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 …
Robert Spear Dunning’s Apples
Robert Spear Dunning, American Artist, 1829-1905Apples, 1869, Oil on Canvas, 50.2 x 64.1 cm, Private Collectionhttps://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6519615?ldp_breadcrumb=back When I look at Robert Spear Dunning’s Apples, I can’t help but think of Robert Frost’s words… But I am done with apple-picking now. / Essenc ...
Guido Mazzoni’s Portrait of an Old Man
Guido Mazzoni, c. 1445-1518Head of a Man, 1480s, Polychrome Terracotta, Height: 26 cm, Galleria Estense, Modena, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 Among the many treasures of Renaissance Modena, Guido Mazzoni’s Portrait of an Old Man stands out as a striking testament to the artist’s gift for captu ...
Poliochne on Lemnos
Poliochne on Lemnos, one of the earliest European settlements (Early Bronze Age, c. 3200–2100 BCE), with its maze-like houses and public squares revealing the social organization and daily life of its inhabitants. – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, July 2025 Visiting the ancient settlement of Poliochne on Lemnos off ...
Morning Glories by Suzuki Kiitsu
Morning Glories by Suzuki Kiitsu, Japanese Edo period artist (1796–1858), six-panel folding screens with ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, The Met Museum, New York, USAhttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/48982 Morning Glories by Suzuki Kiitsu, a stunning pair of early 19th-century six-panel folding sc ...
John George Brown’s Sunshine
John George Brown, American Artist, 1831-1913Sunshine, 1879, Oil on Canvas, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6519604?ldp_breadcrumb=back As the golden light of summer begins its slow retreat, John George Brown’s Sunshine offers a final, tender embrace of those lingering warm r ...
Head of Aphrodite of the Aspremont-Lynden/Arles type
Head of Aphrodite of the Aspremont-Lynden/Arles type, 1st c. AD copy of an original 4th century BC work by Praxiteles, Marble, possibly Parian (Marathi), Height: 32 cm, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greecehttps://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-christian-empire-that-grew-from-classical-roots/ The Head of Aphrodi ...
Hephaistia on the island of Lemnos
Ancient Theater of Hephaistia, late 5th to early 4th century BC, Lemnos Island, GreeceOne of the most important monuments of Lemnos, this theater reflects the transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic world, later remodeled during the Roman period.Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, July 2025 When I visited the ...
Isabella Brant
Pieter Paul Rubens, 1577- 1640 Portrait of Isabella Brant, 1626, Oil on canvas, 86x62 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, ItalyPhoto Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 Isabella Brant (1591–1626) was the first wife of the celebrated Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens and a woman of notable grace and social standing in ...
Kylix with a School Boy
Terracotta kylix (drinking cup), Attributed to the Painter of Munich 2660, ca. 460 BC, Terracotta, Red Figure, 7x20 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/250548 On September 11, as Greek students step into classrooms to begin the 2025–26 academic year, it feels fitting to look back, f ...
Michelangelo’s Bacchus with Satyr
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564Bacchus and Satyr, 1496 – 1497, Marble, Height: 207 cm, National Museum of Bargello, Florence, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April, 2025 In the hushed halls of the Bargello Museum, Michelangelo’s Bacchus with Satyr stands as a marble echo of divine intoxication and poetic ...
Marigolds
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English, 1828 - 1882Marigolds or Bower Maiden, 1873, Oil on Canvas, 114.3 x 73.66 cm, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, UK https://useum.org/artist/Dante-Gabriel-Rossetti When Dante Gabriel Rossetti introduced Marigolds (also known as The Bower Maiden) to his patron Frederick Leyland ...
Paul Cézanne’s lithograph Les Baigneurs
Paul Cézanne, French Artist, 1839-1906Les Baigneurs (Large Plate), 1896-1897, lithograph in colors, 419 x 521 mm, Private Collection https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6528944 Paul Cézanne’s lithograph Les Baigneurs is a masterful meditation on the relationship between figure, form, and landscape. Unlike the more ...
Gabriel Argy- Rousseau’s Poissons Dans Les Vagues
Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, French artist, 1885-1953Poissons Dans Les Vagues, 1925, Pâte de Verre Glass Vase, Height: 152.4 millimeters, Macklowe Gallery, NY, USAhttps://www.macklowegallery.com/products/gabriel-argy-rousseau-poissons-dans-les-vagues-pate-de-verre-glass-vase?srsltid=AfmBOoovAA26CWovwdBaAjyXP-8bW_rwkBfZTu_V4 ...
Cimabue’s Maestà di Assisi
Cimabue, 1240-1302Maestà di Assisi, 1285-1288, fresco, 320x340 cm, Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 When I visited the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi in April 2025, I was struck by the quiet majesty of Cimabue’s Maestà di Assisi. Tucked into the dimly ...
The Elderly Couple from Voltera
Etruscan Urn of an Elderly Couple, 1st century BC, Terracotta, Museo Etrusco Guarnacci, Volterra, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, April 2025 Among the most evocative remnants of Etruscan funerary culture are the terracotta urns that once housed the ashes of the deceased, vessels not only of the body but of ...
Rhyl Sands
David Cox, UK artist, 1783–1859Rhyl Sands, c.1854, Oil on Canvas, 454 x 630 mm, the TATE, London, UK https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/cox-rhyl-sands-t04130 Standing on the broad, breezy shore of Rhyl Sands, it’s easy to understand why David Cox was drawn to this stretch of the North Wales coast. In his painting ...