Art Speaks

This Thinker, not by Rodin, was created between 5250 and 4500 BC.

West African caryatid stools are prestige items designed as the “seat” of the soul of a new King of the Luba tribe in the Buli region of the Congo.

These 16th century plates from Italy are not just pretty; they’re an instruction manual for proper wifely conduct.

In this painting by Hieronymous Bosch, a ship of fools is adrift on a calm sea. Are they us?

In the early 1970s a battered copper alms dish turned up in a bundle of clothes donated to an Oxfam shop in Gillingham, Kent, England.

There’s always something special in the air every time we get across a statue of St. George slaying the dragon.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) influenced Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988) with his amazing painting method.

Broke in the era of Napoleon, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres made beautiful drawings to make ends meet.

“The Night Watch” by Rembrandt has been leaving viewers speechless since 1642, though it’s gotten darker over the centuries

Bronze vessels containing offerings of food and drink became part of the ritual practice of the Shang king-shaman.

Bodies in medieval sculpture are often expressively distorted, but the gesture of this figure’s head is endlessly fascinating to me.

This Thinker, not by Rodin, was created between 5250 and 4500 BC.

West African caryatid stools are prestige items designed as the “seat” of the soul of a new King of the Luba tribe in the Buli region of the Congo.

These 16th century plates from Italy are not just pretty; they’re an instruction manual for proper wifely conduct.

In this painting by Hieronymous Bosch, a ship of fools is adrift on a calm sea. Are they us?

In the early 1970s a battered copper alms dish turned up in a bundle of clothes donated to an Oxfam shop in Gillingham, Kent, England.

There’s always something special in the air every time we get across a statue of St. George slaying the dragon.

Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) influenced Pietro Annigoni (1910–1988) with his amazing painting method.

Broke in the era of Napoleon, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres made beautiful drawings to make ends meet.

“The Night Watch” by Rembrandt has been leaving viewers speechless since 1642, though it’s gotten darker over the centuries

Bronze vessels containing offerings of food and drink became part of the ritual practice of the Shang king-shaman.

Bodies in medieval sculpture are often expressively distorted, but the gesture of this figure’s head is endlessly fascinating to me.