#history painting

Dine & Wine

Prost! Oktoberfest in Paintings

Oktoberfest, as the name suggests, is a traditional German beer festival held annually in October (although it starts already in late September). For...

Magda Michalska 16 October 2023

Renaissance

The Lost Portrait of Henry VIII: Art in Service of Power

Posing proudly in front of the fascinated spectator, a monarch fixes us with his majestic gaze. Perhaps you recognized the best-known portrait of...

Montaine Dumont 14 October 2023

Painting

A Tale of Revenge and Justice: The Oresteia in Paintings

Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five good Roman emperors once wrote: “The best way to avenge yourself is not to become as they are” (Meditations...

Erol Degirmenci 10 July 2023

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1656) was the most accomplished female painter of the Italian Baroque. She specialized in Biblical scenes of strong...

James W Singer 8 July 2023

Women Artists

5 Things You Should Know About Michaelina Wautier

Michaelina Wautier was born in Mons in 1604. This Flemish painter has been absent in art history for many years, but her life and work are slowly...

Vithória Konzen Dill 8 January 2023

Art History 101

Orientalism – Quick Explanation

19th-century Europeans were fascinated by the Near East and North Africa. Everything began roughly around the time of the Napoleonic invasion of...

Magda Michalska 3 November 2022

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques-Louis David

Whether you are within an academic environment or at a coffee shop, when the term “Neoclassicism” and its huge influence on the visual arts...

Erol Degirmenci 30 August 2022

Atala. Luis Monroy Josué, Last Moments of Atala, 1871,Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, Mexico. Literature

Atala: The Tragedy that Transcended Pages

In the 19th century, Europeans went crazy for one story: Atala, or the Story of Two Lovers in the Desert. It is a novel by René de Chateaubriand...

Jimena Escoto 3 January 2022

Romanticism

The Troubadour Style: Fantasized Rediscovery of the Middle Ages in Painting

The rediscovery of medieval civilization is one of the most striking French intellectual curiosities of the later 18th century and early 19th...

Montaine Dumont 28 September 2021

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: A Ride for Liberty by Eastman Johnson

The cool morning dew blew against their warm sweaty skin as the horse led them towards the free North. Stories of another life, a free life,...

James W Singer 11 April 2021

Artist Stories

Jan Matejko – The Painter of Polish History

Jan Matejko (1838–1893) is one of the most famous Polish painters. When he was in his twenties, he was twice awarded the gold medal at the World...

Judyta Dąbrowska 21 January 2021

Russian History through the Eyes of Vasily Surikov

In the 19th century Russia historical painting was freed from formality and canons. We find a good example of this in the work of Vasily Surikov...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 January 2021