ἕν οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδέν οἶδα
All I know is that I know nothing
Allegedly said by Socrates
So true, 30 years in Education, and I still feel like a kindergarten student, curious and inquisitive, questioning, interested, prying …
Rubens and Isabella Brant
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower, c. 1609–10, Oil on Canvas, 178 x 136.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany https://smarthistory.org/peter-paul-rubens-and-isabella-brant-in-the-honeysuckle-bower/ You can almost smell the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle wafting from the ...
Eros and Psyche
Eros and Psyche, Roman marble sculpture, 300 AD, after a Hellenistic, 2nd century BC original statue, Marble, Height: 1.25 m, Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 18, 2024, ‘Meanings’. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to Today Exhibition, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Gr ...
Amarna Canopic Jar
Canopic Jar with a Lid Depicting a Queen, New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1349–1330 BC, from Upper Egypt, Valley of the Kings, Tomb KV 55, Travertine (Egyptian alabaster), blue glass, obsidian, unidentified stone, Height of Jar and Lid: 53.2 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.or ...
Portrait of a Young Man Praying and Flowers in a Jug
Hans Memling, 1435-1494Portrait of a young man praying (obverse) and Flowers in a Jug (verso), ca. 1485, Oil on Panel, 29.2 x 22.5 cm, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain https://www.museothyssen.org/coleccion/artistas/memling-hans/retrato-hombre-joven-orante-anverso and https://www.museothyssen.org/colec ...
The Wisteria-Laburnum Table Lamp by Tiffany Studios
Designer: Louis C. Tiffany, American, 1848–1933 (Shade) - Clara Driscoll, American, 1861–1944 (Base)Maker: Tiffany Studios, 1902–32‘Wisteria-Laburnum’ Table Lamp with a telescoping reticulated ‘Queen Anne's Lace’ base, circa 1910, leaded glass, patinated bronze, Height: 73.8 cm, Private Collection https://www.sothebys ...
Sweet Violet
Sweet Violet, Vienna Dioscurides, Folio 148v, about 515 AD, Byzantine Greek Illuminated Manuscript of De Materia Medica by Pedanius Dioscurides, vellum folios measure 37 by 30 cm, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Vienna https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/topics/vienna+dioscurides?page=2 “The Vienna Dioscur ...
The Tyche of Antioch
Tyche of Antioch (Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Eutychides of the 3rd century BC), 1st-2nd cent AD, Marble, Height: 0.89 m, Galleria dei Candelabri, Musei Vaticani - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 18, 2024, ‘Meanings’. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to Today Exhibition, Acropoli ...
The Figure of Eight Shield
Wall painting depicting the Figure of Eight Shield, Fresco from the Cult Center of the Acropolis of Mycenae, 1250-1180 BC, National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mycenaean_mural_depicting_a_shield_at_the_National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Athens_on_October_26,_2021.jpg ...
Cropsey’s Winter Evening in the Country
Jasper Francis Cropsey, American Artist, 1823-1900Winter Evening in the Country, 1865, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 102.2 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6519595?ldp_breadcrumb=back#lot-essay Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Winter Evening in the Country captures the serene stillness and frosty charm of ...
The Portrait of Mäda Primavesi
Gustav Klimt, Austrian Artist, 1862-1918Mäda Primavesi, 1912–13, Oil on Canvas, 149.9 x 110.5 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436819 The Portrait of Mäda Primavesi, the subject of Klimt's painting currently in the MET, presents the lively nine-year-old daughter of a wealthy Vien ...
Luigi Bazzani’s Watercolours of Pompeii
Luigi Bazzani, Italian Artist, 1836–1927A fountain in Pompeii (House of the Large Fountain, Pompeii), 1888, Watercolour on Paper, 46.35x 35.56 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O406355/painting-of-pompeii-drawing-luigi-bazzani/#object-details I’m not sure if you enjoy Jap ...
St John the Baptist and Four Saints
St John the Baptist and Four Saints, c. 1000 AD, Elephant ivory with traces of gilding, 23.2x13.3cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._John_the_Baptist_and_saints,_c._1000_CE._Ivory_with_traces_of_gilding._From_Constantinople,_Byzantine_Empire_%28Istanbul,_Turkey%29._Vi ...
Bernardino Luini’s the Madonna of the Carnation
Bernardino Luini, c. 1480 - 1532The Madonna of the Carnation, c. 1515, Oil on Panel, 43.8 x 40.3 cm, The National Gallery, Washington DC, USA https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.293.html In Bernardino Luini's the Madonna of the Carnation, the humble carnation flower plays a significant symbolic role, qui ...
Morrison Triptych
Master of the Morrison Triptych, active in Bruges and Antwerp, ca. 1500-1525The Morrison Triptych, about 1500-1510, Oil on Wood, wings: 110.8 x 37.2 cm, center panel: 97.5 x 60.4 cm, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, USA http://emuseum.toledomuseum.org/objects/55281 The Morrison Triptych is a remarkable altarpiece housed ...
Enkolpion with Nativity
Enkolpion with Enthroned Virgin, Nativity, Adoration and Baptism, Early Byzantine, last quarter of the 6th century (ca. 583?), Gold, 7.2x6.5 cm, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, USA https://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info?query=Portfolios%20%3D%20%222607%22&sort=0&page=51 In the realm of Byzantine devotion, E ...
Jeff Koons’ Tulips
Jeff Koons, American Artist, 1955Tulips, 1995–2004, High chromium stainless steel with transparent colour coating, 203x460x520 cm, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, May 2024 A. E. Stallings’ poem about tulips, with lines like… Something about the way they drop / Their petals on the tableto ...