Albrecht Dürer, The Adoration of the Shepherds, from The Life of the Virgin, circa 1503, woodcut, 11 3/4 x 8 5/16 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Albrecht Dürer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Albrect Dürer created this lovely woodcut of the shepherds adoring the baby Jesus on the night he was born as part of a series that illustrates the Life of the Virgin. The print demonstrates Dürer’s German sensibilities with the expressive … Continue reading
Philip Johnson, The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut, 1945 - 1949, Photo by Staib via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The Art Minute University: This post was written by Ryan Maler, a student at Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX. The Glass House, designed by architect Philip Johnson, is set in a rural landscape in New Canaan, Connecticut. The modern home has … Continue reading
Constantine the Great, c. 315, marble, 8½ feet tall, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Photo by Camille King via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
Not long after the Roman Emperor Constantine defeated his foe Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, wresting control of the Roman Empire, he left Italy in 324 CE to found Constantinople, which is present-day Istanbul. This is not … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
What’s going on in this painting? The artist didn’t want it to be easy to figure out. An Italian Renaissance painter would have made the subject clear and provided easily identifiable figures in a clearly defined space. Jacopo Pontormo, a … Continue reading
Robert Capa, D-Day: June 6, 1944: Allied Invasion of Normandy, Photo by Templar1307 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
In the early morning of D-Day, Robert Capa arrived at Omaha Beach on a landing craft to photograph Company E as it attacked the German troops that were firing machine guns from somewhere amid clouds of smoke on the French … Continue reading
Bloodletting Ritual of Lady Xoc, Lintel 24 of Structure 23, Maya site of Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico, Photo by Michel wal via Wikimedia Commons, GNU Free Documentation License.
One of the things that come with the job of being a Mayan queen is the pain and blood loss associated with conjuring up royal ancestors. It was required of her office so that the Gods would continue to allow, … Continue reading
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892/95, oil on canvas, 48 7/16” x 55 ½”, Art institute of Chicago, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, also known as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, was an aristocrat living the life of a bohemian artist in the lively Montmartre section of Paris in the late 19th century. When the Moulin Rouge, a cabaret, opened … Continue reading
George Inness, Sunny Autumn Day, 1892, oil on canvas, 31 7/8” x 41 11/16”, Cleveland Museum of Art, Photo by pirano Bob R via Fickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
George Inness, the American landscape painter, was at different points in his career associated with the American Hudson River School and the French Barbizon School of landscape painting; yet, it’s the work he did at the end of his career … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
The French artist Robert Delaunay celebrated modern life in this bright and colorful aerial view of the Eiffel Tower, an icon of the industrial world that was constructed in 1889 of wrought iron for the Paris International Exposition. The aerial … Continue reading
René Magritte, The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe), 1929, Oil on canvas, 23 3/4 x 31 15/16 in., LACMA, California, Photo by profzucker via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
Belgian artist René Magritte created this Surrealist masterpiece that presents a realistic image of a pipe and written in French below, the words, “This is not a pipe.” With this humorous inscription, Magritte stated something that is true but nevertheless … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Did you ever wonder what the story is behind this seemingly ubiquitous image of the Virgin Mary? We’re so used to seeing this popular image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on all kinds of paraphernalia from Votive candles to purses … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Even the Vanderbilts had to stretch their legs in the summertime and when brother Cornelius did he headed to Newport, RI to his 70-room, 65,000 sq. ft. summer mansion, The Breakers, set on cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. (All of … Continue reading