Renaissance
(1500 - 1600)
For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II
In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga
January 28, 2013 |
By Mike Dash
Antigua’s Disputed Slave Conspiracy of 1736
Does the evidence against these 44 slaves really stack up?
January 02, 2013 |
By Mike Dash
Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning
Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight
October 18, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Neverending Hunt for Utopia
Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia that offered justice and plenty to any explorer capable of finding it
August 28, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
On the Trail of the Warsaw Basilisk
The basilisk was just a legendary monster–until the day in 1587 that word swept through Warsaw that one was hiding in a cellar in the Polish capital, killing anybody who approached it
July 23, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
“Kipper und Wipper”: Rogue Traders, Rogue Princes, Rogue Bishops and the German Financial Meltdown of 1621-23
It is tempting to think of the German hyperinflation of 1923 as a uniquely awful event, but it pales in comparison to what happened in the 17th century.
March 29, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Ottoman Empire’s Life-or-Death Race
Custom in the Ottoman Empire mandated that a condemned grand vizier could save his neck if he won a sprint against his executioner
March 22, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Stalking of the President
Charles J. Guiteau said he wanted to kill President James A. Garfield "in an American manner." He passed up several opportunities before he thought the time was right.
January 17, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Renowned for their ruthlessness, these two female pirates challenged the sailors’ adage that a woman’s presence on shipboard invites bad luck
August 09, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
Arcimboldo's Feast for the Eyes
Renaissance artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo painted witty, even surreal portraits composed of fruits, vegetables, fish and trees
January 2011 |
By Abigail Tucker
Looking for Leonardo
Are figures in a Florentine altar panel attributed to Italian artist Andrea del Verrocchio actually by Leonardo da Vinci?
October 2009 |
By Ann Landi
The Measure of Genius: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel at 500
Half a millennium later, the story of the painting of the Sistine Chapel is as fascinating as Michelangelo’s masterpiece itself
April 10, 2009 |
By Jamie Katz
Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt's Shadow
A new exhibition re-establishes Lievens' reputation as an old master, after centuries of being eclipsed by his friend and rival
March 2009 |
By Matthew Gurewitsch
The Gates of Paradise
Panels from the Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti tour the U.S. for the first time
November 2007 |
By Arthur Lubow
