Smarthistory, a nonprofit, collaborates with museums, academics, conservators, and knowledge-bearers to make art history accessible and engaging while retaining nuance and the highest academic standards—plus everything is free! https://smarthistory.org
"While this representational strategy might seem unusual in the post-modern world, in the waning days of the Roman Republic it was an effective means of competing in an ever more complex socio-political arena." By Dr. Jeffrey Becker (@serviliusahala.bsky.social) smarthistory.org/head-of-a-ro...
Nothing in Venice is straightforward, but the Pala d'Oro makes the rest of the city look simple. Dr. Lara Frentrop takes us through the relationship between Venice and the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire that plays out on its golden bejeweled surface smarthistory.org/pala-doro-ba...
For @artologica.net, @mlobelart.bsky.social, and @apearlma.bsky.social: an egg painted in egg tempera, Piero della Francesca's lovely 15th-century sacra conversazione (Madonna and Child with Saints, Angels, and Federico da Montefeltro) #Renaissance #yum(?)
Piero della Francesca, Madonna and Child with Saints, Angels, and Federico da MontefeltroYouTube video by Smarthistorywww.youtube.comA deer in repose held ever so lightly by a nude human woman with a grave expression. "If you take the time to look at her carefully, all these different stories come to life": Kiki Smith’s "Her" realizes the language of the myth in sculptural form #Sculpture #ContemporaryArt #WomenArtists
Kiki Smith, HerYouTube video by Smarthistorywww.youtube.com"Sometimes art and architecture calls on us to reimagine what we think was possible in the past, and what ancestors were able to achieve." It's said great birds or giants moved the basalt rocks into place. The 13–17th c. megalithic capital, Nan Madol, in Micronesia smarthistory.org/nan-madol/
Betye Saar (1926–2026) created a wealth of unforgettable art with clever multi-faceted imagery. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, one of her most famous works, owned by @bampfa.bsky.social, can be found on Smarthistory here: smarthistory.org/betye-saar-l...
It's got 3 bullet holes. It lives on top of the Pisa Cathedral roof. It was made in Islamic Spain and originally had internal pipes to make a roaring noise. This is not a riddle. This is the Pisa Griffin and Dr. Courtney Lesoon has the explanation: smarthistory.org/pisa-griffin/
Mass produced and widely circulated, the print "The Law and the Gospel" was one of the most important images of the Protestant Reformation.
Smarthistory: the Center for Public Art History[Enter quip here about the law coming after you with a spear]. We're pleased to announce Dr. Rachel M. Carlisle's essay on the Reformation-era woodcut "The Law and the Gospel" just published at smarthistory.org/law-gospel-w...
Dyed in brilliant colors and woven in fine silk fibers, this Nasrid textile likely took thousands of hours to complete — and it's survived since the 15th century! New Smarthistory essay by Dr. Courtney Lesoon just published smarthistory.org/nasrid-texti...
[Enter quip here about the law coming after you with a spear]. We're pleased to announce Dr. Rachel M. Carlisle's essay on the Reformation-era woodcut "The Law and the Gospel" just published at smarthistory.org/law-gospel-w...
Wow oh wow! Dr. Ariel Fein's essay on the minarets of al-Hākim, not only for their funky history (Why would a ruler invest a fortune in elaborate carved decoration, only to hide it almost immediately?) but also the gorgeous photography. When can we go to Cairo? smarthistory.org/minarets-al-...
Larger than expected, unrelentingly present, Fritz Scholder's Dartmouth Portrait #15, 1973, 72 x 60 in (Art Bridges), a 5-minute conversation with Julia Mun, Assistant Curator, Art Bridges Foundation and Beth Harris, Smarthistory #NativeAmerican #Indigeneous
Fritz Scholder, Dartmouth Portrait #15YouTube video by Smarthistorywww.youtube.comLong before Christopher Nolan, people were imagining what Homer's Odyssey might have looked like. Come see these first century BCE frescos with Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris of Smarthistory #TheOdyssey #Odyssey
Homer's Odyssey, an ancient fresco cycleYouTube video by Smarthistorywww.youtube.comLike Zendaya, we love the Nike of Samothrace but we've probably never looked so good studying it 🫠 smarthistory.org/nike-winged-...
A wearable codex to be performed in a @gettymuseum.bsky.social exhibition of European images of the Americas to include an Indigenous perspective. Our new video with Dr. Idurree Alonso, Head of Modern and Contemporary Collections
Beatriz Cortez and rafa esparza, Wearable CodexYouTube video by Smarthistorywww.youtube.comCheck out Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank's essay and Smarthistory's video on Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors #Reformation
smarthistory.orgDr. Peter Paul RubensTwo French ambassadors, Jean de Dinteville & Georges de Selve, pose w/ science, art, & death, along with faith at the edge. Entirely brilliant painting by Hans Holbein, 1533. Today is his day.
David's Portrait of the Lavoisiers was supposed to be shown at the Salon of 1789. But 6 weeks earlier, the storming of the Bastille on July 14 had begun the French Revolution. Rumors grew that Lavoisier had conspired against the Revolution. The painting was pulled. smarthistory.org/jacques-loui...
If your students hear "parkour!" when you say "partage!," this essay's for you. Dr. Elizabeth Macaulay takes us through the practice of dividing finds from archaeological excavations and the flow of artifacts from the countries where they were found smarthistory.org/partage/
For more on Louis Sullivan's architecture, our artist page is up here (until someone throws it in a lake) smarthistory.org/artist/louis...
smarthistory.orgZach MorticeIn no other place on earth would you run into world-historical architectural artifacts tossed into the water as rip-rap flooding buffers, and this speaks to both Chicago's embarrassment of riches and tragically late blooming preservation movement blockclubchicago.org/2026/07/08/a...