Special

Asian Art

Edo Period in 10 Words and 4 Schools of Painting

Edo period in Japan lasted from 1603 to 1867/1868. During this time the country was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate. Those 250 years were a time of...

Joanna Kaszubowska 28 January 2025

Asian Art

Art from Horror Movies: Japanese Woodblocks of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

For centuries, gore has been part of the culture in Japan, rooted in its history. Its representation is very common in woodblock engraving pictures.

Sofia Rodriguez Cuevas 28 January 2025

European Art

Did Pieter Bruegel Play Dice? The Story of Seemingly Insignificant Detail

Pieter Bruegel The Elder was a prominent Flemish painter of the 16th century, famed for his vivid, often humorous depictions of peasant life and...

Guest Profile 27 January 2025

Painting

Masterpiece Story: Niagara by Frederic Edwin Church

At a time when American newspapers flourished and new dailies popped up like weeds, Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900) invited reporters to his...

Guest Profile 27 January 2025

Piero della Francesca Artist Stories

Piero della Francesca: Artist, Mathematician, Humanist

Piero della Francesca was not only an accomplished artist of the Early Renaissance, but also one of the greatest mathematicians of his day. His works...

Natalia Iacobelli 27 January 2025

Dürer Magic Square Bizarre

The Mystery of Dürer’s Magic Square

Many very strange symbols appear in Albrecht Dürer’s famous engraving Melencolia I. Among them is a magic constant 34, a well-known and enigmatic...

Zuzanna Stańska 27 January 2025

Design

The Last Craftsman. Exploring Henry van de Velde and the Passage of Modernism

Until 1972, the Museen zu Berlin exhibited, among other things, a teapot and its accompanying set. From above, the teapot is around 22 centimetres...

Geoffrey Bunting 27 January 2025

WTF Art History

5 Translation Mistakes That Changed Art History

Why did Michelangelo portray Moses with horns? Why are there monkeys in Giulio Romano’s Chamber of Giants? And why does the Nativity scene...

Arianna Richetti 27 January 2025

Art State of Mind

From Toys to Means of Transport: Balloons in Art

When we think of flying objects in art we might not put balloons at the top of our list, and yet they appear everywhere. As the words from Jethro...

Sarah Mills 27 January 2025

Artist Stories

The Mysterious Pinturas Negras Reveal Goya’s Darkest Secrets

There are already several articles that treat in detail the life and works of Francisco Goya. If you want to learn about his career or most famous...

Magda Michalska 27 January 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger is one of those paintings that we know so well we tend to forget to look closer. It’s like the Mona...

Joanna Kaszubowska 27 January 2025

Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps, 1802, Château de Versailles, France. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps is one of the most famous and politically iconic images of European art history. However, it is a...

James W Singer 26 January 2025