If there is an advantage to be had from being as old as the hills, it’s that I grew up at a time when there weren’t any helicopter moms. During spring holidays or summer breaks, I could get up in the morning, eat breakfast, and go out into the world with no questions asked. From … Continue reading From Prison Potatoes to Peasant Masterpiece: Van Gogh, Parmentier, and the Humble Tuber
Born on this Day
Gazing at a Hero: William Roscoe, Charles James Fox, and the Fight to Abolish the Slave Trade
The books, globe, rolled documents in the sitter’s left hand, quill in his right, and stack of papers on the desk all signal a man of serious intellect and scholarly pursuit. This portrait shows William Roscoe (1753–1831), a Liverpool banker, lawyer, historian, art collector, poet, botanist, and writer. More importantly, he was one of Britain's … Continue reading Gazing at a Hero: William Roscoe, Charles James Fox, and the Fight to Abolish the Slave Trade
Out of Time; Out of Place: Nostalgia, Time Travel, and Ernest Haslehust’s Enchanted England
Maybe once you hit a certain age, it is normal to become nostalgic. We look to the past, longingly remembering those simpler times, when no one worried about the safety of a five-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother walking to the corner drugstore to spend their nickel allowance on a candy bar. Those kids grew … Continue reading Out of Time; Out of Place: Nostalgia, Time Travel, and Ernest Haslehust’s Enchanted England
A Controversy in Color: Finding Harmony in Art
The world had grown too chaotic to navigate. Manhattan held an allure for me, ever since my first visit as a wide-eyed 16-year-old. But maybe it wasn’t the best place to go in search of refuge. When I was barely 19, I moved there anyway, only to see my troubles multiply. My uncle, a Madison … Continue reading A Controversy in Color: Finding Harmony in Art
From Tampongate to Taxpayer Beggars: How 18th-Century Royals Invented Modern Messes
Queen Elizabeth II stood as a pillar against the endless stream of royal scandal. Although she presented herself as a stalwart role model, she couldn’t reliably steer her own children onto a noble path. As much as we wish we could forget the screaming banner headlines in 1993 about Tampongate, it’s hard to purge the … Continue reading From Tampongate to Taxpayer Beggars: How 18th-Century Royals Invented Modern Messes
The St. Leger Stakes: A Historic Race Rooted in Yorkshire and Nobility
Today, on the 249th anniversary of its debut, the St. Leger Stakes is the oldest horse race in the prestigious British Triple Crown, a series for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts and fillies, that is considered the pinnacle of British flat racing. (The other races making up the Triple Crown are the 2,000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket … Continue reading The St. Leger Stakes: A Historic Race Rooted in Yorkshire and Nobility
Downcast Eyes, Defiant Heart: A Daughter’s Plea in a Revolutionary Storm
A daughter's desperate plea saves her father from the guillotine in Ouless's haunting depiction of 1792's horrors—explore the Revolution's tragic irony.
Lessons from Proust: Love and Deception
“Don’t stop. Keep moving. There’s nothing to see here.” You look away and continue about your business. But who are you kidding? If there was nothing to see, why did you drop your gaze? Genre artist Berthold Woltze (1829-1896), who was born on August 24, 1829, in Havelberg, Kingdom of Prussia, often portrayed scenes that … Continue reading Lessons from Proust: Love and Deception
Decoding Truth: History, Perception, and Reality
The truth hurts. The ugly truth. Your truth. My truth. Truth is messy. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yours truly. A grain of truth. True enough. Truth will out. The obvious truth. Tried and true. Gospel truth. Naked truth. True blue. Unvarnished truth. Ain’t it the truth? Or, in the immortal words … Continue reading Decoding Truth: History, Perception, and Reality
Keeping It Real: The Bad Boys
In 1886, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was forced to resign his position as an instructor at the Philadelphia Academy of Art. At the time, it was unthinkable for a fully nude male to pose for female students in a life drawing class. While their male counterparts would be in a room with a naked guy, the … Continue reading Keeping It Real: The Bad Boys
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