Smarthistory
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smarthistory.bsky.social
Smarthistory
@smarthistory.bsky.social
630 followers 370 following 220 posts
Smarthistory, a nonprofit, collaborates with museums, academics, conservators, and knowledge-bearers to make art history accessible and engaging while retaining nuance and rigor—plus everything is free! https://smarthistory.org
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smarthistory.bsky.social
smarthistory.org/jacopo-sanso...

a new #Smarthistory essay by Dr. Letha Ch'ien on one of the most seen/overlooked #Renaissance buildings in #Italy

#architecture #ArchitecturalHistory #Venice #Venetian
Jacopo Sansovino, Loggetta, Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1538–46 (attached to the reconstructed medieval bell tower) (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) Please see the essay for a detailed description
July 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Chihil Sutun, a Safavid palace
a new #Smarthistory essay by Dr. Samira Fathi
#Safavid #Iran #architecture #architecturalhistory

smarthistory.org/chihil-sutun/
Straight on photo of the palace looking across the reflecting pool against a bright blue sky. Reflections of the columns and the small potted bushes that line the pool can be seen in the water. Trees frame the palace in the background.
July 1, 2025 at 7:02 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
"Why art history isn't like math"
a new Smarthistory essay aimed at students and others unfamiliar with the Humanities:
smarthistory.org/why-art-hist...

#arthistory #humanities #education
Central panel (detail), Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1480–1505, oil on panel, 220 x 390 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid) showing an oversized owl being embraced by a nude man, a large duck stretched across the top, a very large and invented flower, and a nude couple caressing each other within a large translucent sphere .
June 2, 2025 at 4:27 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Catching up with essay submissions on this pre-holiday Friday. What a privilege to work with so many brilliant and generous scholars. Smarthistory has more than 3,500 essays authored by more than 800 art historians who want to tell you about the things they study. Coming soon, Safavid architecture!
Chehel Sotun Palace façade from from Pascal-Xavier Coste, Modern monuments of Persia, volume 1 (Paris: A. Morel, 1867), plate 43; a watercolor filling most of the page in grays, yellows, greens and a touch of red, all strictly ruled and quite precise.
May 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Smarthistory, a tiny not-for-profit, published 24 new videos and essays in the past month from the Romanesque to a Khmer Buddha to a Joe Overstreet made on the lower east side in 1970—all produced by art historians and all for free and with no ads, for you.

explore: smarthistory.org

#art
A bronze Buddha sits crosslegged, hands together, palms up, all with a bright green patina held by two hands in white cotton gloves against a richly colored wood background that is out of focus.
May 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Join a 13th-century Buddhist monk as he comes upon the historical Buddha in his dream.

Myōe Kōben, Dream Record (Yume no ki)
with Dr. Frank Feltens, Curator of Japanese Art, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

smarthistory.org/myoe-koben-d...
Myōe Kōben, Dream Record (Yume no ki), early 13th century, ink on paper, 30.1 x 51 cm (Purchase–Charles Lang Freer Endowment, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, F2013.1a–c), please see video transcript for a visual description.
May 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Need a little drop dead gorgeous Roman mosaic? Take a peek at the House of Neptune and Amphitrite at Herculaneum by Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay: smarthistory.org/neptune-amph...
Neptune and Amphitrite, before 79 C.E., mosaic, garden of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum (photo: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0) for a complete visual description please see the essay
May 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Lots of wonderful new content is being published on smarthistory.org

Antoine Watteau, The Pleasures of the Ball by Dr. Meredith Martin was published yesterday and explores the Rococo but unlike so much writing on the fête galante, does not ignore race: smarthistory.org/antoine-watt...
Antoine Watteau, The Pleasures of the Ball (Les Plaisirs du Bal), c. 1715–17, oil on canvas, 652 x 525 cm (Dulwich Picture Gallery, London) for a full visual description, please read the essay.
May 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Want to learn more about the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore where Pope Francis was entombed? Smarthistory can help:
smarthistory.org/basilica-of-...
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, c. 432–1743, Rome seen against a blue sky. For a more detailed description please access the video or it's transcript.
April 29, 2025 at 6:52 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
from the Paris 1900 Exposition,
Louis Comfort Tiffany's Favrile glass masterpiece, and a new Smarthistory video!
smarthistory.org/louis-comfor...

#ArtNouveau #Paris1900 #art #arthistory #glass
Read the video transcript for a detailed description. Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, Punch Bowl with Three Ladles, 1900, glass, silver, gilding, copper, and wood, bowl 36.8 x 61 cm, ladle 6.4 x 8.9 x 25.4 cm (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond) Exhibited at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair (Louis Comfort Tiffany won a grand prize and received the French Legion of Honor); the bowl was owned by Henry O. Havemeyer and is made of hand-blown iridescent glass that recalls ancient Roman glass which can become pearlescent when buried. Tiffany termed this glass Favrile, after the Latin "fabrilis" (hand made). stamped: APRIL 1900 / TIFFANY G. & D. CO. / NEW YORK / 1282
April 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
New photo set of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, 1974-79
www.flickr.com/photos/profz...
Photo of the front of the runner for the setting dedicated to Mary Wollstonecraft heavily embroidered with flowers and a white banner arching over her name with the title of her most influential text, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
April 16, 2025 at 2:07 AM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Ah, we made a short video about this painting with a wonderful curator at the Art Institute of Chicago: smarthistory.org/elizabeth-sp...

and we have a HD photo set of the canvas here: www.flickr.com/search/?user...
detail from Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, The Shoe Shop, c. 1911, oil on canvas, 99.1 x 79.4 cm (Art Institute of Chicago) showing two women rendered in in loose brushstrokes.
April 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross
a new Smarthistory video:
smarthistory.org/rogier-van-d...
A photograph of a gallery at the Prado Museum in Madrid with Rogier van der Weyden's The Descent from the Cross on the far wall. The floor is gray stone paving and the walls are dull bluish sage in color.
April 4, 2025 at 11:20 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Doomscrolling? Beauty and creativity can help.
Explore smarthistory.org

#art #arthistory #doomscrolling #selfcare #learning
Faces from numerous artworks from around the world and across time.
April 1, 2025 at 3:17 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
"Who accompanied the jíbaro’s prayer in the isolated mountains of 19th-century Puerto Rico"

Learn about Santos de palo (wooden saints) in a new essay by Dr. Tamara Díaz Calcaño: smarthistory.org/caban-group-...

#art #arthistory #Caribbean #19thc
Cabán group, Los Reyes Magos, c. 1875–1900, carved and painted wood with metal and string, 20.7 x 30.3 x 15.3 cm (Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.) showing thre roughly carved wood sculptures joined by a single wood plank that forms a base depicting the Three Magi painted in numerous colors.
March 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Thanks to Dr. Stacy Kamehiro, Executive Editor, Pacific Arts: Journal of the Pacific Arts Association, Smarthistory is publishing ten essays on art by Pacific Islanders, written by Pacific Islanders. Here are two:

smarthistory.org/kapulani-lan...

smarthistory.org/ola-ka-wai-o...

#art #arthistory
Kapulani Landgraf, ʻAuʻa, photograph installation, 2019, installed at the Honolulu Museum of Art, 2019 (Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; photo: Stacy L. Kamehiro, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) © Kapulani Landgraf, courtesy of the artist; the image is of a gallery interior with a small upholstered bench in the center and adorned with enlarged passport-like headshots with small writing across the surface that adds texture but does not obscure the face behind it.
March 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
To see this Casper David Friedrich in high resolution and with details, as well as 16,945 photos of commonly taught works of art (all with a #CreativeCommons license), please visit: www.flickr.com/photos/profz...

#art #arthistory #Romanticism #German #landscape #seascape
Caspar David Friedrich, Monk by the Sea, 1808–10, oil on canvas, 110 x 171.5 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) a painting that depicts the lone diminutive figure of a monk standing on a beach in winter looking out at a stormy sea and sky.
March 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Saint Patrick’s Bell and Shrine
smarthistory.org/saint-patric...

#Ireland #Irish #StPat #Medieval #art #arthistory
The Bell of St Patrick, 8th-9th century, iron and bronze, and its Shrine and c. 1100, silver-gilt, gold, bronze (National Museum of Ireland) here a detail of the interlace
March 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
I really loved this painting when I photographed it. We hope to have a video about it before long. Details of the painting can be found here:
www.flickr.com/photos/profz...

#art #arthistory #portrature
Shizu Saldamando, Sandra and Tammy, Hollywood Forever, 2013, mixed media on panel, 121.9 × 152.4 cm (Art Bridges, © Shizu Saldamando) depicts two young women in contemporary clothing sitting on a blanket with a few tufts of grass against a plane of light colored wood with knots and grain visible.
March 16, 2025 at 10:11 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Detail of Joe Overstreet's Boxes, 1970, acrylic on constructed canvas with metal grommets and cotton rope, 292.1 × 171.5 × 121.9 cm (Art Bridges, © estate of the artist)

For the full photoset in high resolution and nearly 17,000 more photos of art and architecture, www.flickr.com/photos/profz...
Joe Overstreet, Boxes, 1970, acrylic on constructed canvas with metal grommets and cotton rope, 292.1 × 171.5 × 121.9 cm (Art Bridges, © estate of the artist). This photograph shows a detail of the work of art with bright multicolored paint that is both geometric and organic in form on a canvas suspended by cords laced through grommets.
March 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
One of the many treasures in Madrid, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni, 1489–90 for the full painting at high resolution, please visit our Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/profz...

#art #arthistory
Detail of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni, 1489–90, mixed media on panel, 77 x 49 cm (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) showing a young woman in profile.
March 14, 2025 at 10:47 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Allegory and effect of good and bad government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
smarthistory.org/ambrogio-lor...

and here is a high res photo set: www.flickr.com/search/?sort...

#art #arthistory #government #ethics #tyranny #corruption
Three armed men exit a door, two on foot, one mounted. The fresco around then is mostly lost. For a full description, please access the video or the transcript. Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Allegory of Good Government, Effects of Good Government in the City and the Country, and Allegory and Effects of Bad Government in the City and the Country, Siena c. 1337 or 1338-40, fresco, Sala della Pace (Hall of Peace) also known as the Sala dei Nove (the Hall of the Nine), 7.7 x 14.4 meters, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena <a href="https://smarthistory.org/ambrogio-lorenzetti-palazzo-pubblico-frescos-allegory-and-effects-of-good-and-bad-government/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Learn more at Smarthistory</a>
March 1, 2025 at 9:15 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
A couple of other exterior photos to give context
West façade, Amiens Cathedral Portals, eest façade, Amiens Cathedral
February 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Amiens Cathedral smarthistory.org/amiens/
Looking up at the Last Judgment tympanum in the central portal at Amiens Cathedral with 4 friezes carved in deep relief surrounded by angel in the archivolts with traces of polychromy. For a detailed description please access the video or the video transcript.
February 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
smarthistory.bsky.social
Smarthistory a wonderful new essay:
Conceptual art in Beirut: Farid Haddad’s “Hearts and Monuments” by Dr. Monique Bellan

smarthistory.org/beirut-farid...
A view of a page from the website Smarthistory.org with this essay showing a poster with a heart drawn in red outline about a black arrow pointing up to it. Both as if they were drawn swiftly. On the left is the site's content navigation showing the heading "Modernisms 1900–1980."
February 26, 2025 at 9:05 PM