videos + essays
Kritios Boy
Following war with the Persians, this highly naturalistic sculpture was buried out of respect.
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer)
For the ancient Greeks, the human body was perfect. Explore this example of the mathematical source of ideal beauty.
San Vitale and the Justinian Mosaic
Gold, glass, and marble dazzle the eye in this 6th-century church. High above us, Emperor Justinian presides.
Donatello, David
His nudity references classical antiquity, but David embodies the ideals and concerns of 15th-century Florence.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing
What’s that dog yapping about? This mischievous woman throws caution—and her slipper—to the wind.
Michelangelo, David
Where’s Goliath? David scans for his enemy. This colossal sculpture is itself a giant of 16th-century Renaissance art.
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face)
Kruger’s art is characterized by a visual wit sharpened in the trenches of the advertising world.
Sex, Power, and Violence in the Renaissance Nude
Explore the complex power dynamics of images of the female body in the Renaissance
Introduction to gender in renaissance Italy
Throughout Europe women’s relegation to the domestic sphere was rooted in Christian tradition that placed blame for humanity’s fall from grace upon Eve, the first woman.
Giorgione, The Tempest
In the distance, lightning strikes. What does it mean? Poetic and evocative, this painting invites interpretation.
Crowned Nun Portrait of Sor María de Guadalupe
The Conceptionists were founded for elite, pure-blooded Spanish women. This nun just took her vows.
