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 Profile 3 September 2023
#royal portraits
Ravenna’s Byzantine Treasures: Mosaics in San Vitale
The early medieval church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, is most famous for its spectacular mosaics. In a city full of rich, Byzantine-style...
Alexandra Kiely 21 August 2023
Thérèse Schwartze: The Painter of the Amsterdam’s Elite
Thérèse Schwartze (1851–1918) grew up in an artistic family in Amsterdam. Her father Johann Georg Schwartze was a painter and he introduced his...
Europeana 21 August 2023
Most Beautiful Dresses: Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo by Agnolo Bronzino
The best-known image of Eleanor of Toledo is also one of the most beautiful dresses in art history. Don’t be too distracted by the beauty of the...
Vithória Konzen Dill 17 August 2023
Badass Queens from Classical History
A rollicking adventure through the lives of great leaders and queens from ancient times. Famous female leaders are a fascinating bunch. Here at...
Candy Bedworth, Guest Profile 14 August 2023
Queen Marie Antoinette in Portraits
Marie Antoinette, the final Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, is renowned for numerous portraits that depict her life.
Zuzanna Stańska 10 August 2023
How to Look Fabulous: Rococo Women Beauty Guide
How to look fabulous? That is the question! Let’s refer to the most splendid and opulent period of history: the 18th century. The Enlightenment era...
Kateryna Martynova 10 August 2023
Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées and One of Her Sisters
To a 21st-century viewer, the portrait of Gabrielle d’Estrées might seem homo-erotic. However, pictured with her sister, the Duchess of Villars,...
Anna Ingram 1 August 2023
Masterpiece Story: Portrait of Elizabeth I
The portrait of Elizabeth I is attributed to the workshop of Nicholas Hilliard and showcases the queen in her sixties. Similar to other images of...
Anna Ingram 9 July 2023
Gian Gastone de’ Medici: The Forgotten Queer Legacy of the Last Medici
The Medici Family. For most, these three words conjure up images of Cosimo de’ Medici, Lorenzo de’ Medici, or the many artists and artworks...
Guest Profile 6 July 2023
Royal Portraits: The Art of Image
Shakespeare once wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” For monarchs...
Abreeza Thomas 29 June 2023
Willem II: The Queer King of the Netherlands
Willem II ruled the Netherlands from 1840 to 1849. In modern terms he would be considered a bisexual man, as he had relationships with both women and...
Jimena Escoto 14 June 2023
