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 …
The Ironworkers’ Noontime
Thomas Pollock Anshutz, American Artist, 1851-1912The Ironworkers' Noontime, 1880, Oil on Canvas, 43.2 x 60.6 cm, de Young/Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA, USA https://www.famsf.org/artworks/the-ironworkers-noontime In an unexpected twist of history, Thomas Pollock Anshutz's The Ironworkers' ...
Triumph of Neptune and the Four Seasons
Triumph of Neptune and the Four Seasons, from La Chebba, Tunisia, late 2nd century AD, Mosaic, Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neptune_Roman_mosaic_Bardo_Museum_Tunis.jpg I remember standing before the Triumph of Neptune and the Four Seasons mosaic at the Bardo Museum, in ...
Angelos Giallinas
Angelos Giallina, Greek Artist, 1857 - 1939The Parthenon, Watercolour over Pencil, 273 by 455 mm, Private Collectionhttps://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/royal-noble/the-parthenon?locale=en In his approach to the Parthenon, Angelos Giallinas (1857–1939), a prominent Greek watercolorist of the late 19th and e ...
Statuette of Asklepios Enthroned
Statuette of Asklepios Enthroned, Athenian workshop, 150 – 200 AD, Marble, Height: 42.3 cm, Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth, Greece https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1019102956923674&id=100064719367083&set=a.462183875948921&locale=el_GR …Asclepius, that gentle craftsman who drove pain fro ...
Byzantine Engagement Ring in the Stathatos Collection
Engagement Ring with a Greek Inscription, about 1175–1300 AD, Gold and enamel, Diameter: 2.1 x 2.3 cm, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, GreeceImage courtesy of the National Archaeological Museum, Athenshttps://blogs.getty.edu/iris/put-a-ring-on-it/ In the shimmering glow of Byzantium’s golden age, love and f ...
The Medici in Faenza
Majolica Plate decorated with the coat of arms of the Medici of Florence, 16th century (1525 - 1530), Diameter: 12.3 cm, International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 Visiting the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza was an unforgettable experience, an inspirin ...
The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A., R.W.S., British Artist, 1836-1912The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888, Oil on Canvas, 132.7 cm × 214.4 cm, Private Collection https://medium.com/@nauraanadhira/artwork-explained-the-roses-of-heliogabalus-by-alma-tadema-deb5113cb8b As June blooms in full splendor, there is no better ...
The enduring legacy of ancient civilizations
Hubert Robert, French Artist, 1733–1808The Ruins of Nîmes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, c. 1789, Oil on Canvas, 56.3 x 78.8 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6520247?ldp_breadcrumb=back Hubert Robert's 1789 painting, The Ruins of Nîmes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, masterfully ...
Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s bust of Duke Francesco I d’Este
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1598-1680Bust of Francesco I d'Este, 1650–1652, Marble, 98 x 106 x 50 cm, Galleria Estense, Modena, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou April 2025 Upon entering the Galleria Estense in Modena, visitors are greeted by a masterpiece of Baroque sculpture that sets an immediate tone of grandeur ...
Saint Constantine in Arezzo
Piero della Francesca, 1416-1492View of the Cappella Maggiore, 1452-66, Fresco, San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, Spring 2025Constantine’s face: https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/piero/index.html On the occasion of Saint Constantine’s name day, we turn our gaze to Piero della Fra ...
Sosannah
Funerary Wall Painting with Sosannah and the Elders, early 5th century, Fresco, 170 x 127 cm, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki, Greece https://www.lifo.gr/culture/arxaiologia/oi-toihografies-sta-tafika-mnimeia-sto-moyseio-byzantinoy-politismoy-tis In the quiet hush of a walled garden, Sosannah, a woman of ...
Ancient Greek Gold Phiale
Libation Bowl (phiale mesomphalos), Greek, Late Orientalizing Period, about 625 BC, Gold, Diameter: 15 cm, MFA Boston, USA https://collections.mfa.org/objects/238352/libation-bowl-phiale-mesomphalos?ctx=7a1910d2-cc14-430a-99b9-d503c1d5b7f3&idx=6 Radiant and evocative, the Ancient Greek Gold Phiale housed at MFA ...
Giambologna’s Mercury
Giambologna, 1529-1608Mercury, 1564-65, Bronze, Height: 1.87 m, National Museum of Bargello, Florence, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 High in the dome of Heaven, behold the bright Caduceus-Bearer soared on balanced wings… With these words from Metamorphoses, Ovid captures the essence of Mercury— ...
Imperial Basket with Lilies of the Valley
House of Carl Fabergé - Workmaster: August Wilhelm HolmströmImperial Lilies-of-the-Valley Basket, 1896, Yellow and green gold, silver, nephrite, pearl, rose-cut diamond, 19.1 x 21.6 x 14.9 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/238777 Nestled within the glittering galleries of the Metr ...
Mithraic Aion and Orphic Phanes
Syncretistic deity Aion-Phanes, second quarter of 2nd century AD, Marble, 71x48,5 cm, Galleria Estense, Modena, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 In the richly symbolic world of late antiquity, the Roman relief sculpture housed in the Galleria Estense in Modena, Italy, offers a captivating glimpse ...
Good Friday – ΜεγάληΠαρασκευή
Pietro Lornzetti, ca. 1280-1348Panoramic view of the frescoes, 1320-40, Fresco, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 Σήμερον κρεμᾶται ἐπὶ ξύλου ὁ ἐν ὕδασι τὴν γῆν κρεμάσας. Στέφανον ἐξ ἀκανθῶν περιτίθεται ὁ τῶν Ἀγγέλων Βασιλεύς. Ψευδῆ πορφύραν περιβάλλεται ὁ περιβά ...