Visual art history, checked against the record. Paintings and buildings, the pigments they were made from, and the forgeries and thefts that keep rewriting the catalogue.
Architecture
What Is a Gargoyle? The Test Is Whether It Drains
A gargoyle is a working waterspout. Here is the test that separates one from a grotesque, why Notre-Dame’s famous monsters fail it, and where the form began.
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Painting
Van Gogh Paintings: Reading the Palette, Then and Now
Van Gogh painted for barely ten years. His palette dates the work almost to the season, and conservation research shows how much of that colour has since moved.
Painting
Monet's Water Lilies Series: A Motif He Built Himself
The Water Lilies series is roughly 250 to 300 Monet canvases over 30 years. He had the pond dug first, sized the late panels to a spec and designed their room.
Painting
Mona Lisa: Did the 1911 Theft Really Make It Famous?
The 1911 theft is the usual explanation for the Mona Lisa's fame. Guidebooks and Louvre copyist records from before the theft tell a more complicated story.
Painting
Gustav Klimt: The Gold Leaf and the Looted Portraits
Gustav Klimt used real gold, silver and platinum leaf. Three of his paintings burned in 1945, and the 2004 US Supreme Court case decided less than you think.