Violent disagreement with the driver Dude, I told you not to get us on the Beltway! Who are you, and what have you done with my cubs? What does Alexander the Great…
"Never forget that if you don't hit a newspaper reader between the eyes with your first sentence, there is no need of writing a second one," said Arthur Brisbane to his reporters…
How does a fifty-something opera fan fall in love with a hip-hop Broadway show? Not easily. The first clip I heard from Hamilton: An American Musical was the opening number,…
Here's another handful of portraits I find irresistible. (See also my post on portraits of women at the National Gallery.) Bellini, Portrait of a Condottiere (Giovanni Emo) My favorite Bellini is…
The Art Renewal Center sponsors an annual competition for contemporary realistic art. Since the winning paintings don't usually go on tour, I was delighted to see that for a short time, the…
Aside from seeing real paintings and sculptures - which are always much better than even the most excellent photos - the best reason to visit a gallery or museum in person…
The Power and Pathos exhibition of Hellenistic bronzes has moved from the Getty Museum to the National Gallery in Washington - its final stop. If you have the chance, do…
Full disclosure: There is no doubt in my mind that the Obama Administration, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, turned a dangerous situation at Benghazi into a catastrophic one. Given the release of…
This delightful painting is a relatively recent acquisition - too recent to be in my color-plate book of the National Gallery's highlights, so it was a serendipitous discovery when I visited. What…
One of the great delights of wandering a museum in person (rather than online or in a book) is serendipity. I hadn't realized the gilded plaster cast of Sherman's Memorial…