Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Vase with Flowers by Rachel Ruysch

Let’s discuss one of the greatest still-life artists: Rachel Ruysch. Still-life paintings do not draw the crowds at museums. They are often...

James W Singer 28 January 2024

manet monet quiz Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe) (1863) was one of the first works that broke away from established...

Catriona Miller 23 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman

Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Angelica Kauffman shows a pretty Roman woman and her three children. But it’s much more than that. It has an...

Alexandra Kiely 21 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth. Three of the Seven Deadly Sins are depicted in Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s The Roses of Heliogabalus. Many other sins are...

James W Singer 21 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with a Golden Goblet by Pieter de Ring

Why is food such a popular image for art and culture? For millennia it has been a source of inspiration from ancient Roman mosaics through Dutch...

James W Singer 20 January 2024

Johannes Vermeer, View of Delft, 1660-1661, Mauritshuis, The Hage, Netherlands Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer

Between 1660 and 1661, Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer created three paintings of his hometown, Delft. These are The Little Street, the now-lost...

Javier Abel Miguel 18 January 2024

Kūka’ilimoku, ca 1795-1822, ʻŌhiʻa lehua Wood, Kawaihae, Hawai’i, British Museum, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Kūka’ilimoku

Kūka’ilimoku is a masterpiece of Hawaiian art. It is an artistic icon of Hawai’i, Polynesia, and Oceania. With so little Oceanic art displayed...

James W Singer 18 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Ten Largest by Hilma af Klint

Hilma af Klint was a Swedish abstract artist who was way ahead of her time. She might just be the first abstract painter in Western modern art...

Jinnie Stork 15 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Still Life with Mackerel by Anne Vallayer-Coster

Anne Vallayer-Coster was one of the foremost still-life painters in 18th-century France. She was enormously prolific and extremely popular. Her works...

James W Singer 14 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms by Pieter Aertsen

Pieter Aertsen’s Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms is an interesting painting as it provides a wonderful glimpse into the varied...

James W Singer 14 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Gentleman’s Table by Claude Raguet Hirst

A Gentleman’s Table by Claude Raguet Hirst is a mysterious painting that echoes the realism of Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Henry Ossawa...

James W Singer 14 January 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sunlight and Shadow by Albert Bierstadt

Sunlight and Shadow is a beautiful painting made by Albert Bierstadt in 1862. It shows a chapel at the Castle of Lowenburg, in Wilhelmshöhe,...

Alexandra Kiely 9 January 2024