About This Site
A few words about what I do and why I do it. For more, see About Dianne L. Durante. History As an independent scholar, writer, and lecturer, I love to…
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April 12, 2019
Speaking of Art (Business of Art, 2)
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…
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March 3, 2018
Buying and Selling Art (Business of Art, 1)
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…
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February 3, 2018
Art and History, 1807-1815
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…
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January 20, 2018
Architecture / Decorative Arts / Fiction / History / Maps / Music / Opera / Painting / Poetry / Sculpture
Art and History, 1801-1806
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.…
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January 17, 2018
New in Print: Three Books on Alexander Hamilton
Now available: Alexander Hamilton: A Brief Biography: on Amazon (print & ebook), and other stores via Ingram (ISBN 9780974589930 print, 978-1-0882-9814-5 ebook) Alexander Hamilton: A Friend to America, vol. 1: on…
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December 29, 2017
Elijah Boardman, by Ralph Earl (Metropolitan Museum Favorites, 22)
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…
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October 18, 2017
Clodion’s Balloon Monument (Metropolitan Museum Favorites, 19)
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…
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August 23, 2017
Booker T. Washington
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…
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August 5, 2017
Daniel Webster (Central Park, New York)
Thomas Ball, Daniel Webster, dedicated 1876. Central Park near the West 72nd Street entrance. Photo copyright © 2017 Dianne L. Durante Fame ... The national reputation of “the god-like Daniel”…
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August 2, 2017