Nine Days a Queen and the “Execution of Lady Jane Grey”
Lady Jane Grey was born into the Tudor family by Henry Grey and Lady Frances Brandon, holding strong bloodline connections to Henry VIII, in October 1537. Being…
Vermeer’s “Woman Holding a Balance”: Allegory of Judgment
Johannes Vermeer’s two foremost allegories—that of the Catholic Faith and that of the Art of Painting—help us understand the painter’s “Woman Holding a Balance” (hereafter, WHB), inviting…
True Painting and the Problem of Imitation
There is a categorical rift between classical and modern (progressive or avant-garde) painting, for modern painting as such ceases to be “imitation of nature” in the classical…
Beyond Modern Theatrics: Restoring the Dignity of Painting and Music
The seventeenth century French querelle des anciens et des modernes suggests that the dawn of the modern world is marked by the rise of a new theatre. …
Smiles from Reason Flow
So wrote Milton, describing the love between Adam and Eve, and its expression in their faces. The smile, for Milton, was proof that we are made in…
Symbols in Painting
“The second fabling-talk [parlare], which corresponds to the Age of Heroes, the Egyptians indicated to have been fabled [parlato] through symbols; to which are to be retraced…