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World Of Art By Sue
@worldofartbysue.bsky.social
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History of Art for everyone (themes change monthly)! Other interests include: world history, genealogy, books, photography, gardening, (US) football and dinosaurs. Life goal: to learn something new every day. Degree in Art History from McGill University
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World Of Art By Sue @worldofartbysue.bsky.social · Nov 14
Hello, Blue Skyers! My account is to bring the joy and beauty of Art to everyone, along with a little background info on each piece featured. I look forward to connecting with you here in the civilized space that is Blue Sky! ~ Sue
Reposted by World Of Art By Sue
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Attention Alphabetters!
Mon 17 Nov is the start of Week U and the theme for the #AlphabetChallenge is Unloved. So that’s pics of things that are run down and/or neglected. We’re heading into the difficult letters so expect themes to be harder as choices are limited!
Use the # below and have fun😊
November 16, 2025 at 6:02 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
REMBRANDT (1606 – 1669), “Self-Portrait with Beret and Gathered Shirt”, 1630. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.
#arthistory #art #Rembrandt #selfie
Rembrandt painted many self-portraits by looking at himself in a mirror (the selfies were probably an economic choice since he didn’t have to pay a model!). This small portrait of a younger Rembrandt was painted on a copper plate that was covered with a layer of white lead completely overlaid with gold leaf. It was stolen in 2000 in a daring daytime raid on Sweden’s National Museum by an armed gang of thieves. The gang entered the museum just before closing time and quickly grabbed three paintings – the Rembrandt self-portrait plus two Renoirs. Their escape was equally dramatic as two cars exploded nearby as a diversion and the thieves tossed down spikes during their getaway to delay any pursuit by authorities; they sped away in a small boat. The Rembrandt self-portrait was recovered in 2005 by Swedish police and one of the Renoirs was also returned in 2001 but Renoir’s “A Young Parisienne” has not been recovered.
November 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577 - 1640), “The Descent from the Cross”, 1612. Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, Belgium.
Rubens’ “The Descent from the Cross” has the distinction of having been looted by both French forces (1794) and German forces (1914).
#arthistory #art #Rubens
In 1794, French forces took the triptych (three-paneled painting; “The Descent from the Cross” shown is only the central panel) from the Church of St. Walburga in Antwerp. When it was returned following Napoleon’s defeat, the original church had been destroyed and so the triptych found a new home in the Cathedral of Our Lady, also in Antwerp. In 1914, the German Imperial Army looted the triptych from the Cathedral and took it to Berlin. It was once again returned to Antwerp following the armistice that ended World War I. Rubens was a leading Flemish Baroque artist who filled his scenes with dramatic light and twisted positions. “The Descent from the Cross” has a particularly poignant composition, with a heavenly slash of light diagonally breaking the dark background. The brass bowl depicted in the lower right corner holds the crown of thorns and the nails from the cross.
November 16, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
(Workshop of) JAN BRUEGHEL THE ELDER (1568 - 1625), “Landscape with Vehicles and Cattle”, 1600-1616. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec Canada.
#arthistory #art #StolenArt
Jan was the younger son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (who did not use the “h” in his surname) and the brother of Pieter Brueghel the Younger. He (Jan) was a close friend and frequent collaborator of Peter Paul Rubens. Jan Brueghel the Elder painted in many styles but his landscapes and floral still lifes, in my opinion, are particularly beautiful. He had a large workshop that helped him produce a large number of paintings, often making copies of his and his father’s pieces for his aristocratic patrons. After his death, his son Jan the Younger continued to run the prolific workshop. “Landscape with Vehicles and Cattle” was stolen in 1972 from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The thieves entered the Museum through a skylight that was being repaired and stole 18 paintings plus 38 pieces of jewelry and small figurines; it was the largest art heist in Canadian history and became known as the Skylight Caper. The Brueghel painting was the only stolen piece that has been retrieved: it was found in a locker at Montreal Central Station after the museum negotiated with the thieves following receipt of a ransom note.
November 15, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER (c. 1525 - 1569), “The Peasant Dance”, 1567. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Bruegel’s “The Peasant Dance” is another masterpiece that was seized by Napoleon in 1808. It was returned to Austria in 1815.
#arthistory #art #Bruegel
Bruegel painted genre paintings of contemporary peasant life (although he was not himself of peasant stock), showing ordinary people at work and play. “The Peasant Dance” is one of Bruegel’s later works. His figures are large and his composition is lively and full of motion. The scene is of a village fair in honor of St. George (the red banner at the tavern is a clue); there is dancing and drinking and canoodling as everyone enjoys the festivities. The focus is on the revelry: the church in the background and the image of the Virgin and Child in the tree on the right are ignored.
November 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
ALBRECHT ALTDORFER (1480 - 1538), “The Battle of Alexander at Issus”, 1529. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
The German Albrecht Altdorfer's painting The Battle of Alexander at Issus was looted by Napoleon's army in 1800.
#arthistory #art #AlexanderTheGreat #Napoleon
After the painting's capture, it was displayed in Napoleon's residence in Paris until it was returned to Bavaria in 1815 following his defeat. A popular story states that Napoleon, an admirer of Alexander the Great, kept it hanging in his bathroom. It is no wonder that Napoleon felt a personal connection to this epic painting: the scene depicted is of the Battle of Issus of 333 BCE in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Darius III and thereby halted the Persian expansion into western Europe. Altdorfer painted this scene much later, of course, but he painted it at another important time in European history, namely when the Ottoman Empire was pushing into the West (getting as far as Vienna). The Battle of Issus was later on symbolic of the triumph of the West over the East and, by extension, the victory of Christianity over Islam. I particularly like the name-tag detail that Altdorfer added to helpfully identify Alexander (charging on his horse) chasing off Darius (fleeing in his chariot). Plus Altdorfer’s landscape background is exquisite. Napoleon had visions of recreating an expansive French Empire on the scale of Alexander the Great’s military accomplishments.
November 13, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452 - 1519), “Mona Lisa”, 1503-06. The Louvre, Paris, France.
#arthistory #art #leonardo #MonaLisa
I’ve been doing this art blog for a few years now and I try to make of point of not repeating works of art.. but I am making an exception for Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” (supposedly the most famous painting in the world). The “Mona Lisa” became even MORE famous when it was stolen from The Louvre in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia. Peruggia was an Italian handyman who believed that he was returning the painting to its legitimate home, namely Italy. He and two accomplices spent the night in a closet in The Louvre in order to abscond with the masterpiece. Peruggia thought that “Mona Lisa” had been plundered by Napoleon but in fact Leonardo had been living and working in France when he died. France’s King Francis I had properly purchased the painting directly from Leonardo (or from his studio) around 1518 and the painting entered the French Royal Collection at that point. In 1913, Peruggia’s repatriation scheme fell apart when he tried to sell “Mona Lisa” to the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and the director alerted the authorities.
November 12, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
PIETRO PERUGINO (1446 - 1523), “The Marriage of the Virgin”, 1500. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen, France. Perugino’s “The Marriage of the Virgin” was created for the Chapel of Santo Anello in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia.
#arthistory #art #Perugino
The Chapel had recently received the holy relic of Santo Anello – the wedding ring, made of chalcedony, that was purported to be the one given by St. Joseph to the Virgin Mary at the marriage ceremony. (As an aside, the Holy Ring is kept inside its reliquary which in turn is placed inside a safe that requires 14 separate keys in order to open it.) Perugino was the teacher of Raphael, who also painted this same scene in a similar manner. One comic touch that both artists used was to show a rejected suitor breaking a branch over his knee: Mary’s suitors all brought branches to court her but only Joseph’s miraculously blossomed. Perugino’s painting was looted by Napoleon’s troops in 1797 and was sent to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen in 1804. It has not been returned to Perugia.
November 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA (c. 1415 - 1492), “The Senigallia Madonna”, 1474-78. Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, Italy.
#arthistory #art #Renaissance #Italy
This lovely masterpiece by the Italian Renaissance master, Piero della Francesca, escaped being looted by the Nazis during World War II thanks to the efforts of Pasquale Rotondi, who hid it under his bed! Rotondi was the Superintendent of the Marche, one of the heroes who secretly hid artworks in discreet warehouses set up in a castle near Pesaro and a palace in Montefeltro. It is believed that as many as 10,000 items (including the Pala d’Oro from St. Mark’s in Venice) were saved from Nazi confiscation thanks to these efforts. Alas, in 1975 thieves broke into the 15th century Ducal Palace in Urbino and stole this painting along with two others. The paintings were most likely stolen as part of an extortion scheme for their recovery, but a tip from an antiques dealer in Rome led to their recovery in Switzerland in 1976. Posing as wealthy buyers, agents from the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command – known as the Carabinieri Art Squad – set up a successful undercover sting that led to the arrest of the suspects and the return of all three paintings. Italy’s Carabinieri Art Squad was the first law enforcement branch dedicated to protect and recover national cultural treasures.
November 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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Attention Alphabetters!
Mon 10 Nov is the start of Week T and the theme for the #AlphabetChallenge is Television. Caption your pic with the name of a TV programme. Pic doesn’t need to relate to the plot- just to the title. A tricky one this week - so get creative! Use the # below and have fun😊
November 9, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
HANS MEMLING (1430 - 1494), “The Last Judgment”, 1467-71. National Museum, Gdańsk, Poland. This beautiful Hans Memling triptych was stolen by Polish pirates in April 1473, making it the first recorded art heist in history.
#arthistory #art #pirates #Memling
“The Last Judgment” was commissioned from the Flemish artist by Angelo Tani, a director for the Medici bank in Bruges, for a chapel dedicated to St. Michael in Fiesole, Italy. During the Anglo-Hanseatic War (1469 – 1474), the painting was seized at sea by Paul Beneke while being shipped to Florence; Beneke was a Hanseatic League privateer who was also a town official at Danzig. Because the ship was of English registry, the seized art was adjudged to be war booty. Italy has been seeking its restitution ever since, without success. The three-paneled painting depicts the last judgment of Jesus Christ, with St. Michael separating the souls of the saved and the damned in the central section.
November 9, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
ANDREA MANTEGNA (1431 - 1506), “The Resurrection”, 1456-59. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours, France. In 1797, French troops stole the San Zeno Altarpiece by the Italian Renaissance master, Andrea Mantegno, from the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy.
#arthistory #art
The altarpiece is made up of three main panels above three smaller predella panels (this style of altarpiece is known as a polyptych – multi-panels). The main panels depict a Madonna and Child with Saints, while the lower predella panels show stories from the Bible. “The Resurrection” is one of the smaller predella panels. The larger panels were restituted to Verona in 1815 following Napoleon’s defeat, but the three small predella panels were not. Two of the predella panels, including “The Resurrection”, are now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts; the third is in The Louvre. (The second attached photo shows the complete altarpiece as it is now in Verona; the predella panels are reproductions.) The altarpiece is made up of three main panels above three smaller predella panels (this style of altarpiece is known as a polyptych – multi-panels). The main panels depict a Madonna and Child with Saints, while the lower predella panels show stories from the Bible. “The Resurrection” is one of the smaller predella panels. The larger panels were restituted to Verona in 1815 following Napoleon’s defeat, but the three small predella panels were not. Two of the predella panels, including “The Resurrection”, are now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts; the third is in The Louvre. (The second attached photo shows the complete altarpiece as it is now in Verona; the predella panels are reproductions.)
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
FRA FILIPPO LIPPI (c. 1406 - 1469), “The Barbadori Altarpiece”, 1438. The Louvre, Paris, France. This is the central panel of an altarpiece commissioned for the Barbadori family chapel in Santo Spirito in Florence, Italy.
#arthistory #art #ItalianRenaissance
In 1810, the altarpiece was disassembled and brought back to France by Napoleonic troops; the predella (the smaller panels that made up the base of the central panel) remained in Italy and are now in the Uffizi in Florence. This main panel has not been given back. The kneeling saints are St. Augustine on the right and St. Fridianus on the left. On the far left is a self-portrait of Lippi, identified as the young monk looking out at the viewer from behind the railing. Lippi was orphaned at a young age and was placed in the Carmelite friary in Florence; he took holy orders at the age of 16. His artistic talents gave him quite a bit of freedom and attracted the important patronage of Cosimo de’Medici. Fra Filippo Lippi had a large workshop in Florence, where he taught such important Renaissance painters as Sandro Botticelli and his own son Filippino Lippi (I did say that he had quite a bit of freedom as a monk).
November 7, 2025 at 11:25 AM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
GIOTTO (c. 1267 - 1337), “St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata”, c. 1295. The Louvre, Paris, France. Giotto’s “St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata” is another masterwork looted from Italy during the Napoleonic Era.
#arthistory #art #Giotto #Napoleon
It became part of the Louvre’s collection in 1813. Like the Cimabue altarpiece seen in yesterday’s post, this Giotto painting was taken from the Church of San Francesco in Pisa. The panel depicts the moment when St. Francis received the stigmata, the bodily wounds suffered by Christ on the cross. Dominique Vivant Denon, appointed the first Director of the Louvre by Napoleon, had a particular fondness for Italian primitive art and he oversaw much of the Italian looting on behalf of the future Emperor. The Denon Wing of the Louvre was named after him. I will say that Vivant Denon had excellent taste in the art pieces he targeted. This Giotto masterpiece remains in the Louvre collection.
November 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
DURGA MAHISHASURAMARDINI, 8th century CE.
This small stone statue of the Hindu goddess, Durga, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015. The Museum returned it to India in 2018.
This small stone statue of the Hindu goddess, Durga, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015. The Museum researched and identified the sculpture as belonging to the Chakravarteswara Temple at Baijnath, Uttarakhand; it was returned to the government of India in 2018. Durga Mahishasuramardini depicts the Hindu goddess in her form as the “slayer of the buffalo demon Mahishasma” in a classic tale of good triumphing over evil.
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
BYZANTINE MOSAIC OF ST. MARK, 6th Century CE. Byzantine Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus. A sixth-century Byzantine mosaic of St. Mark was stolen from the Panayia Kanakaria Church, in Lythrangomi, Cyprus, following the Turkish invasion of 1974.
#arthistory #art #Cyprus #mosaic
A sixth-century Byzantine mosaic of St. Mark was stolen from the Panayia Kanakaria Church, in Lythrangomi, Cyprus, following the Turkish invasion of 1974. The early Byzantine mosaics are rare examples of Cypriot-style iconography. After they were looted, the mosaic fragments were sold on the international art market. The St. Mark mosaic had been purchased by a British collector, who immediately returned it (in 2018) once informed of its history. The St. Mark mosaic was the last major piece of the Kanakaria mosaics to be found and returned. The mosaic features a halo-ed head of St. Mark, set in a circle; the mosaic tiles (tesserae) are predominantly gold and green with dark accents.
November 3, 2025 at 1:41 PM
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#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekRforRocks
#Photography
#Spain
Montserrat, Spain
"Montserrat" literally means "serrated (like the common handsaw) mountain" in Catalan. It is well worth a day trip from Barcelona.
November 2, 2025 at 6:25 PM
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sheena-mck.bsky.social
Attention Alphabetters!
Mon 3 Nov is the start of Week S and the theme for the #AlphabetChallenge is Shadows. Any pic with a shadow or shadows as the subject or prominent feature. Simple or arty farty - your choice. But no silhouettes- just shadows.
Use the # below and have fun😊
November 2, 2025 at 6:02 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
CAPITOLINE BRUTUS BUST, late 4th – 3rd centuries BCE. Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy.
This bust is the first of many items we will look at this month that were looted by Napoleonic troops and officials beginning around 1794.
#arthistory #art #sculpture #AncientRome
Known as the “Capitoline Brutus”, this bust is a Roman bronze portrait head, with glass-inlaid bone eyes, that dates to the late 4th to early 3rd century BCE. During the Renaissance, the Roman head was given a bronze toga. The head is unlikely to be of the Roman statesman Lucius Junius Brutus but the name has stuck. In 1797, Pope Pius VI turned the bust over to Napoleon, who used it in a triumphal procession in Paris the following year. It was returned to Rome in 1816 following the final defeat of Napoleon. The Second Treaty of Paris, signed in 1815, was the first treaty to stipulate that seizure of art and cultural objects during invasions or war was against ethical principles.
November 2, 2025 at 6:10 PM
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#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekRforRock
#Photography #BlockIsland
Rocky beach leading to the North Lighthouse, Block Island, Rhode Island US.
November 1, 2025 at 4:13 PM
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November's theme: Stolen Art
LAPIS LAZULI SPHINX BRACELET INLAY, c. 1323 BCE. Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt. This small artifact was excavated from Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter, who liked it so much he kept it.
#arthistory #art #StolenArt #Egypt #Tutankhamun
It now appears that Howard Carter secretly pocketed quite a few items from his Tut excavation, including this lapis sphinx, even though he had signed an agreement that recognized that all of the tomb’s contents legally belonged to the Egyptian government. The sphinx appeared as part of Carter’s estate after he died in 1939 and eventually made its way into the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 2010, the Met agreed to return this item, along with 18 other items similarly looted from Tut’s tomb, to the Egyptian government and it is now back where it belongs in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. (Items from Tutankhamun’s tomb were also found in Lord Carnarvon’s estate.)
November 1, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekRforRock
#Photography
THE Rock (Alcatraz Island)
Alcatraz Island, surrounded by the San Francisco Bay. Now a National Park, it served as a maximum-security federal prison until it was closed in 1963.
October 31, 2025 at 1:12 PM
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October's theme: Fabulous Gowns in Art
AMY SHERALD (born 1973), “First Lady Michelle Obama”, 2018. National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.
#arthistory #art #MichelleObama #AmySherald #portrait
Sherald and Mrs. Obama chose the dress, designed by Michelle Smith for the Milly label, that is integral to this portrait. Smith had designed the dress to reference Modern Art, but its pattern also recalls the boldly geometric quilts hand-made by the former slaves of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Sherald’s art celebrates and elevates African American culture and black identity. Her portraits use greyscale in place of natural skin tones as a nod to early photographs. Mrs. Obama is a highly accomplished woman. She is a lawyer, writer and, as the first African American First Lady of the United States, a vocal advocate for healthy families, service members and girls’ educational opportunities. Sherald’s portrait of the First Lady is timeless and elegant. In person, this portrait is monumental and powerful.
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
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#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekRforRock
#Photography
Milwaukee Botanical Garden, Wisconsin US
Rock garden at the Milwaukee Botanical Garden
October 30, 2025 at 3:56 PM
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October's theme: Fabulous Gowns in Art
DIEGO RIVERA (1886 - 1957), “Retrato de la Señora Amparo Rugarcía de Espinosa”, 1952. Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico.
#arthistory #art #Mexico #DiegoRivera #portrait
In 1991, the Mexican financier Manuel Espinosa Yglesias founded the Museo Amparo in memory of his wife, who is the subject of Diego Rivera’s 1952 portrait. The portrait presided over the Museum’s lobby for many years, accompanied by a plaque inscribed with Manuel’s words: "This Museo Amparo is named after my wife, a beautiful woman who always loved me." The Señora’s timeless beauty and knowing smile are captured by Rivera’s simplified style. He painted her wearing a black velvet gown, classic pearl drop earrings and a matching ring, with a “rebozo” across her lap. The rebozo is a long rectangular shawl with a deep knotted fringe; its origins are found in pre-Hispanic Meso-America and it serves as a proud symbol of Mexican identity. Rivera has also placed calla lilies in the background – a favorite detail that he used in several other portraits and in paintings of flower vendors.
October 30, 2025 at 3:53 PM