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Infrared scans suggest that the artist reworked their composition to prominently feature Anne's hands clasping a rose. “By clearly displaying five digits on each hand, the portrait acts as a visual rebuttal to hostile rumors and as a defense of Anne Boleyn—and, by extension, of her daughter Elizabeth’s legitimacy,” says curator Owen Emmerson.

Rumors Suggested That Anne Boleyn Was a Witch With Six Fingers. Did This Elizabethan Artist Rework a Portrait of the Tudor Queen to Debunk the Gossip?

A new analysis of the Hever Rose portrait suggests that the painter deliberately modified an existing template to showcase Anne’s hands—with no extra digits—holding a delicate rose

The owl symbolizes night and death in Zapotec culture.

Cool Finds

This Carved, Painted Zapotec Tomb Is Mexico’s Most Important Archaeological Discovery in a Decade

The tomb features the carvings of a huge owl head and at least three probable ancestors

The village of Funes in northern Italy is a popular spot for tourists.

Hundreds of Tourists Flock to This Instagram-Famous Italian Church Every Day. Locals Are Pushing Back Against Visitors Who Seek the Perfect Photo ‘at All Costs’

Beginning in May, travelers visiting Santa Maddalena in the Dolomite Mountains will need to navigate road barriers and parking fees

A 2015 photo of Ron Teasley

Ron Teasley, Pioneering Baseball Player and One of Two Surviving Negro League Veterans, Dies at 99

The former Brooklyn Dodger and New York Cuban leaves a lasting legacy of coaching and service in his hometown of Detroit

Volunteers repairing the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England, in 2019

This Massive Hillside Figure Has Mystified Historians for Centuries. Now, Donations Have Secured the Surrounding Landscape

The National Trust has purchased the land around England’s Cerne Abbas Giant, which will help protect the mysterious chalk figure and nearby wildlife for future generations

The timbers on display in 1954

New Research

Archaeologists Are Finally Unraveling the Secrets of the Shipwreck Discovered 20 Feet Below the Streets of Manhattan

Researchers are opening a new investigation into the timbers, which may have once belonged to the “Tyger,” a Dutch trading vessel that sank in 1613

The Painter’s Father is in the collection of the National Gallery in London.

Is This Copy of a Long-Lost Northern Renaissance Portrait Actually an Original Albrecht Dürer?

Experts have long assumed that a painting at London’s National Gallery is one of many replicas of an original Dürer portrait. Now, a new book claims that this cracked copy is the real deal

A woman's firefighting jacket and hood from 1800-50

This New Samurai Exhibition Will Challenge Your Understanding of the Japanese Warrior Class

Silk screens, women’s firefighting robes and a Darth Vader costume are among the more than 280 unexpected items that are on display at the British Museum

Archaeologists discovered a fragment of a reusable slate tablet with letters scratched into the surface.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth a Reusable School Slate Still Covered in the Scribbles of Victorian Children

The slate was found alongside other evidence of young students’ schoolwork and play at the site of a new development in London

The exhibition features the last letter that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, sent to Elizabeth I in 1588.

Read Love Letters From Royals and Romantics Across 500 Years of British History

A new exhibition at Britain’s National Archives features a letter to Elizabeth I, Jane Austen’s will and a plea to free Oscar Wilde from prison

Megalodons were massive predators that ruled the world's oceans.

Megalodons Went Extinct Millions of Years Ago. The Prehistoric Predator Could Become Maryland’s Official State Shark

Teeth belonging to the fearsome creatures have been discovered throughout the state. Now, they’re up for consideration by the state legislature

The item probably once adorned a Roman-era carriage that belonged to a high-status individual.

This Rare Roman Figurine of a Cat With Its Paws Atop a Severed Head Is One of Britain’s Newest Treasures

The artifact was discovered by a metal detectorist in 2024

Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid (1984), one of 25 movies added to the National Film Registry this year

Trending Today

From ‘The Karate Kid’ to ‘Clueless,’ These Are the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry. See the Full List Here

“The Incredibles,” “Inception” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” join more than 900 titles preserved by the Library of Congress

The Prince of Arene Candide is displayed wearing a reconstructed headdress in the Ligurian Archaeological Museum in Genoa, Italy.

New Research

Researchers Say This Paleolithic Teenage Boy Died a Slow Death After a Bear Mauled Him

A new analysis of “il Principe,” an ancient, decorated skeleton found in northwest Italy, confirms that the child died up to three days after being brutally attacked

The title page of the collection of Bartholomäus Vogtherr's medical recipes (left) and a page from another medical text called the Kreuterbu[o]ch (right)

New Research

Renaissance Readers Left Chemical Clues Inside These Medical Manuals. Were They Using Human Feces and Tortoise Shells to Treat Illnesses?

Researchers analyzed proteins extracted from “How to Cure and Expel All Afflictions and Illnesses of the Human Body” and “A Useful and Essential Little Book of Medicine for the Common Man,” both written by a 16th-century German eye doctor

Nelson Mandela in April 1994

Dozens of Items That Once Belonged to Nelson Mandela Can Head to Auction, South African Court Rules

The collection includes shirts, sunglasses, a signed copy of South Africa’s first post-apartheid constitution and a prison key from Robben Island

Nearly 136 years after it sank, the long-buried remains of the schooner Lawrence N. McKenzie have resurfaced.

Beach Erosion Reveals Fragments of a 136-Year-Old Shipwreck That Sank in New Jersey’s ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’

The schooner “Lawrence N. McKenzie” was transporting a load of oranges from Puerto Rico to New York City when it wrecked on March 21, 1890

A side-by-side view of Turner's Marford Mill (left) and the real-life inspiration behind it (right)

You Can Buy This 438-Year-Old Mill in Wales That Inspired a Stunning J.M.W. Turner Painting

Rossett Mill was the subject of a landscape by the Romantic painter around 1795. Now, the property is listed at a little over $2 million

The remains were found at the base of Mount Hora, in northern Malawi.

New Research

Archaeologists Say This 9,500-Year-Old Burial Is the Oldest Known Evidence of Intentional Cremation Discovered in Africa

Located in Malawi, the site could also be the world’s earliest example of an in situ cremation pyre for an adult, according to a new study

The mural will be on view for a brief five-week period during the Winter Olympics before closing again for 18 months of restoration.

This Magnificent Mural by Leonardo da Vinci Will Go on Display for a Brief Window During the Winter Olympics in Milan

Guided tours will take visitors onto scaffolding to view the rare artwork inside Sforza Castle, which is currently undergoing restorations

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