And This Is a Portrait of Whom?
I don’t often laugh about art history (seriously!), but now and then one just can’t help it. With this group of “portraits,” I had to keep in mind that: A) the people who bough ...
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Curator's Corner
Still Life and Our Culture of Abundance: John F. Francis
I got so excited the other night while watching Antiques Roadshow. A person brought two little still-life paintings from 1865, and I said to myself, “Oh, those look like John Francis’s wor ...
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Curator's Corner
Not an Easter Egg
On our planet, the egg has been almost universally viewed as a symbol of rebirth and fertility since ancient times (imagine ancient eyes seeing something living come out of something hard and apparent ...
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Curator's Corner
The Peale Women
The name “Peale” is synonymous with the First Family of American painting. The painters of the Peale family were the first “dynasty” of American art, and what a dynasty! They e ...
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Curator's Corner
Revival Curiosities: 1800s Furniture
I once was a teaching assistant in a furniture history course in grad school, and have subsequently loved historic furniture and design. One of the mantras we chanted about the history of furniture wa ...
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Curator's Corner
A Roesen is Still a Roesen...
I’m a big fan of artists, especially American artists, who may not be household names like Homer, Peale, or Eakins, but who nonetheless had an impact on art during their careers. There is such a ...
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Curator's Corner
Miniature Portraits: Sarah Goodridge
Lynn Babineau is a marvelous artist who works at Davis Publications. As a painter, one of her specialties that I admire most is as a miniaturist. Before photography, miniature portraits, usually paint ...
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