Masterpiece Stories

Academic Art

Constructing Racism in Western Art – Hans Makart and the Case of Cleopatra

When Netflix cast Black actress Adele James as Cleopatra in a docu-series on the life of the famous Egyptian queen, the world went viral in a heated...

Kero Fichter 11 March 2025

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 11 March 2025

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 9 March 2025

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 9 March 2025

Women Artists

Mary Cassatt’s Feminist Mural Which Has Gone Missing

Mary Cassatt was a well-known Impressionist who often illustrated motherhood and traditional female activities in the 19th century. When she was 50,...

Magda Michalska 4 March 2025

Marietta Robusti, Self Portrait with Madrigal Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Self-Portrait with Madrigal by Marietta Robusti

The Venetian Renaissance painter Marietta Robusti has recently caused a stir in the art history world. Although only a few works are attributed to...

Anna Ingram 2 March 2025

Artemisia Gentileschi, Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–c. 1656) was “one of the best Italian Baroque painters.” Despite this, you won’t find any of her works in...

Chris Dobson 2 March 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Capturing the Moment by Joaquín Sorolla

The Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla spent most of his summers with his family in French Biarritz, 35 kilometers from the border with Spain. The beach...

Zuzanna Stańska 27 February 2025

Painting

Masterpiece Story: Vision of Spain by Joaquín Sorolla

Joaquín Sorolla’s monumental series, Vision of Spain, stands as one of the most ambitious and celebrated works of his career. Commissioned by the...

Nikolina Konjevod 26 February 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

This beautiful painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir is known under two titles. The first one – Two Sisters (in French: Les Deux Sœurs) was given to...

Zuzanna Stańska 25 February 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Theatre Box by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Entertainments such as cabarets, theatres, and the circus were popular themes among the Impressionist painters whose mission was portraying modern...

Zuzanna Stańska 25 February 2025

Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Cat at Play, ca 1860-78, oil on wood panel, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cat at Play by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip

Cat at Play is a masterpiece by Henriëtte Ronner-Knip who deserves to have her legacy revised and her fame revived. Art does not need to be radical...

James W Singer 23 February 2025