The Winchester Bible is among the most magnificent illuminated manuscripts made in England in the twelfth century.
Location City: New York City
Explore Dürer's masterful "psychological self-portrait" and the hidden meanings of the various objects in it.
Decoding art: Dürer’s Melencolia I
Monks and nuns removed candle soot from this painting using urine and lye, but its gold background never tarnished.
The conservator’s eye: Taddeo Gaddi, Saint Julian
Two portraits capture the ambition and impudence of Titian's close friend and publicist.
Titian, two portraits of Pietro Aretino
Realism, ideal beauty, and military might—explore the evolution of Roman portraits and political imagery.
Rome’s history in four faces at The ...
Two countries honor their love of democracy with a huge statue of a woman! Neither let women vote, though.
The light of democracy — examining the ...
This exquisite example of a Goryeo Buddhist painting depicts the bodhisattva on his mountain-island abode.
Water-Moon Avalokiteśvara
In the chaos of the 3rd century, can we be sure about the identification of this statue?
Trebonianus Gallus — emperor or athlete? Rethinking ...
Originally a sliding wall, these golden panels use bamboo, a Chinese motif, to illustrate a Japanese poetic trope.
Bamboo in the Four Seasons: painting and ...
This boyish bodhisattva reminds us that through humble bearing, we can spiritually blossom—like a lotus flower.
Jizō Bosatsu
Once painted and gilded, this panel was part of a larger frieze bearing commemorative Kufic inscriptions.
Dado Panel, Courtyard of the Royal Palace ...
The creation of a beloved landmark destroyed a thriving community of African Americans and Irish immigrants.
Seneca Village: the lost history of African ...
Terrorists overran Palmyra twice despite international cries for protection, sowing irreversible destruction.
Palmyra: the modern destruction of an ancient ...
Feline fangs, rather than human teeth, suggest that this figure is either supernatural or in contact with deities.
Inverse-Face Beaker
Flashed or stained? Discover the historical techniques required to produce—and restore—this vibrant glass painting.
The conservator’s eye: a stained glass Adoration ...
Are these little-understood figures representations of diseased people, or an attempt to ward off illness?
Lost History: the terracotta sculpture of Djenne ...
Where do the objects in museums come from? Explore the tension between collectors and the preservation of knowledge.
Looting, collecting, and exhibiting: the Bubon bronzes
Although this vessel depicts a royal Inka couple, it was produced after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.
Keru Vessel
This Hebrew book copies an Arabic text that itself began life as a work of classical Greek philosophy.
Book of Morals of Philosophers
This pot stood above a grave, and the female mourners depicted on it tear out their hair in grief.