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Lucas Cranach The Elder, The Suicide of Lucretia, 1525-30, Staatliche Museen, Kassel, Germany. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

A Woman with A Knife: The Story of Lucretia

If you see a woman with a knife in a painting – think of Lucretia. She was an ancient Roman heroine whose fate played a vital role in the...

Zuzanna Stańska 15 March 2023

Erotica

Erotic Art in Pompeii and Herculaneum (NSFW!)

Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum is a phenomenon often omitted from textbooks about ancient history. These famous Roman cities destroyed by the...

Zuzanna Stańska 15 March 2023

Ancient Rome

Ancient Bikini Girls from the Roman Mosaics

If you have ever wondered when the history of the bikini began, it started at the same time and place in history as philosophy, mathematics, and art:...

Magda Michalska 15 March 2023

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, Destruction, 1836, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

Painting the Fall of the Roman Empire

After many centuries, we are still wondering why the Roman Empire disappeared. Many theories try to explain it: wars, ideological problems, a chaotic...

Celia Leiva Otto 15 March 2023

Ancient Rome

How to Identify a Roman Emperor by His Beard

How many times have you walked into a museum full of statues or busts and not been able to tell one ancient sculpture from another? It can be...

Lauren Dorsey 15 March 2023

Frederic Edwin Church aurora borealis: Frederic Edwin Church, Aurora Borealis, 1865, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, USA. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church

Aurora Borealis is an American national treasure. It explores the relationship between the land, its viewer, and its destiny. It is a masterpiece of...

James W Singer 14 March 2023

Artist Stories

Meet Harald Sohlberg, A Solitary Genius

Harald Sohlberg was a Norwegian painter whose works can be described as Neo-Romantic. He is particularly known for his depictions of the mountains of...

Zuzanna Stańska 14 March 2023

Art History 101

The Complicated History of Norse Mythology in Art

Literally speaking, mythology is an old-school kind of storytelling. “Mythos” is a Greek word for “story” while “logia” means...

Lana Pajdas 14 March 2023

Expressionism

The Amazing Midnight Sun in Paintings: Edvard Munch’s Summer Nights

Edvard Munch was fascinated by the Norwegian summer light which evokes both tranquillity and anxiety, two feelings that Munch tried to capture in his...

Magda Michalska 14 March 2023

Viking Art: Gokstad Ship, ca 890 BCE, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Medieval Art

Ancient Treasures from the North: Viking Art

Vikings and their culture have interested us since the days of the Viking expansion. There are numerous TV shows about them and sports teams named...

Rachel Witte 14 March 2023

Feathers in Pre-Columbian Art:Juan Bautista Cuiris, Portrait of Christ, 1950s, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Detail. South American Art

All the Fuss and Feathers in Pre-Columbian Art

Artisans in pre-Columbian and colonial Mexico, as in Peru, used feathers to create exquisite adornments for nobles, fancy textiles for the elite, and...

Alicja Gluszek 13 March 2023

Beatriz Milhazes, Sonho Tropical, 2017, White Cube Gallery, London, UK. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sonho Tropical by Beatriz Milhazes

Sonho Tropical is a visual feast of abstract art infused with the passion for a Brazilian landscape. Beatriz Milhazes fuses European modernity with...

James W Singer 13 March 2023