Subjugated, enslaved, marginalised, disenfranchised, consumed yet made invisible – historically women have been relegated to the...

In 1589, a Bolognese writer Ercole Marescotti wrote about a local illustrious young lady - Isabella Ruini Angelleli that she was “a...

In Book VIII of Metamorphoses Ovid tells a touching story of an old married couple - Baucis and Philemon, visited by Jupiter and his son...

This beautiful bird was an element of the Tipu Sultan’s throne, part of the looted treasure, obtained during the ransack of his...

One of the most frightening facets of human experience is the ability of aggressors to implicate their victims in the process of their...

"If we could paint the subject it would be a duty to do so" In July 1944, after serving in the Australian Army for just over two years,...

Even when someone has been dead for more than 400 years, reading their private letters sometimes feels voyeuristic, doesn't it?...

For a middle and lower-class Renaissance woman marriage was a matter of survival. With a successful marriage came financial security and...

In Venice circa 1574 one ducat was worth 124 soldi. A worker in the building trade received approximately 35 soldi per day if he was a...

Vittoria Colonna - a talented poet, an intellectual, an advisor to the Pope, a friend and muse to Michelangelo. A fascinating and...

Vasari tells a lovely story about a wood panel painting created by Leonardo da Vinci upon his father’s request. Ser Piero da Vinci’s...

These austere, intricately decorated profiles are more like medallions than portraits. A portrait conveys something about the sitter’s...

That baby, breastfeeding peacefully at the foreground of Ghirlandaio’s fresco, is St. John the Baptist. But he is not suckling from his...

This painting of two Venetian ladies by Carpaccio is awesome on so many different levels. But today I want to draw your attention to just...

This little beauty dates back to the 16th century and is a contemporary of the most bejewelled monarch in English history – Queen...

Somehow, I think that Bernini’s most famous sculptural group, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, would have a different impact on people at...

What does one of the most sellable, recognisable and arguably one of the most unique artists of the 20th century have in common with an...

How does a proud, ambitious and complex man envisage his own tomb sculpture? Michelangelo’s Florentine Pieta is just as proud, ambitious...

Her tranquil expression is what grabs you when you first look at her. That, and the relaxed warmth of her naked flesh. She is not your...

In June 1946, Frida travelled from Mexico to New York for another one of numerous operations on her spine. It was pretty gruesome - a...