Art History

Art History

Antonello Who?

Last summer, four works by the Italian renaissance painter Antonello da Messina were stolen from a regional museum in Messina, Sicily. This blog post explains the significance of Antonello’s paintings for understanding renaissance art, and their value to the local community.

Wouter Wagemakers • 18-09-2026

Cultural History · Art History · Literature

Verdwenen Mongoolse paleizen en Perzische poëzie: tegels van de Ilkhanieden

Verspreid over musea wereldwijd vindt men versierde tegels uit Iran, waarvan vele afkomstig zijn uit Mongoolse gebouwen. Op de tegels zien we vaak verzen in het Perzisch. Wat is de context van de tegels en wat betekende het Perzisch voor de Mongolen?

Gabrielle van den Berg • 30-05-2025

Cultural History · Art History · Manuscript Studies

What has Cleopatra to do with the Crusades?

What does a picture of a dark-skinned Cleopatra do in a fourteenth-century manuscript produced at the papal court in Avignon?

Ivo Wolsing • 06-12-2024

Art History · Archaeology

Een duik in het midden van de middeleeuwen in de tentoonstelling ‘Het jaar 1000’

De tentoonstelling ‘Het jaar 1000’ geeft een beeld van het leven in het midden van de middeleeuwen en van de belangrijke veranderingen die plaatsvonden in deze periode. Maar wat gaat er eigenlijk vooraf aan een tentoonstelling in een museum?

Anna van der Mout • 10-11-2023

Art History

John of Pamele’s Illustrated Rent Book

John of Pamele’s illustrated ‘Vieil Rentier’ is one of the few surviving secular rent books from before 1300. Its richly illustrated pages show John of Pamele as a commited landlord managing his far-flung properties.

Elizabeth den Hartog • 02-06-2023

Art History

Thou shalt not pass. Gender segregation in medieval churches

A dark line on the floor of Durham Cathedral prevented half of the medieval population from crossing it. What was it doing there?

Elizabeth den Hartog • 17-09-2021

Art History · Archaeology

The cathedral of Faras: Rediscovering the submerged Nubian ‘site of remembrance’

Have you ever visited an underwater cathedral? This post takes you for a stroll on the bottom of Lake Nubia, where rest the remains of one of the most extraordinary buildings ever excavated in medieval Nubia.

Grzegorz Ochała • 02-04-2021

Art History · Social History

A medieval conspiracy theory: The murder of Little Hugh of Lincoln

This blog post shows that medieval tomb monuments, pilgrimages and funerary rites are not always as innocuous as they may seem, as they are sometimes connected to conspiracy theories about child murder.

Elizabeth den Hartog • 05-03-2021

Art History

Treasure hunting in databases: forgotten early medieval sculptures from Lochem

It's not so bad to work from home. Online databases contain hidden treasures of medieval art: such as these two stone carvings from Lochem.

Elizabeth den Hartog • 17-04-2020

Blogs

Antonello Who?

Verdwenen Mongoolse paleizen en Perzische poëzie: tegels van de Ilkhanieden

What has Cleopatra to do with the Crusades?

Een duik in het midden van de middeleeuwen in de tentoonstelling ‘Het jaar 1000’

John of Pamele’s Illustrated Rent Book

Thou shalt not pass. Gender segregation in medieval churches

The cathedral of Faras: Rediscovering the submerged Nubian ‘site of remembrance’

A medieval conspiracy theory: The murder of Little Hugh of Lincoln

Treasure hunting in databases: forgotten early medieval sculptures from Lochem