We admit it, we are anglophiles. From Lincoln Cathedral to Sir Christopher Wren to the Young British Artists.
videos + essays
Anthony van Dyck, Charles I with M. de St. Antoine
Though he was eventually beheaded, this portrait encapsulates the king's notion of independent authority, and his belief in the divine right of kings.
Inventing “America” for Europe: Theodore de Bry
De Bry's images of the Americas affirm and assert a sense of European superiority.
Carlo Crivelli, The Annunciation with Saint Emidius
What are Persian carpets, a peacock, and a cucumber doing in a painting of The Annunciation?
Better Know: Manet’s Bar
You've likely seen this glassy-eyed late 19th Century barmaid before, but what can we make of this painting today?
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère with Griselda Pollock
Griselda Pollock unpacks some of the questions raised by Manet’s last masterpiece.
The question of pregnancy in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait
Van Eyck’s enigmatic and iconic double portrait often prompts the question: is the female figure pregnant?
Jade Cong
These enigmatic, rectilinear tubes reveal clarity of thought and took great effort to produce. What can they mean?
Benin ivory mask (Edo peoples)
This mask depicts the king’s mother, whose ruthless political prowess ensured that her son became king.
Giovanni Pisano, Pisa Pulpit
Some distortions are deliberate. This pulpit has its critics, but it coheres in real life—just not in photos.
Asafo Flags: Stitches Through Time
These flags were made for military companies affiliated with the British along the coast of present-day Ghana.
John Constable, The Hay Wain
Landscape painting was considered lowly subject, but Constable gives them the six-foot treatment.