A. Van Dyck, Charles I (triple portrait) Royal Collection ca. 1635 By Andrea M. Gáldy – Charles I, the second Stuart king of England, is for most of us the unlucky monarch who lost his head and his throne on […]
Art
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Hermitage – Winter Palace, St. Petersburg (photo P. Hunt 2017) By P. F. Sommerfeldt – It has been variously said that even if you stood in front of each Hermitage Museum object a few seconds less than a minute you’d need a total of eleven continuous years, day and night, […]
A Case of Rebirth and Modernity: the Cinquecento in Florence
Detail of Bronzino, Deposition (Besançon, 1543) By Andrea M. Gáldy – While many people still consider the Renaissance to have been a movement created largely in Florence and Rome, in recent decades this understanding has been changing. The Renaissance has become more international and its chronology has become wider, one […]
Lausanne Cathedral’s Marvelous Bestiary: When a Dog is Not a Dog
Lausanne Cathedral Stained Glass Zodiac: Capricorn (Photo P. Hunt, 2016) By Alice Devine Wilson – “Of fowls after their kind and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping things of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come….” (Genesis, 6:19-20) Had Noah’s Ark perched atop the […]
Tang Dynasty Terracotta Lady Tomb Figurines: Endearing Subtle Whimsy
Tang Dynasty Terracotta Female Tomb Figurines, 8th c. (image in public domain) By Patrick Hunt – Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) ceramics are otherwise deservedly famous for the sancai triple glaze, but often overlooked are the terracotta tomb attendant figurines of mingqi (“spirit deities”) who represent court ladies-in-waiting hovering nearby in the […]
When the Past Mattered: The University Collection of Plaster Casts at Munich University
Athena Parthenon model with cast of Athena Parthenios statue, Ludwig Maxmilians University Museum, Munich (image courtesy LMU, 2017) By Andrea Galdy – German universities are finally starting to engage with a particular kind of treasure many of them still possess: collections of many diverse categories that may have made a […]
Thomas Rowlandson: Legacy of a Genius Social Observer in 1800
Fig. 1 Thomas Rowlandson, “Bath Races”, ca 1810, (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich) By Cher Beall – Art in Britain during the Georgian period (1714-1830) is characterized by sophisticated oil paintings of landscapes and well-lit portraits by world renowned artists including J.M.W. Turner, […]
Matisse Looks to the Masters: A Modern Artist Who Invokes Antiquity
Matisse, The Serf, MOMA San Francisco (images courtesy of MOMA) By Alice Devine Wilson – At first glance, modern art seems to have little connection to antiquity’as contemporary art, by its definition, departs from the past. However, many modern artists of the twentieth century root their creations in ancient traditions. […]
In the Lap of Luxury: Quality Textiles as Signs of Nobility and Rulership
Nicholas Karcher atelier, Joseph Flees Potiphar’s Wife, 1549, design after Bronzino By Andrea M. Gáldy – Florence is currently getting ready for an “event of historic magnitude” as it has been called by her mayor Dario Nardella (http://www.theflorentine.net/news/2016/09/medici-tapestries-come-home/). A group of high-renaissance tapestries depicting the Old Testament Story of Joseph (“Prince […]
Good Manners : Mannerism in Florence
Pontormo, Venus and Amor, 1533 By Andrea M. Gáldy – Maniera. Pontormo, Bronzino and Medici Florence, 24 Feb to 5 June 2016 at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main curated by Bastian Eclercy, the department of Italian, French and Spanish paintings before 1800. Catalogue available in English and German: Bastian Eclercy, ed. […]