Even from afar, an astonishing 18th-century Parisian armchair evokes a sense of majesty and comfortable rest. The rare, sumptuous, crimson-colored brocade-silk armchair, with its seat generously stuffed with swan- and goose-down feathers entices one to rest in its luxury. Even the brass upholstery nails are covered in squares of gold leaf. The armchair’s shape, with its oval…
Taking You There: The Glory of Albert Bierstadt: ‘Among the Sierra Nevada, California’
Have you ever had a painting show up at different times in your life when you needed it most? At Penn State in 1967, in the auditorium for Professor Jim Lord’s art history survey class, a large screen spanned the width of the stage. He would flash up slides from different artistic eras—some older, then…
1 of the 7 Wonders of Portuguese Architecture in the World: Brazil’s Church of St. Francis of Assisi
The former gold-mining town of Brazil’s Ouro Preto is rich in Portuguese architectural treasures. The remote and rugged hillside town was built in the late 17th century, after gold was discovered in the region in 1693. At the height of the region’s gold rush, 60 percent of the world’s gold came from Ouro Preto, but by…
A Tribute to the Greatest Western Thinkers: ‘A School of Athens’
“The School of Athens” is one of the most important and fascinating frescos in Western art history. Pope Julius II commissioned the prolific young artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino to decorate his private chambers in the Vatican. The first room that Raphael (1483–1520), as he is better known, tackled was the “Stanza Della Segnatura,” or “Room of the Signature,” so-called…
Building on Tradition: ‘Winding the Skein’
There’s always a place for the beauty, care, and respect found in traditional culture. We can search for it and find a way to bring it into the future so that the generations after us have a foundation on which they can build. The 19th-century British painter Frederic Leighton inspired me to deeply think about…
British Museum’s Ancient Greeks Treasures Coming to Australia and New Zealand
May 21, 2021
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The British Museum’s treasures of Ancient Greece are coming to the National Museum of Australia, the Western Australian Museum, and the Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. Featuring a range of 180 objects, the exhibition will be centred around the concept of competition and how it appeared in sports, politics, drama, music, and warfare….
Where Elegance and Beauty Meet Functional Design
Seldom do we see architectural designs that never made it off the drawing board. Often such drawings were stored away in dark archives or lost forever. Architectural drawings completed at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris seemed destined for similar fates. But one American collector’s ardor for Beaux-Arts drawings has meant that we can catch…
The Royal Chapel at Chateau de Versailles: A Divine Beacon Fit for a Sun King
A renewed sense of grandeur has returned to the Royal Chapel at Versailles, after a three-year restoration project. In the 17th century, the Sun King, Louis XIV, personally directed the creation of this grand chapel. In doing so, he established a conduit between the heavens, the French monarchy, and hence the people of France for…
The True Victory of Holy Devotion: ‘The Martyrdom of St. Denis’
I came across a painting by the 19-century French academic painter Léon Bonnat titled “The Martyrdom of St. Denis.” At my first glance, this painting was a gruesome representation of a beheading. As I looked longer, however, I became morally inspired. Who Was Saint Denis? As legend has it, Saint Denis (Dionysius) was converted to…
A Golden Engagement
In the painting “A Goldsmith in His Shop,” a finely dressed couple are eagerly purchasing a wedding ring. The man tenderly wraps his arm around his fiancée, while she happily gestures to the goldsmith who is weighing a ring on a set of scales. The goldsmith, dressed in a rich-red robe, concentrates on his customer’s…
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