Explore the past, understand the present, and inspire the future.

Image title: Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and Marie Anne Lavoisier (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836) Medium: Oil on canvas Date: 1788 Source: The Met Collection   “ Ask yourself the secret of your success. Listen to your answer and practice it. ” — Richard Bach Alchemy and Oil: The Secret Science of Renaissance Pigments   Chapter I: The Alchemical Origins of Art Long before artists were considered masters of technique and vision, they were experimenters Read more…

Image title: Portrait of a Woman Medium: Oil on wood Date: ca. 1520 Source: The Met Collection   “ Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? ” — George Eliot Memory in Stone: Digital Archaeology and the Rebirth of Lost Sculpture   Introduction: The Past Reimagined in Pixels For thousands of years, stone has been Read more…

Image title: The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1624–25 Source: The Met Collection   “ Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine. ” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Shadows That Speak: The Hidden Language of Negative Space in Art   Introduction: The Voice Within the Void Every artist, knowingly or not, engages in a dialogue between presence and absence. Negative space—the Read more…

Image title: Battle between Christians and Muslims at El Sotillo Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1637–39 Source: The Met Collection   “ When deeds and words are in accord, the whole world is transformed. ” — Zhuang Zhou Between Canvas and Stage: Painters Who Transformed Theater   Introduction: When the Brush Meets the Footlights The relationship between visual art and the performing stage has often been one of parallel inspiration, but in certain luminous Read more…

Image title: Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh: An Allegory of the Dinteville Family Medium: Oil on wood Date: 1537 Source: The Met Collection   “ Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ” — Winston Churchill Portraits of Power: The Evolution of Political Imagery from Pharaohs to Presidents   Introduction: The Faces That Govern From stone-carved likenesses of divine pharaohs to the high-definition photographs of modern presidents, portraiture has long Read more…

Image title: Allegory of the Catholic Faith Medium: Oil on canvas Date: ca. 1670–72 Source: The Met Collection   “ Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again. ” — Joseph Campbell Velázquez vs. Vermeer: Silence, Space, and the Spectacle of the Interior   Introduction: Two Masters of the Seventeenth Century Diego Velázquez and Johannes Vermeer stand among the most distinguished painters of the 17th century, yet their artistic visions could Read more…

Image title: “The Feast of Sada”, Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp Medium: Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, and gold on paper Date: ca. 1525 Source: The Met Collection   “ Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not. ” — Dhammapada Psychedelic Icons of the Islamic World: Geometry, Color, and Mysticism Read more…

Image title: The Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy Medium: Tempera, grisaille, ink, and gold on vellum Date: before 1349 Source: The Met Collection   “ Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts. ” — Dan Gable Glory Holes & Gold Leaf: Queering Medieval Manuscript Margins   Introduction: More Than Marginalia The illuminated manuscripts of medieval Europe are often admired for Read more…