Tag: Fun Facts
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Art in TV and Film: Turner’s Reichenbach Falls
Turner’s watercolor The Great Falls of the Reichenbach appeared in a 2012 episode of the BBC series Sherlock. Learn why this choice was so very fitting.
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Don’t Walk Like an Egyptian, Because They Didn’t, Either!
People often talk about “walking like an Egyptian”, but ancient Egyptians did not walk this way. Instead, the iconic pose comes from Egyptian art.
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A Skating and Art Fun Fact
This painting depicts a fashionable way to ice skate in the 18th and 19th centuries. Find out why I don’t recommend skating that way today.
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A Matter of Perspective
When Leonardo da Vinci painted his famous The Last Supper fresco, he used some cool tricks to make the painting seem to be part of the room itself.
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The Minoan Bull Leaping Fresco
In the ancient city of Knossos, archaeologists found many beautiful frescos. One of them depicts something strange – a trio of people vaulting over a bull.
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The Hidden Colors of Antiquity
We’re used to thinking of ancient sculptures as colorless, but that’s totally wrong. Learn how the ancients painted statues and how they might have looked.
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The World’s First Painter: A Fun Fact That’s Totally a Fable
In his Natural History, The ancient Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells a memorable tale about the world’s first painter.
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The Oxen of Laon Cathedral
A charming story about Laon Cathedral, an important early Gothic church, and why it has sixteen life-sized statues of oxen on its towers.
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Fool Me Once: A Fun Fact
Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells a humorous story about two artists trying to outdo each other with their illusionistic paintings.
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The War of Art: A John Singer Sargent Fun Fact
In the unusual case of Sargent’s portrait of the Pailleron siblings, animosity between the artist and sitter made for surprisingly effective painting.
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Michelangelo Didn’t Show His Work: A Fun Fact
Here’s a fun fact about Michelangelo and his drawings. Why didn’t he want people to see them?
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St. Bernard and Gargoyles: A Fun Fact
St. Bernard of Clairvaux wasn’t a fan of gargoyles and grotesques. This tells us something interesting about how they were understood at the time.
