Manneken Pis is a symbol of Brussels, but I will start this post with a fountain from another place. One of my favourite cities in Europe is Prague: full of wonderful places perfect for walking around, resting and admiring artworks. Surely one of such places is Wallenstein Garden (Valdštejnská zahrada)…
Many years ago, when I had an honour – still being a student – to present my paper on certain medieval manuscript on a Very Serious Meeting of the art historians, the Very Serious Audience got themselves into a discussion: was it acceptable for a young aspiring scholar (i.e. me)…
A few years ago, when I wrote about looted middle part of Lusina altarpiece (National Museum in Cracow, war loss – post available HERE) I mentioned several – often contradictory – interpretations for a dog in medieval art. On one hand it could have symbolised faithfulness, but on the other…
My previous post was dedicated to female artists in the Middle Ages; of course artistic activities of women are better documented when it comes to the Early Modern Times. One of the known female artists was an engraver Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (1636-1697). She was a daughter of a goldsmith named Étienne…
I must confess that when the worldwide popularity of the series “Game of Thrones” started, I was not interested at all in watching it. I am not a fan of fantasy – even though, as a proper medievalist, I do have interest in dragons. However, somehow around the premiere of…