European

The Victorian era marked a resurgence of popularity of Arthurian legends. The first publication of the Alfred Tennyson’s The Idylls of the King sold incredibly well – a pattern that unfortunately did not continue with the edition illustrated by Gustave Doré – representing a Victorian fondness for stories of growth and change in a time [...]

Ball Dress is a print initially published in John Bell’s British women’s fashion magazine, La Belle Assemblée. This fashion plate pictures a wealthy, white, assumed-to-be married woman wearing a luxurious dress inspired by French fashion. It was created by “Mrs. Bell,” or Mary Ann Walker Bell, editor of the fashion section between 1810 and 1820 [...]

Käthe Kollwitz is considered one of the most notable European printmakers of the twentieth century. As a German artist who lived and worked during both world wars, Kollwitz’s artwork frequently features motifs of grief and loss. Tod Und Frau depicts a nude woman being trapped by Death as a child desperately reaches for her. Kollwitz [...]

There is no telling what exactly this little scroll has seen in its lifetime, or where its journey has taken it. It has likely seen the bustling and tense streets of an early twentieth century Jerusalem, when it was sold to an American tourist there and brought to Kentucky. Was it made to be sold [...]

Until the development of movable type printing in the West in the 15th century, books were copied by hand. Parchment (prepared animal skin) was the usual material until paper came into common use. The Bible was among the most-copied and deeply studied texts. This leaf, from a Bible copied in Italy in the mid-13th century, [...]

Greek coinage has existed since at least the seventh century B.C.E. Many scholars and numismatists consider the Classical period of Greek art to be the pinnacle of achievement for coins. This drachma coin was minted under the rule of Alexander the Great, the last of the Classical rulers. Classical Greek art was characterized by its [...]

Jean-Pierre Redouté was born in Saint-Hubért in what is today Belgium. He came from a family of painters and decorators, and left home at age 13 to pursue painting. In 1782 he made his way to Paris, where he was introduced to many aristocrats. In Paris he moved toward botanical illustration and became official draughtsman [...]

Celtic coins began as stylistic copies of Greek coins. As coinage moved throughout the rest of Gaul from Greek outposts on the Mediterranean, the styles abstracted to fit the current Celtic aesthetic. The Gauls were Celtic groups living in France before Roman conquest, and had social and governmental systems in place that were just as [...]

This coin, featuring Persephone on the obverse and Nike on the reverse, was minted in Syracuse, Sicily. Syracuse started as a Greek colony and served as an important outpost of Greek culture in the central Mediterranean. For some time, it was even the most powerful Greek city in the Mediterranean. This power, however, meant that [...]

Carthage was a powerful city-state in North Africa near what is today Tunis, Tunisia. This powerful seafaring kingdom was allegedly founded by Phoenician Princess Dido to facilitate trade from the Phoenician capital at Tyre. On the obverse of the coin Carthaginian goddess Tanit is featured. On the reverse, there is a horse in front of [...]