All Curated Topics
One Second Off the Ground: How Michelangelo Turned Abduction into Ascent
A horizontal wingspan, a vertical body, and one tiny dog below turn a violent abduction into an image of ascent.
Bernini’s Tomb of Alexander VII: Why Death Comes Through a Real Door
A fixed doorway became Bernini’s best effect: Death slips through it, lifts a stone curtain, and presents the pope with an hourglass.
Raphael's Women: Madonnas, Lovers, and Muses
Virgin Marys, enigmatic noblewomen, and a secret lover—how Raphael defined feminine beauty across the Renaissance.
Influencing Rembrandt and Cézanne: 500 Years of Castiglione
From Rembrandt to Cézanne, how this understated portrait became the ultimate template for later artists through its flawless sense of ease.
Reunited After 400 Years: The Destiny of the Colonna Altarpiece
Falling from a convent altar, sold by royalty, and scattered across the globe. The fate of Raphael's altarpiece is stranger than any fiction.
237 Works by Raphael — He Finally Came to America
The only Renaissance master who never had a US retrospective finally gets one. The Louvre, Borghese, and Uffizi lend simultaneously; the Colonna Altarpiece reunites for the first time in centuries; La Fornarina leaves Italy for only the second time. At the Met this summer.