By Dr. Kristina Van Dyke, Dr. Steven Zucker

Are these little-understood figures representations of diseased people, or an attempt to ward off illness?

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By Louisa Woodville

Rats spread plague throughout the streets of Europe. Society turned upside down—but the Renaissance lay ahead.

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By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker

With its decorative marble and golden light, this space looks a lot like San Marco. Shall we? St. Francis beckons.

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By Dr. Sally Hickson

Demons as haunting as these could be a sign of delirium, or just another of Grünewald’s otherworldly creations.

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By Dr. Joshua Fitzgerald

In 1520, smallpox raged among the Mexica during the month of Tepeilhuitl when they would normally be making and eating sacred art made of dough.

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By Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

The Virgin miraculously appeared to a Nahua man in 1531, and has since been the object of intense devotion.

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By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker

Napoleon masterfully manipulated his image, and this painting meant for Parisian audiences is pure propaganda.

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By Dr. Rachel Zimmerman

The first public park in Brazil and a major urban planning commission awarded to an artist of African descent.

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By Dr. John P. Lukavic, Denver Art Museum

Studying art during a pandemic, a rare early Plains war shirt, and cultural resilience in the face of disease.

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By Dr. Melody Rod-ari

In the 19th century, King Rama II turned to Thailand’s protective deity, the Emerald Buddha, to stop the spread of cholera.

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By Dr. Steven Zucker, Emma Acker at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Teraoka draws on Japan's brilliant history of art and kabuki theatre to creating beauty from heart-rending tragedy.

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By Dr. Beth Harris, Monica Zimmerman, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

An artist asks: war or healthcare?

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By Dr. Thomas Folland

Gonzalez-Torres evokes absent bodies in his works, which bring gay identity and the AIDS crisis into public view.

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