“At first glance so convincingly real, so archaeologically exact, so beautiful and innocent, ‘Spring’ turns out on closer examination to be illusionary, historically confused, and mischievously immoral.” — Louise Lippincott, former Curator of Fine Arts at Carnegie Institute and author of “Lawrence Alma Tadema: Spring” Masterful works of art are often multilayered and complex. What…
Beneath the Surface of Beauty
April 13, 2022
admin
Arts & CultureArts & TraditionBrightLawrence Alma-Tademaoil paintingRadiant Liferadiant life magazineRome
0 Comment
Life of Donatello, Sculptor of Florence
Donato, who was called Donatello by his relatives and wrote his name thus on some of his works, was born in Florence in the year 1403. Devoting himself to the arts of design, he was not only a very rare sculptor and a marvellous statuary, but also a practised worker in stucco, an able master…
Mirabell Palace: An Understatement of Symmetry and Simplicity
April 12, 2022
admin
Arts & CultureArts & TraditionBaroque architectureBrightGeorg Raphael DonnerLife & TraditionMirabell Palaceneoclassical architecture
0 Comment
At more than 400 years old, the historic Mirabell Palace of Salzburg, Austria, has seen destruction and restoration, as a collection of influences and architects shaped it into the impressive structure that it is today. In the early 19th century, the palace was remodeled and restored in the Neoclassical style while the palace’s walls shelter…
Currier and Ives, Two Illustrators Who Created Colorful Prints Found in Nearly Every Home in 19th-Century America
April 11, 2022
admin
American EssenceartArts & CultureArts & TraditionBrightdecorative artHistorylithographerslithographyprints
0 Comment
The impressive body of work by 19th-century lithographers Nathaniel Currier and James Ives is widely recognized today as hallmark Americana. Currier & Ives, as their business was known, specialized in producing inexpensive lithographic prints that were sold throughout the United States and in Europe, ranging from a couple dimes to $5, depending on size and…
How an Imprisoned Alchemist Found the Secret of ‘White Gold’: Pure Porcelain
Chinese artisans had already been making porcelain for thousands of years when Venetian merchant Marco Polo first brought porcelain from China to Europe in the 14th century. Polo’s discovery started Europe’s enduring love of porcelain. European porcelain has a fascinating story to tell. “From functional pieces and decorative objects, to fine art and tableware, porcelain…
The Life of Filippo Brunelleschi, Sculptor and Architect
Many men are created by nature small in person and in features, who have a mind full of such greatness and a heart of such irresistible vehemence, that if they do not begin difficult—nay, almost impossible—undertakings, and bring them to completion to the marvel of all who behold them, they have never any peace in…
A Day in April That Some Past Poets Implore Us to Remember
April 7, 2022
admin
Arts & CultureArts & TraditionBrightDora B. HunterHenry Wadsworth LongfellowLife & TraditionOliver Wendell HolmesRalph Waldo EmersonTraditional Culture
0 Comment
It was dawn, April 19, 1775, and the British troops who had left Boston earlier that night arrived at Lexington, Massachusetts, in search of caches of arms gathered by American colonialists and hoping to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock. Assembled on Lexington’s town green was a collection of civilians: militia roused to confront the…
Life of Sandro Botticelli
April 7, 2022
admin
artArts & CultureArts & TraditionBrightFlorenceGiorgio VasariLorenzo de' MedicipainterSandro Botticelli
0 Comment
At the same time with the elder Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Magnificent, which was truly a golden age for men of intellect, there also flourished one Alessandro, called Sandro after our custom, and surnamed Di Botticello for a reason that we shall see below. This man was the son of Mariano Filipepi, a citizen of…
The St. Vitus Cathedral of Prague
April 6, 2022
admin
Arts & CultureArts & TraditionBaroque architectureBrightGothic architectureLife & TraditionpragueSt. Vitus Cathedral
0 Comment
The St. Vitus Cathedral is located on a hill that overlooks the city of Prague. When construction began in the 14th century, Prague was the third-largest city in the world after Rome and Constantinople. In this grand Gothic cathedral, kings have been crowned, married, and buried, and national treasures have been held. As in the…
Twirling on Ice
Oona Brown, 17, and her brother Gage Brown, 19, are on Team USA for U.S. Figure Skating. Although their lifetimes are short thus far, those lifetimes have been spent mostly on the ice. Their story begins in 2008, when Oona was 4 and Gage was 6. Gage and his older siblings were being homeschooled by…
-
Recent Posts
-
Archives
- May 2025
- April 2025
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- September 2013
- July 2013
- March 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- December 1
-
Meta