Surrounded by the highest choir of angels, this portrait of King Charles VII’s favorite mistress was commissioned by the King’s treasurer for his wife’s mortuary altar. […]
Art in Context: Seraphs Are Red, Cherubs Are Blue
Rosa Bonheur: The Most Famous Artist You’ve Never Heard Of …
In the 19th-century, during her lifetime Rosa Bonheur was one of the most famous artists in all of Europe and North America. Required to obtain a cross-dressing permit in order to venture into the world of men — for the sake of her art — she took that world by storm! […]
A Painter’s Process
All the learning about composition, color, brushwork builds in an intuitive way. Sometimes you have to paint over something that you love — a beautiful color, passage, image — in order for the painting to continue to unfold. […]
What to Expect As Art Museums Re-Open …
As the world slowly, tentatively, begins to emerge from lockdown, people are wondering what the new social order will look like. Most of us accept that things will be different for some time to come. The question is, “How different?” […]
Visualizing 4000 Years of Spanish History
The collection of the Hispanic Society of America reveals the history of Spain and its place in the world, from antiquity to modern times. Unrivaled outside Spain, the scope and quality of the collection is hard to believe, considering that it was largely amassed by a single inspired collector. […]
Art in Context: Not Living in the Moment
For people who lived (and died) in the 14th century — when the Great Plague (aka the Black Death, the Great Mortality) killed roughly half the world’s population — a truly horrible death was not hard to envision. It’s almost impossible for most of us, today, to understand the constant presence of death that was the reality of life for everyone until very recent times. […]
Isamu Noguchi: Knowing the Ways of Nature
There is perhaps no more serene space in New York City than the Noguchi Museum and Garden in Queens. Profoundly influenced by Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi blended modernism and abstraction with Japanese traditions to create a powerful aesthetic of simplicity. […]
Art in Context: Peter Paul Rubens’ Altarpiece, The Descent From the Cross
It is a testament to Rubens’ extraordinary skill that he could convey such tenderness and devotion without any hint of sentimentality. The Descent from the Cross shows the artist moving away from his exuberant Baroque compositions to a more Classical approach. […]
Art in Context: Peter Paul Rubens’ Altarpiece, The Raising of the Cross
With this sensational painting, Rubens introduced the Baroque into Northern European art. In composition, iconography and size (15’ x 20’) it is resplendent with the artistic ideals of the Counter-Reformation. Imagine the effect this must have had when it was unveiled in 1610! […]
Patron Saints of Pestilence
We see these saints in Medieval and Renaissance art, but can we fully grasp the profound meaning embedded in the works? Will today’s pandemic help us better comprehend the faith, the fear, and the hope that spawned these Patron Saints in art? […]