence and tragedy of one of England’s most ill-fated...

Sabrina Phillips 18 September 2024

Love Story

Unhappily Ever After: Unequal Marriage by Vasili Pukirev

Vasili Pukirev’s painting, Unequal Marriage, has a legend surrounding it. Allegedly, after looking at it all the elderly grooms refused to marry...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 September 2024

Sculpture

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and His Bizarre Character Heads

The so-called character heads created by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt are not only a bizarre collection of sculptures but also a unique portrayal of...

Zuzanna Stańska 16 September 2024

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 15 September 2024

Art History 101

Proto-Renaissance 101: From Guilds to Giotto

A lot of focus is put on the Renaissance when learning art history. It spans a few centuries and is known as a period of great change in European...

Rachel Witte 13 September 2024

Self Potrait Anthony Van Dyck Painting

Anthony van Dyck: A Master of Baroque Portraiture

Anthony van Dyck was a master of Baroque portraiture, captivating the art world with his skillful depictions of European aristocracy. As a prominent...

Jimena Aullet 12 September 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Princesses Monument by Johann Gottfried Schadow

An unassuming and charming statue group, The Princesses Monument (Prinzessinnen-Denkmal) or Princesses Group (Prinzessinnengruppe) made by Johann...

Nadine Waldmann 11 September 2024

Baroque

3 Dutch Old Masters You Should Know

You probably are familiar with the names of the famous painters from the Netherlands like Rembrandt, Bosch, Vermeer… But have you heard of Joachim...

Magda Michalska 9 September 2024