The original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was miraculously produced—this mother-of-pearl version was man-made.
Essay refreshed November 2021
Join the birds and soar through this frozen landscape. On the pond below, playful scenes warm the air.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the ...
This armed angel was a soldier of the Catholic Church’s ideological army during the Counter Reformation.
Master of Calamarca, Angel with Arquebus
Indigenous artists made it. A priest annotated it. But the king in Spain never received it.
Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza
How did heaven get to be so controversial? This painting was a defining image of the Protestant Reformation.
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel ...
This Baroque palace is so big, nine soccer fields could fit inside. Just don’t kick a ball in the Hall of Mirrors!
Louis le Vau, André le Nôtre, and ...
Located in modern Turkey, Edirne was an important Ottoman city. Its great mosque boasts an ethereal octagonal dome.
Mimar Sinan, Mosque of Selim II, Edirne
That hat is a fantasy, but this print isn’t all fiction. Rembrandt depicts himself in the real-life act of drawing.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
