As a young artist, Domenikos Theotokopoulos was fascinated by news of the Renaissance, which reached all the way to his home on the island of Crete. Crete was controlled by Venice, then an important center for commerce and the arts. Domenikos headed for this cultural hub around 1560, determined to le
For the last half of his life "the land of lions and leather" molded Eugene Delacroix's imagination and provided inspiration for more than 100 paintings. No one from France had ever been allowed inside Meknes, the capital of Morroco, when Delacroix's group, complete with bodyguards, accomplished the
Often called "the first of the moderns," Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes trailed legend behind him wherever he went. Even casual acquaintances were struck by Goya's surplus of personality: he was fiercely independent, an amateur toreador, a relentless adventurer, at times a street fighter, and (si
Donatello brought the sculpted body back to life after its long Medieval slumber. Whereas earlier sculptors, prompted by Christian prudery, had drained the body of its vigor, cloaked its nakedness, and stripped it of individuality, Donatello revealed the body as a singular organic unity. He observed