Ordinary Magic Glass
The expression "Venetian glass" has become a household word. It is used in the appreciation of the artistic merit of glass. And it is not by chance that the largest…

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Antique Cologne
Cologne ... Many have heard about this German city on the Rhine, a major center of medieval European culture. The well-known Cologne Cathedral is an unsurpassed monument of Gothic architecture.…

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Two portraits of the actress Strepetova
There are destinies that strike the imagination with unusualness and inner completeness — such is the life of Pelageya Antipevna Strepetova (1850–1903), difficult and bright, full of dramatic turns. At…

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Egyptian ostracon drawings
In the art of ancient Egypt there are monuments that make up a special group. These are works of graphics - drawings on the boards. The Greek word "ostracon" literally…

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Leah Grundig - the art of anger and struggle
Expressive ink drawings, expressive genre compositions and portraits made with black chalk, aggressive engravings based on the confrontation of light and shadow ... figures of the unemployed, touching images of…

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painters from England

“The Adoration of the Magi” by Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci

In March 1481, the monks of the Florentine monastery of San Donato and Scopetto turned to the notary Pietro of Vinci with a request to find an artist who could write an altar painting for the cathedral. Pietro immediately offered the services of his son Leonardo, who recently graduated from Verrocchio. At the same time the contract was concluded, where the working conditions were determined. The artist was given the task of painting a 2.5×2.5 m size in oil on a blackboard in two – two and a half years. The plot of the Adoration of the Magi is one of the episodes of the Gospel legend. Continue reading

Mexican painting of the first half of the 20th century

In the 20th century, the art of Latin America, primarily Mexico, unexpectedly became one of the most significant phenomena of world culture. The dramatic history of this country is replete with brutal conquests, murders, merciless oppression of the masses – starting from the invasion of the Aztec warrior people, who later created a formidable state later in Central Mexico, in the XII century.

In the first half of the 16th century, Spanish conquerors conquered Mexico, seized the ancient civilization that had developed here, spread Christianity with fire and sword, and turned the Indians into slaves. Continue reading

Kanoplasta from Tanagra

The Greek words “tanagra”, “tanagryanka” about a hundred years ago entered the Russian language. They are now used to denote everything fragile, feminine and plastic. The artist V. Serov invented the term “tanagretika” on their basis, meaning beneath it artless, elegant, opposite to the cold and rational in art.

The ancient city of Tanagra in Boeotia, in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula, has gained wide popularity in recent times thanks to an archaeological sensation – finds of Tanagrian figurines. Continue reading

Venetian landscape painters of the 18th century
By the beginning of the 18th century, the once mighty Venice had lost its significance as the political center of the Mediterranean, becoming a peculiar center of pilgrimage. Rich travelers…

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Rafael Santi - the ideal of the purest art
In the view of the people of the Renaissance, beauty is above all the orderly consonance and connection of parts, harmony. It is based on a proportion, a perfect image,…

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Giacomo Manzu - Coast of Truth
Creativity Mantsu is a surprisingly natural synthesis of truth, clarity of artistic ideas and originality of the visual image. His method is truly realistic, but this is realism, say, not…

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