Scholars researching everyday life of the Middle Ages often use iconographic sources, that is paintings, miniatures, drawings and woodcuts. Although many of them depict religious scenes, we may find a lot of everyday objects placed in them; including items related to medieval childhood and nursery. Childhood in medieval art was…
There’s no doubt that Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the World, and it is commonly considered as priceless masterpiece that everyone recognises. A lot has been written about this painting, including popular or even sensational articles. I always wondered why one of the Leonardo’s paintings…
However strange that may sound, the fact is that at the dawn of Renaissance the artists had a strange habit of painting… flies! Both in Italy and in the Northern Europe we may find various examples of a trompe-l’œil depictions of a fly. In most cases it is assumed that it…
There is an amazing painting of Virgin with Child from Holy Cross Church in Żywiec (nowadays in City Museum there, as a deposit from parish Church of Our Lady in Żywiec), which has recently been displayed on a temporary exhibition in the National Museum in Cracow. It is one of…
In 2016 the Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK) acquired an early-Netherlandish painting of St. Luke drawing the Virgin and Child. It is attributed to the workshop of Dirk Bouts, one of the most important Netherlandish painters of the 15th century. It was probably not completed by the Master…