Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting reinserts Vermeer into the tradition in which he worked, both demystifying his paintings and lending force to his particular take on the genre.
National Gallery of Art
The Vivacious Presence of Parrots in Dutch Golden Age Painting
An art historian, and African Grey owner, delved into the avian symbolism in Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting at the National Gallery of Art.
Noose Found Outside Washington’s National Gallery of Art
The racist symbol was found hanging from a lamppost outside the institution on the National Mall.
Piecing Together the Histories of a Series of Stolen Paintings
Among all the descriptions on all the different museum websites of a group of paintings originally designed to be shown together, there isn’t very much in the way of assuming responsibility or prioritizing transparency.
Della Robbia’s Gloriously Colorful Renaissance Sculptures
The National Gallery of Art explores the radical inventiveness of the della Robbia family, the clay and color masters of the Italian Renaissance.
Overlooked 19th-Century Landscape Photos from East of the Mississippi
An exhibition at the National Gallery of Art highlights the environmental and artistic influence of 19th-century landscape photography in the eastern United States.
How Art Criticism Emerged from the Catalogues of the Paris Salons
Washington, DC — “Words could not express what an agreeable spectacle this was for me to see all at one time such a prodigious quantity of every kind of work,” wrote Jean Rou in his Mémoires inédits et opuscules.
Sexy, Satin Surfaces: Paintings from the Dawn of the Dutch Golden Age
On its own, a painting by Joachim Wtewael can seem like a two-dimensional manifestation of an absurdly complex gâteau – gorgeous, delicious, but perhaps best taken in in small servings.
Richest Gathering of Hellenistic Bronzes in Centuries Goes on Tour
In Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, opened last week at Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi, more Greek bronzes are assembled than ever before in the modern age.
A Photographic Window onto 19th-Century Burma and India
WASHINGTON, DC — Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma 1852–1860, on display in the National Gallery of Art through January 4, showcases some of the earliest photographs of India and Burma.
Idyllic, Depression-Era Watercolors of American Design
In 2013, the National Gallery of Art began digitizing their enormous collection of roughly 18,000 watercolors from the Index of American Design.
Finding Refuge in Wyeth’s Windows
Over the course of his career, the 20th century American artist Andrew Wyeth created 300 drawings and paintings of windows that are more about the people looking out them than the views they depict.