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Wait, Raphael Painted Porn at the Vatican?
A colorful view of the Raphael bathroom at the Vatican. (via Wikipedia) I don’t know how I missed this detail in Renaissance art class, but here’s a first-hand account of visiting a Renaissance...
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Exposing the Secrets, Scandals, and Art of the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance Learning Resources (screenshot by the author) A time dominated by the likes of Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Botticelli, the Italian Renaissance was a stunning period for...
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The Renaissance Lied to You Because Angels Don’t Have Wings
Raphael is one of the BIGGEST LIARS EVER! Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” (1512) (via Wikipedia) Just in time for the holidays, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reports: … this week, a leading Catholic...
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Renaissance Art of the End Times Revealed in Rediscovered Apocalyptic Book
“1533 – Dragons over Bohemia” (all images from “The Book of Miracles,” courtesy Taschen) In 1533, hundreds of dragons were reported to darken the skies over Bohemia, following a 1506 sighting of a...
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At the Morgan, a Master’s Minuscule Manuscripts
“Trinity and Adoring Choirs of Angels,” Illuminated by the Master of Claude de France, from “Prayer Book of Queen Claude de France”; France, Tours (1517) (courtesy the Morgan Library & Museum, Gift...
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The Meaning of the Ring, from Memento Mori to Marriage
Barthel Bruyn the Younger, “Portrait of a Woman of the Slosgin Family of Cologne” (1557), oil on wood (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic unless noted) Rings are one of the most personal and...
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The Evolution of the Watermelon, Captured in Still Lifes
Giovanni Stanchi, “Watermelons, peaches, pears and other fruit in a landscape” (1645–72), oil on canvas (courtesy Christie’s) The watermelons of our summers are not the watermelons of yesteryear, as...
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Discovering the Secrets of Venetian Glass
Georg Agricola, “Glass furnace with workers,” from ‘In De re metallica’ [Berckwerck Buch, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1580, p. cccxc] (courtesy Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass)The finest...
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Sin Like It’s the 16th Century in a Game that Remixes Renaissance Art
Scene from ‘Four Last Things’ (all GIFs and screenshots by the author for Hyperallergic) Forgive me, for I have sinned. I peeped at a lady’s ankle through an open window and carved an idol in my own...
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Luxurious, Terrifying Visions of Death in Renaissance Memento Mori
Finials of a Chaplet (France or southern Netherlands, 1530 with mid-19th-century insertion) (ca. 1850–1860), elephant ivory (courtesy Victoria and Albert Museum, London) BRUNSWICK, Maine — The first...
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Measuring the Worth of Renaissance Art in Cows
“Bird” (German, Nuremberg, 1580, with later renovation), rock crystal, with gilded silver and rubies (courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917) To a visitor, all the...
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Gucci Runway Show Borrowed Beasts and Beheadings from Renaissance Art
Left: A model for Gucci’s Fall 2018 collection exits the runway in Milan (courtesy Gucci); Right: “St. Margaret, Der Mühlhausener Altar” in Bamberg, Germany (via Wikimedia) This week, Gucci presented...
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Living in a Renaissance Palace, an Art Historian Uncovers an Amazing Past
A secret stair, dating to 15th century, found at rear of palace (Alinari, Art Resource, NY) Five years into a tenure-track position at a respected East Coast college, art historian Allison Levy snagged...
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Raphael’s Tapestries Unite at Sistine Chapel for the First Time Since the...
The Sistine Chapel in Vatican City (via Richard Mortel/Flickr) To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance artist Raphael, a number of his designed tapestries will return to the...
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Why Are Giorgione’s Paintings So Mysterious, Even Centuries Later?
We know precious little about the painter’s life, and we know even less about his work’s meaning. A new book argues that the artist wanted it that way.
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