The first part of this essay includes an introduction and a section on drawings for study. The second part is the beginning of the discussion of drawings as compositional studies…
Years ago I heard a great lecturer talk about several wonderful pieces of art. Unlike other lecturers and writers I'd heard, she didn't discuss the significance of the works for the history of art…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I'll soon be visiting the National Gallery in D.C. for the first time in at least ten years. This batch of must-see favorites are portraits of fascinating women, 15th-19th centuries.…
The Scots gave us "Hogmanay" (their name for the celebration of New Year's Eve) and Robert Burns, whose version of a Scottish folk song, "Auld Lang Syne," is popular from…