Almost 20 years ago, I wrote a couple dozen essays on the history of painting for BeyondBooks.com, a subscription service that provided online supplementary materials for high-school students. The site’s owners have given me permission to publish the essays (copyright … Continue reading
Category Archives: History
Almost 20 years ago, I wrote a couple dozen essays on the history of painting for BeyondBooks.com, a subscription service that provided online supplementary materials for high-school students. The site’s owners have given me permission to publish the essays (copyright … Continue reading
Second in a series: the first, with the introduction and the years 1801-1806, is here. 1807 Major events: Peninsular War (1807-1814) began as the French invaded Portugal, which offended Napoleon by trading with Great Britain. Caspar David Friedrich, Cairn in Snow, … Continue reading
Prowling through my database of art recommendations past, present, and future, I noticed that quite a few of the artworks come from the first 15 years of the nineteenth century. In this post and the next, I’ll put those works … Continue reading
Now available on Amazon: print versions (in full color) of Alexander Hamilton: A Brief Biography and Alexander Hamilton: A Friend to America, volume 1 and volume 2. If you’re ready to buy, scroll to the end of this post for a 40% discount. … Continue reading
Elijah Boardman (1760-1823) In 1790, when Elijah was thirty years old, John Ramage painted his two-inch high portrait on ivory. From it, you’d probably recognize Elijah if you met him on the street. But … Ralph Earl’s portrait of Elijah, painted … Continue reading
Even in an era when scientific discoveries were being made with astonishing rapidity, man’s first piloted flight in 1783 ranked as an awe-inspiring event. The Montgolfier brothers began experimenting with balloon flight in southeast France during the summer of 1782. … Continue reading
My favorite short story by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is “The Washed Window,” which centers on Booker T. Washington. Fisher’s story was published in 1955, forty years after Washington’s death. I decided to flip through his autobiography to see if Fisher … Continue reading
This post is adapted from the forthcoming Guides Who Know app on Central Park. Fame … The national reputation of “the god-like Daniel” dates to 1830. Two years earlier, no less a person than the vice president of the United … Continue reading
The purpose of the liberal arts: clarification In my post on Grammar, I stated that the liberal arts were originally intended to provide the knowledge that a person needed to participate in a free society, and I asked: “What essential skills … Continue reading