Peter Burke— People are talking more and more about polymaths these days, but at the same time, living examples of this intellectual species are becoming more and more difficult to find. By polymath I mean, like the ancient Greeks who coined the term, someone who has mastered many intellectual disciplines,
Happy Halloween! Here’s an illustrated excerpt from the new book, The Ivory Mirror by Stephen Perkinson, which accompanies an outstanding exhibition at the Bowdoin College Art Museum. Memento Mori… …literally translated as “remember [that you are] to die,” a set of words, a picture, or an object that functioned as a
Stefano Dall’Aglio— Some of you might be familiar with the TV series Cold Case, produced in the U.S. over seven seasons from 2003 to 2010 and successfully broadcast all over the world. The unusual task of the special division of the Philadelphia Police Department is to investigate murders committed many
Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena is now on view at the Yale University Art Gallery and will run through January 5, 2014. The accompanying catalog was written by John Marciari and Suzanne Boorsch and copublished by the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale University Press. Q & A with John Marciari
Books, often carriers of cultural history, also have a cultural history of their own. The book has played a different role in each culture and era. The Book in the Renaissance, by Andrew Pettegree, examines the first 150 years after the invention of print. As it were, books played more
In an article on “their favorite books of 2007,” New York Times art and architecture critics write “there is more to art books than gorgeous illustrations.” As an example of a book that is more than just “gorgeous illustrations, they name Yale’s The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece,
It may be, as Alexander Pope once said, that “The proper study of mankind is man,” but, as is shown by an exhibition now on display at Greenwich’s Bruce Museum, an equally charming subject is man’s best friend. Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today
Four Yale University Press titles appear in the New York Times Book Review Holiday Books issue. Stephen Heller calls Masters of American Comics, “a smartly designed, comprehensive history of 20th-century comics.” Read the full review. Looking at Atget is included in a selection of recent books evoking a romantic vision