-
Studies in Paris, December 2025
I just completed the first semester of a Masters in Art History at The Courtauld in London. The second-to-last week before the end of term, our High Middle Ages group visited several sites around Paris: Notre-Dame de Paris, The Bibliothèque nationale de France, Saint-Denis, the Sainte-Chapelle, and the Musée de Cluny. I took the Eurostar Continue reading
-
Travel and Study in Greece, 2024
During summer 2024 I traveled with family on a month-long study trip to Greece. I wanted to see the ancient sites with their art treasures and better understand the context and life of Greek people, and how it shaped their art and still shapes their worldview today. After reading so many texts and listening to Continue reading
-
Highlights of Master Drawings NY and Classic Week at Christies – New York 2025
Winter weather in the Northeast may discourage some gallery goers, but Master Drawings New York is worth braving the cold to see some of the finest drawings on display anywhere in the United States. This year’s event includes 29 galleries exhibiting “exceptional and rare works on paper from the 15th to the 21st centuries, as well as Continue reading
-
Painting the American Revolutionary War, Part 1
Artists created some of the most enduring memorials of major events in the American Revolution. These iconic works are evidence of the training, scholarship, and patriotic fervor these painters and sculptors possessed. But for some of the creators, they were not simply inventing from imagination – they themselves witnessed and lived through the events they Continue reading
-
A New Light on Old Masters: 5 Exciting Exhibitions in 2025
The year 2025 brings timely, unprecedented and provocative exhibitions featuring work from past centuries. Berlin is showing important works recovered from the war-torn city of Odesa in Ukraine. The United States will see first-ever comprehensive exhibitions for Romantic innovator Caspar David Friedrich and ground-breaking Dutch female artist Rachel Ruysch. Two exhibitions cast new light on Continue reading
-
Standing on the shoulders of giants: How Yale medical students learn from looking at fine art
Yale medical students are taught useful observation skills by taking time with 18th- and 19th-century paintings. Continue reading
-
The painting that inspired Gladiator (2000)
If a work of art is all about the concept behind it, then this was one of the most successful works of art in the year 2000. This image was the inspiration for the film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. It was a box office smash, it dominated Continue reading
-
The Unavoidable Attraction of Beauty
Beauty, by any other name, is returning from exile in the contemporary art world. Continue reading
-
End of an era: An 1890 speech in honor of Italian Painter Francesco Hayez at the Brera Academy
Francesco Hayez was one of the most respected and influential artists of the 19th century. In 1890, the Brera Academy dedicated a monument in his honor. The dedicatory speech by President of the Academy is an informative account of Hayez life and work. Continue reading
-
It’s the perfect time to like old things.
I just watched Patrick H Willems opinion piece on YouTube asking, “Who is Killing Cinema?” The need for a 90-minute thesis on this topic squares perfectly with my experience of the past decade. Retrograde, Two Ways I can recall seeing fewer than ten new-release movies in the past ten years. More than that, the last Continue reading
– group forum –
Discuss, share, and chat with others.
– SUPPORT CONTINUUM –
Consider a donation to support art history research. The author, Zachary J Gray, uses Venmo @Zachary-Gray-82 and CashApp $zjgray1002
