Renaissance

From Henry VII’s usurpation of the throne in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth in 1603, Tudor monarchs relied on paintings, sculptures, tapestries and other art forms to legitimize their nascent dynasty.

Why Art Was Such a Powerful Tool for England's Tudor Monarchs

An exhibition at the Met features 100-plus paintings, sculptures, decorative works and objects that testify to the splendor of 16th-century English court

Literary scholar Vanessa Braganza suggests that Catherine commissioned the pendant design as "a sign of her conviction of her own enduring legitimacy."

The Secrets of a Long-Overlooked Cipher Linked to Catherine of Aragon

Henry VIII's first wife may have commissioned the design as an act of defiance during the Tudor king's attempt to divorce her

A fresco depicting the abduction of Europa by Zeus, in the form of a bull

See the Hidden, 500-Year-Old Frescoes Discovered at the Prince's Palace of Monaco

Restoration experts spent years preserving the artworks, which are now on view as the royal residence reopens for the summer

Reconstruction of marble finial in the form of a sphinx (detail), 2022, by Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

See the Vibrant, Long-Overlooked Colors of Classical Sculptures

A new exhibition at the Met features brightly hued reconstructions of ancient Greco-Roman artworks

The Canton Synagogue, founded in 1531

Inside the Effort to Restore Synagogues in Venice's 500-Year-Old Jewish Ghetto

A new project focuses on three 16th-century synagogues in the Italian city, where the Jewish population has dropped to 450

This Renaissance painting was found in a 90-year-old woman's bedroom. It recently fetched around $320,000 at a London auction.

Renaissance Masterpiece Found Hanging in a 90-Year-Old Woman's London Bedroom

"The Depiction of the Madonna and Child," by a follower of Filippino Lippi, sold for around $320,000

Millions of visitors visit the Mona Lisa at the Louvre each year.

Disguised Protester Smears Cake on High-Tech Glass Protecting the 'Mona Lisa'

It’s the latest in a long string of attempts to vandalize the world’s most famous painting

The Carabinieri Police Cultural Heritage Protection Unit returned the painting to the government in a May 19 ceremony.  

Italian Art Police Recovered a Long-Lost Titian. But Is It Really the Renaissance Master's Work?

The recently confiscated painting is worth an estimated $7 million

The violin has been called the ‘da Vinci’ for some time, but is called ‘da Vinci, Ex-Seidel’ since Toscha Seidel parted ways with it.

This 308-Year-Old Violin Could Become the Most Expensive Ever Sold

The “da Vinci, ex-Seidel” instrument's estimated worth is $20 Million

Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment, circa 1515

Inside Hieronymus Bosch's Surreal Visions of Heaven and Hell

A new exhibition in Budapest features almost 90 works by the Dutch artist and his peers

"Donatello: The Renaissance" makes a case for the Renaissance sculptor as one of the leading artists of his generation.

Why Donatello Was a Father of the Renaissance

A blockbuster exhibition in Florence argues that the Italian sculptor deserves to be a household name on par with Michelangelo and Raphael

Elisabetta Sirani (1638–1665), Portia Wounding Her Thigh, 1664, Oil on canvas

You Know Artemisia Gentileschi—Now Learn About These Other Renaissance Women Artists

An exhibition on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts focuses on Italian women artists who held their own in the male-dominated art world

Caravaggio's Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (1597) is the only known ceiling work painted by the Baroque artist. 

Italian Mansion With 'Priceless' Caravaggio Mural Goes Up for Sale—but Attracts No Buyers

Villa Aurora, valued at $533 million, failed to garner bids despite touting a rare ceiling fresco by the Baroque artist

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch, 1642

A Hidden Sketch Is Discovered in Rembrandt's 'Night Watch'

Researchers in the Netherlands used new scanning technologies to discover how the Baroque artist painted his most famous masterpiece

Sandro Botticelli's La nascita di Venere, or Venus' Birth was painted on canvas with tempera paints.

Egg Yolk Gives Tempera Paint Its Enhanced Coverage and Spreadable Properties

The paint has been used throughout human history and is featured in iconic art pieces, like Michelangelo's 'Manchester Madonna'

Attributed to Albrecht Dürer, The Virgin and Child With a Flower on a Grassy Bank, circa 1503

Sketch Bought at Estate Sale for $30 May Be Dürer Drawing Worth $50 Million

Dated to around 1503, the depiction of the Virgin and Child bears the Renaissance master's monogram and watermark

Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF (short for "mischief") sold 999 fake Warhol drawings and 1 real print. All the works are billed as identical, making it impossible for consumers to know for certain if they own the "authentic" print.

For Sale: One Real Warhol Print, Hidden Among 999 Fakes

Collective MSCHF sold the 1,000 drawings for $250 each in a stunt designed to draw attention to authenticity in the art world

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Simon George of Cornwall (detail), circa 1535–40

Hans Holbein's Portraits Defined—and Immortalized—Tudor England's Elite

An exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum features some of the painter's most famous portraits of power players in Henry VIII's court

Dee may have bought the mirror in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in the 1580s.

Obsidian 'Spirit Mirror' Used by Elizabeth I's Court Astrologer Has Aztec Origins

Tudor polymath John Dee used the artifact in his attempts to communicate with angels and apparitions

"Remember Me," now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, unites more than 100 European Renaissance portraits. Pictured here is Albrecht Dürer's 1508 chalk sketch of an unidentified African man.

Display of 100 Renaissance Portraits Underscores Humans' Enduring Desire to Be Remembered

An exhibition at the Rijksmuseum unites two early likenesses of African men in Europe, among other 15th- and 16th-century masterpieces

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