Art
Revisiting Botticelli’s Evocative “Mystic Nativity”
The painting re-emerged in the 1800s after centuries of obscurity, revealing a complex composition rife with symbolism and subtle premonitions.
Botticelli
Art
Tracing the Hand of Botticelli
Botticelli’s drawings bring us tantalizingly close to the artist, a man as clouded by intimations of darkness, and seeking some salve of beauty, as we are today.
News
Italians Are Mad at Their Country’s New “Barbie Venus”
A government tourism campaign depicting Botticelli’s Venus as a “virtual influencer” is widely criticized as trivializing the nation’s cultural heritage.
News
Why Did the Old Masters Add Egg Yolk to Paint?
It was long assumed the trace amounts of proteins found in paintings were due to contamination, but a new study suggests the use of egg was deliberate.
News
A Botticelli Portrait Becomes the Second Most Expensive Old Master Painting Sold at Auction
The tempera on panel painting is one of three portraits by the 15th-century artist left in private hands.
Art
Beyoncé's Pregnancy Photos Cast Her as a Venus for the Black Diaspora
Embracing and reinterpreting cultural traditions from which black people have historically been excluded, Awol Erizku reimagines Beyoncé into an idealization that has typically been reserved for white women.
News
Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts
What happens when a wide swath of history — previously only explored by white-gloved librarians and erudite historians — is made available to anyone with a solid internet connection? Thanks to the Pope, we’ll soon find out.