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The first part of this essay includes an introduction and a section on drawings for study. 2nd type of drawing: Drawings as studies for paintings Susanna and the Elders, ca.…
This essay was written in 2005, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art had a wonderful exhibition of drawings by Peter Paul Rubens. That one's long gone, but if you're in…
Tucked away in the triangular Lehman Wing, at the far west side of the Metropolitan Museum, is one of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's most stunning portraits. Its subject is wealthy, aristocratic beauty…
Most of the greatest ancient Greek works that remain in the hands of the Greek government are on display at the National Archeological Museum in Athens. Here are some of my…
Part 2 of an analysis of Campin's Portrait of a Woman. For Part 1, see this post. Note: The reproduction above - the best I could find on the Net -…
Back in 1996 I started writing on how to look at paintings if you want to go beyond an initial emotional reaction. This is the opening of an unpublished paper…
I'll take Mozart or Rossini over Puccini most days of the year, but (OK, husband and daughter, I admit it) I do enjoy Tosca. Alphonse Mucha, who created a poster for…
While writing last week's post on rhetoric, I ran across Ovid's description of Medea pondering whether to betray her family for the sake of Jason, with whom she's fallen in…
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…
When I started reading about Laurent de La Hyre's Allegory of Grammar (more on that painting below), I was shocked to discover that I had earned a Bachelor of Arts degree without…
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