#Portraits

Arpita Shah Modern Muse Photography

Modern Muse: Arpita Shah’s Feminist Take on Mughal Portraiture

Staging an intervention in art history, and specifically in Indian miniature portraiture, Arpita Shah replaces male Mughal emperors with inspiring...

Guest Author 17 March 2025

Women Artists

12 Indian Female Artists Portraying Other Women

The depiction of women has been essential imagery in the course of Indian art since the ancient era. Associated with fertility, abundance, and...

Guest Author 17 March 2025

Herstory

Margaret of Austria: The Public Image of a Renaissance Stateswoman

Instagram and other social media have long since taken over our inherent need to be seen and acknowledged by our surroundings. But this deliberate...

Kero Fichter 6 March 2025

Renaissance

Simonetta Vespucci: The Renaissance Top Model

If you would like to spot one woman from the Renaissance who could be called a top model—it would be Simonetta Vespucci. Nicknamed La Bella,...

Zuzanna Stańska 6 March 2025

Artist Stories

Broncia Koller-Pinell: An Artist Lost to Time

If you are like me, it is entirely probable that you have never heard of Broncia Koller-Pinell (1863–1934). It has nothing to do with the quality...

Rachel Witte 3 March 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

Lady with an Ermine Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci

One of the greatest masterpieces of Western art, Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, presents Cecilia Gallerani (ca. 1473-1536). Young,...

Zuzanna Stańska 23 February 2025

Painting

Where Is the Queen? Black Women in Western Art

For centuries, Black women appeared in Western art as slaves, servants, or exotic novelties. But as regal queens and leaders? Shamefully not. We will...

Candy Bedworth 17 February 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The African King Caspar by Hendrik Heerschop

White subjects have dominated the Western art tradition for millennia, while people of color have been vastly underrepresented and misrepresented.

James W Singer 16 February 2025

Henri Manuel, Marie Curie in her laboratory, located rue Cuvier, 1908, Musée Curie, Paris, France. Photography

Marie Curie—Portraits of the Double Nobel Prize Winner

Marie Skłodowska-Curie is arguably the most famous female scientist in history and one of the most accomplished scientists ever. Since she was a...

Jimena Escoto 11 February 2025

Jacques Louis David, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and Marie Anne Lavoisier, Herstory

Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier: The Unsung Mother of Modern Chemistry

A trailblazing French chemist and scholar, Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier was at the cutting edge of scientific research during the Age of...

Natalia Iacobelli 11 February 2025

Painting

Amy Sherald and the Quiet Revolution of Black Portraiture

Imagine a portrait of a woman, her skin rendered in shades of gray, her gaze direct yet serene, dressed in a strikingly modern, patterned dress. The...

Sabrina Phillips 7 February 2025