Smarthistory at Khan Academy

Art History Conversation. smarthistory.khanacademy.org

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Divination Bowl with Inscriptions and Zodiac Signs, mid 16th century, copper alloy (brass), engraved with repoussé center, 3 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/2in. / 9.5 x 21.6 x 21.6cm (The Brooklyn Museum)

“Iranian metal bowls have a variety of shapes, decoration themes, and uses during the Safavid period (1501-1736). The Iranian metal bowls have a variety of shapes, decoration themes, and uses during the Safavid period (1501-1736). The Iranian Divination Bowl with Inscriptions and Zodiac Signs today in the Brooklyn Museum is decorated with unusual themes—a blend of religious, superstitious, and Persian historical motifs. The practice of fāl (divination, or seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means) during the Safavid period was facilitated by the use of divine text but it was also influenced by ancient Greek astrology.” Read more.

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Proserpine, 1874, oil on canvas, 125.1 x 61 cm (Tate Britain, London)

“Just one bite. Surely that can’t hurt. Or can it? It took less than one bite to destroy the mythological goddess Proserpine’s life. This tragic maiden was gathering flowers when she was abducted by Pluto, carried off to his underground palace in Hades - the land of the dead, and forced to marry him. Distraught, her mother Ceres pleaded for her return. The god Jupiter agreed, on condition that Proserpine had not tasted any of the fruits of Hades. But she had—a single pomegranate seed—and as punishment she was destined to remain captive for six months of each year for the rest of her life in her bleak underground prison.” Read more. 

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Virgin of Guadalupe, late 17th century, 190 cm high, oil paint, gilding, and mother of pearl on panel (Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City)

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Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (billboard of an empty bed), 1991, printed billboard, dimensions variable © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation

“Untitled (billboard of an empty bed) is a stark, black-and-white image of the rumpled sheets and pillows of an unmade bed. The depression in the center of each pillow, suggesting a recent presence, conveys a profound sense of intimacy. But this scenario is in jarring contrast to its public location—on a billboard.” Learn more about this work here.

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Activities in the temple (detail), Bernardino de Sahagún and collaborators, General History of the Things of New Spain, also called the Florentine Codex, vol. 1, book 2, f. 135r, 1575-1577, watercolor, paper, contemporary vellum Spanish binding, open (approx.): 32 x 43 cm, closed (approx.): 32 x 22 x 5 cm, Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence, Italy

“How would you try to understand a culture that was completely unknown to you? In the sixteenth century, shortly after the Spanish arrived in what today is Mexico, one of the first things they created was a 12-volume encyclopedic work, known as the Florentine Codex, or, The General History of the Things of New Spain. The 12 volumes document the culture, religious and ritual practices, economics, and natural history of the indigenous central Mexican peoples in the years immediately preceding the Spanish Conquest, as well as the events of the Conquest itself.” Click here to learn more.

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

English painter #JMWTurner was born #onthisday in 1775. Learn more about his haunting “Slave Ship” by clicking above.

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Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, Federal Plaza, New York, NY, installed 1981, destroyed 1989 (photo: U.S. General Services Administration publication)

“Serra saw public art as a way to expose and critique the surrounding public space, not to beautify it.” Read more.

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Röttgen Pietà, c. 1300-25, painted wood “Here we see an example of the spirituality and mysticism that emerges in the later Middle Ages." Click the video above to learn more.

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John Constable, Wivenhoe Park, Essex, 1816, oil on canvas, 56.1 x 101.2 cm (National Gallery of Art)

“With Wivenhoe Park, Essex, landscape painter John Constable depicted an English country estate in order to make a broader statement about its owner and his relationship with nature in the early nineteenth century.” Learn more about this painting here.

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Lady Dai and her attendants (detail), Funeral banner of Lady Dai (Xin Zhui), 2nd century B.C.E., silk, 205 x 92 and 47.7 cm (Hunan Provincial Museum)

“In Lady Dai's tomb, archaeologists found a painted silk banner over six feet long in excellent condition. The T-shaped banner was on top of the innermost of four nesting coffins. Although scholars still debate the function of these banners, we know they had some connection with the afterlife.” Click here to learn more.

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Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Snake Charmer, c. 1879, oil on canvas (Sterling Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts)

“For example, in the painting The Snake Charmer and His Audience, c. 1879, the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’s depicts a naked youth holding a serpent as an older man plays the flute—charming both the snake and their audience. Gérôme constructs a scene out of his imagination, but he utilizes a highly refined and naturalistic style to suggest that he himself observed the scene. In doing so, Gérôme suggests such nudity was a regular and public occurrence in the ‘East.’” Read more about Orientalism and art history here.

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Basilica of Santa Sabina, 422-432, Rome

The Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome tells us much about the essential characteristics of early Christian churches. Watch the video above for more, or read a short essay here about the Basilica.

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Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, 1940-41, 60 panels, tempera on hardboard (even numbers at The Museum of Modern Art, odd numbers at the Phillips Collection)

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Lygia Clark, Bicho, 1962, aluminum (photo: trevor.patt, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

“Clark made these sculptures to be participatory, and therefore variable. Created as a series, there are around seventy Bichos in total. She challenged not only the idea that sculpture is fixed, but also that there is only one way to view or experience it.” Click here to read more about Brazilian artist Lygia Clark’s experiments with sculpture through her Bichos (Critters) series.

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Ca' d'Oro, 1422-1440, Venice

“Yet, we cannot describe the Ca' d’Oro simply in terms of Renaissance palace architecture. It is a distinctly Venetian building in its incorporation of Byzantine, Islamic, and Gothic elements. This blending together of architectural styles in a uniquely Venetian style had already occurred in the Palazzo Ducale, but this is perhaps an even better example of that phenomenon.” Click here to more about this unique example of Venetian architecture in the early Renaissance.

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Details with the Virgin Mary, Deësis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. See more here

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Last week, Gothamist posted an article highlighting a project Jordan Liles started using images from our collection of George Bradford Brainerd images. Liles researched the current locations of many of Brainerd’s historical photographs and re-photographed them in their current form. The result is a very intriguing collection of then & now comparisons of our beloved city. You can check out his project here. If you’re interested in seeing more of the wonderful images in our glass negative collection head on over to our website where thousands more are available to browse!

Posted by Tracie Davis