Art Movements

Jean-François de Troy, Diana and Actaeon, 1734, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Diana and Actaeon by Jean-François de Troy

Diana and Actaeon by Jean-François de Troy is a French masterpiece blending the exuberance of Rococo sensuality with the intellectualism of...

James W Singer 25 March 2024

Review

The Artistic Power of Textiles Exhibited at the Barbican in London

The exhibition Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican Art Gallery in London explores textiles as particularly expressive,...

Guest Profile 25 March 2024

Design

The Charm of Colorful and Shiny Italian Maiolica Ceramic Wares

Maiolica ceramic wares are exquisitely decorated and vibrantly colored handmade artworks made popular during the Italian Renaissance. Their timeless...

Marga Patterson 25 March 2024

Correggio, Jupiter and Io, 1530, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Jupiter and Io by Correggio

Jupiter and Io by Correggio is a masterpiece of the Northern Italian Renaissance. It explores sensual nudity through the lens of a Roman...

James W Singer 24 March 2024

Women Artists

The Divine Sarah: Sarah Bernhardt, The First Artist Superstar

While we are all familiar with celebrity culture and can recognize all of the Kardashians by their silhouettes, the idea of ‘celebrity’ is not a...

Wendy Gray 24 March 2024

Women Artists

Elisabetta Sirani: Pioneer, Teacher and Artist

Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665) was born in Bologna, a progressive city with a liberal attitude towards educating women. She was a pioneering female...

Gokce Dyson 22 March 2024

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Detail. Women Artists

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard: Female Icon of 18th-Century Paris

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was one of the most prominent women artists of the end of the 18th century in Paris. Despite misogynistic policies for...

Jimena Escoto 21 March 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: The Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin

The Merode Altarpiece is one of the most famous works by Robert Campin and his workshop. It serves as a link between the medieval tradition and...

Alexandra Kiely 21 March 2024

Masterpiece Stories

Isenheim Altarpiece – Polyptych About Pain and Passion

Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald is a polyptych about pain and passion. It’s a complex piece consisting of several parts and sections,...

Magda Michalska 21 March 2024

Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, 1432, detail Masterpiece Stories

Ghent Altarpiece: The Charmed Life of the Mystic Lamb

Come with us to visit the Van Eyck brothers, their monumental Ghent Altarpiece, and explore 500 years of intrigue, theft and revolutionary painting techniques.

Candy Bedworth 21 March 2024

European Art

Queen Elizabeth I – Portraits of the Last Tudor

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was the only surviving child of King Henry VIII of England and his second wife Anne Boleyn. Being a girl was hard...

Sarah Mills 20 March 2024

Rococo

Masterpiece Story: Marriage A-la-Mode by William Hogarth

The 18th-century British painter William Hogarth created an insightful series of paintings about the arranged marriages of his times, entitled...

Pola Otterstein 19 March 2024