From the elements of art to the great goddess Durga — Smarthistory is adding new content every week.
Prehistoric to contemporary
videos + essays
Diego Antonio de Landaeta, Portrait of Petronila Méndez
A rare and elaborate child portrait from Venezuela by an Afro-descendant artist.
Motifs and patterns: fundamentals of design vocabulary
Motifs and patterns are a language of their own, directly connecting the textiles to art history, visual culture, and deeper symbolism
Weaving the landscape: DY Begay’s The Edge
This contemporary tapestry captures the colors and formations of Diné bíkéyah, the land of the Diné people.
Art, Adornment, and Identity in Africa
The visual arts have helped, and continue to help, individuals establish frameworks for negotiating and defining identity on the African continent.
Rachel Ruysch, Fruit and Insects
No wonder Ruysch treats each element of this still life like a scientific specimen—her father preserved insects.
Stefan Lochner, Madonna of the Rose Bower
The overriding quality of Lochner's Madonna of the Rose Bower is an intense sweetness.
Vicente Albán, Quito series
Vicente Albán’s series of paintings seeks to define Quito’s population as distinct racial types, all set against a lush natural landscape.
John Choate, Boarding School Portraits of Tom Torlino
Indigenous students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School were photographed "before and after" forced assimilation.
Mahmoud Hammad, Arabic Writing no. 11
Hammad manipulates the texture, color, and spatial ratios of Arabic words to the point of abstracted illegibility.
A Qur’an manuscript from coastal East Africa
A rare example of a style of illuminated Qur’an produced in coastal East Africa on Pate Island.
Carlos Julião, “Black Kings and Queens”
Black kings and queens, accompanied by attendants and musicians, paraded through the streets during festivals in colonial Brazil.
Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini, Saint Mark Preaching in Alexandria
Bellini imagines Saint Mark preaching in a collage of different times and places: ancient Alexandria, 16th-century Venice, and the Ottoman Empire.
