Hidden Faces: Covered Portraits of the Renaissance explores the paintings concealed behind mirrors, in folded diptychs, and on the backs of other works.
Renaissance
Matthias Grünewald’s Gruesome Good Friday
The 16th-century “Isenheim Altarpiece” confronts us with the reality of suffering, violence, and death in a century where violence is both omnipresent and obscured.
How Giuseppe Arcimboldo Made the Familiar Bizarre
The artist’s perplexing paintings should be viewed not as mere visual puzzles, but instantiations of an occult philosophy.
Albrecht Dürer, a Humanist Messiah
He believed, and demonstrated, that individuals could ascend to divine realms of knowledge.
The Temptations of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
His 1559 masterpiece “The Fight Between Carnival and Lent” is an argument in paint for moral and spiritual ambivalence.
What’s That Oddly Shaped Stone in a 15th-Century Painting?
Researchers may have finally identified the utility of the rock in Jean Fouquet’s “Melun Diptych.”
Michelangelo’s “David” Deemed Too Explicit for Subway Ad
Just weeks after the Florida school debacle, an Italian restaurant in Scotland had to edit out the marble statue’s crotch.
Is a Michelangelo Self-Portrait Hidden In His Famous Fresco?
In a new theory, scholar Adriano Marinazzo posits that Michelangelo painted himself as God in his famous Sistine Chapel fresco “The Creation of Adam.”
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.
Raphael’s Tapestries Unite at Sistine Chapel for the First Time Since the Renaissance
The tapestries — made out of silk, wool, and gold and silver thread — have been restored over the past decade by conservationists at the Vatican Museum.
Living in a Renaissance Palace, an Art Historian Uncovers an Amazing Past
When an unexpected opportunity arose to spend her year living in the famed Palazzo Rucellai, Allison Levy seized on it.
Gucci Runway Show Borrowed Beasts and Beheadings from Renaissance Art
Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, is obsessed with Renaissance art.