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Ancient Greece

Pompeii of the Aegean: Thera Wall Paintings on Santorini

The Thera wall paintings on Santorini reveal the bustling civilization that existed on the southernmost island of the Cyclades circa 1600 BCE. Around...

Anastasia Manioudaki 18 July 2025

Medieval Art

The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial and Its Anglo-Saxon Treasures

A 2021 Netflix production called The Dig is a fictionalized story about the 1939 discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial. It is based on John...

Alexandra Kiely 18 July 2025

Ancient Art

Have You Ever Seen Ancient Sculptures’ Colors?

We admire the beauty and plasticity of ancient sculptures, how harmoniously they fit into the surrounding landscape. But we rarely ask ourselves the...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 July 2025

Cardon State of Oaxaca. José María Velasco, Cardón, State of Oaxaca, 1887, National Museum of Art, Mexico City, Mexico. Detail. Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Cardón, State of Oaxaca by José María Velasco

The Mexican identity, science, and themes of man versus nature—José María Velasco has so much more to convey in Cardón, State of Oaxaca, a...

Jimena Escoto 17 July 2025

Masterpiece Stories

Masterpiece Story: Sphere Within Sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro

The world has recently bid farewell to Arnaldo Pomodoro, the Italian sculptor whose name became synonymous with monumental bronze spheres—enigmatic...

Lisa Scalone 17 July 2025

Woman with Stylus, 55-79 CE Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus: What a Portrait Can Tell Us About Women in Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus is an ancient Roman fresco unearthed in Pompeii nearly two millennia after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. Various details...

Natalia Iacobelli 17 July 2025

Photography

Zdzisław Beksiński in 5 Photographs

The name of Zdzisław Beksiński is mostly associated with surreal images filled with gloom and anxiety. Although the artist is mainly known for his...

Guest Author 17 July 2025

Baroque

Fascinating (and Creepy) Coffin Portraits of the Polish Nobility

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Poland was a much bigger and more important country than it is today, as it encompassed some parts of the territories...

Magda Michalska 17 July 2025

Ancient Art

Lifelike Faces of the Dead: Fayum Portraits from Roman Egypt

Though they are often referred to as “Fayum portraits”—taking their title from the location of a region in Egypt where Pharaoh Amenemhat...

Anthony de Feo 17 July 2025

WTF Art History

5 Weird Portraits from Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, one of the foremost museums in the world, owns rich holdings comprising artworks from seven millennia –...

Zuzanna Stańska 17 July 2025

Animals

Thomas Gainsborough and His Dog Portraits

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) was a portrait and landscape painter. During his career, he often painted dogs accompanying his sitters. He always...

Joanna Kaszubowska 17 July 2025

Dine & Wine

Don’t Play with Your Food! Unless It’s Art

I’m sure we’ve all been told not to play with our food as we hide unappetizing peas under a sticky lump of mashed potato. And most parents have...

Candy Bedworth 16 July 2025