Joseph Jackson Lister / Hulton Archive, Getty Images By Dr. Chris Hilton / 10.21.2016 Former Senior Archivist Wellcome Library Two hundred years ago, an English businessman waited nervously at Dover, about to take a leap into the unknown. In July 1817, at the age of 31, Joseph Jackson Lister – a wine merchant and, in his spare[…]
The Battle of Lake Erie, by William Henry Powell, 1873 / United States Senate By Dr. James M. Banner, Jr. / 06.23.2012 Visiting Scholar The George Washington University Over two hundred years ago today American naval vessels fired the opening shots in what we know as the War of 1812. Like all wars, this was[…]
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. français 2663, folio 14v: Queen Isabella of England admonishes two of Edward II’s favourites, Sir Hugh Despenser and Edmund, earl of Arundel, prior to their execution, 1326. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons. By Dr. Richard Aspin / 01.21.2017 Head of Research Wellcome Library In the later Middle Ages there was a considerable[…]
Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, Roman marble copy after 4th century Greek original (Palazzo Altemps, Rome) By Dr. Nancy Ross / 12.19.2016 Assistant Professor of Art History Dixie State College Utah An illusion of reality Classical art, or the art of ancient Greece and Rome, sought to create a convincing illusion for the viewer. Artists sculpting the images of[…]
Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well, folio 7 recto from the Vienna Genesis, early 6th century, tempera, gold and silver on purple vellum, 12-1/2 x 9-1/4″ (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) By Dr. Nancy Ross / 08.08.2015 Assistant Professor of Art History Dixie State College Utah Caught in between It’s not hard to find inspirational quotes about the difficulty and[…]
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, marble, 359 C.E. (Treasury of Saint Peter’s Basilica) By Dr. Allen Farber / 08.08.2015 Professor of Art History State University of New York College at Oneonta Please note that due to photography restrictions, the images used in the video above show the plaster cast on display in the Vatican Museum. Nevertheless,[…]