ἕν οἶδα, ὅτι οὐδέν οἶδα
All I know is that I know nothing
Allegedly said by Socrates
So true, 30 years in Education, and I still feel like a kindergarten student, curious and inquisitive, questioning, interested, prying …
The Dolphin Frieze from the Mycenaean Acropolis of Gla
Dolphin Frieze, Second half of the 13th century BC, Fresco, from the Mycenaean Acropolis of Gla in Boeotia, Archaeological Museum of Thebes, Greece - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 19, 2024 On February 19, 2024, I fulfilled a long-awaited wish by visiting the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, one of Greece ...
The Allegory of Calumny
‘Botticelli’ WorkshopAllegory of Calumny, c. 1530, Oil on Canvas, Galleria Colonna, Rome Italy https://www.galleriacolonna.it/en/botticelli-and-his-workshop-allegory-of-the-calumny-on-temporary-loan-from-12-01-2023-to-04-14-2024-acropolis-museum-athens-exhibition-personifications-and-allegories/ In a world where mi ...
The so-called ‘Rubens Vase’
The so-called ‘Rubens Vase’, c. 400 AD, Agate and Gold, 18.1 x 18.3 x 12.1 cm, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA https://art.thewalters.org/detail/10284/the-rubens-vase/ ‘…nothing has ever delighted me more than gems…’ Rubens wrote to his friend and antiquarian Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, and I thi ...
Eros Punished
Eros Punished, 1st century AD, Fresco, 126x162.3 cm, from the House of Punished Eros in Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy – Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 18, 2024, ‘Meanings’. Personifications and Allegories from Antiquity to Today Exhibition, Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece On Fe ...
The Prometheus Triptych by Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian Artist, 1886-1980Triptych – Hades and Persephone, The Apocalypse, Prometheus, 1950, © Fondation Oskar Kokoschka/ DACS 2021 https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/oskar-kokoschka-the-myth-of-prometheus/ …And ready-witted Prometheus he bound with inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft ...
Rosa Bonheur’s painting Le Taureau Gris
Rosa Bonheur, French Artist, 1822-1899Le Taureau Gris, c. 1886, oil on canvas, 47 x 64.5 cm, Private Collection, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6447174?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6447174&from=salessummary&lid=1 I hear the song of the nightingale. / The sun is warm, the wind is mild, willows are ...
The House of the Bicentenary in Herculaneum
The Bicentenary House, the fresco of Aphrodite and Aris, 1st century AD, Tablinum, Herculaneum, Italy https://minervamagazine.com/grand-designs-at-herculaneum.html The House of the Bicentenary in Herculaneum is one of the site’s jewels. Back in the 1930s, archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri described it as a sumptuous nobl ...
Maid of Athens
Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek Artist, 1814–1878The Maid of Athens, 1860, oil on canvas, 97,5 x 71 cm, Anthony E. Comninos Foundation, Greece https://www.facebook.com/teloglion/photos/pcb.5776572499028058/5776566092362032 Maid of Athens, ere we part, / Give, oh give me back my heart! / Or, since that has left my breast, ...
Darius Vase
Anonymous Apulian Vase Painter, commonly called the Darius Painter, worked between 340 and 320 BCDarius Vase, 340-320 BC, Ceramic Red-Figure Volute Crater, Clay, Height: 1.15 m, Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, February 18, 2024, ‘Meanings’. Personifications and Allegories from ...
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
Limbourg Brothers, Herman, Jean, Paul, c. 1370-80-1416 Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Anatomical Man/Zodiac Man (folio 14v), 1413-16, Painting on Vellum, 30x21 cm, Museum Conde, Chantilly, France https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anatomical_Man.jpg The Limbourg Brothers were a trio of Dutch Renai ...
Chagall’s magnificent ceiling at the Opéra Garnier
Marc Chagall, from Belarus, 1887-1985The ceiling of the Opéra Garnier, started in 1963 and completed on the 23rd of September, 1964, nearly 240 m² canvas, Opera Garnier, Paris, France - Photo Credit: Amalia Spiliakou, May 8, 2023 Russian-born artist Marc Chagall once said that "the dignity of the artist lies in his ...
Cardinal Bessarion in prayer before his Byzantine Reliquary
Gentile Bellini, active about 1460-1507Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary, about 1472/3, Egg Tempera on Wood, 102.3 × 37.2 cm, The National Gallery, London, UK https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/gentile-bellini-cardinal-bessarion-with-the-bess ...
The March Marigold by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, British Artist, 1833–1898The March Marigold, circa the 1870s, Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas, 71.7x77.4 cm, Private Collection https://www.wikiart.org/en/edward-burne-jones/the-march-marigold The March Marigold by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones celebrates the vibrantly tinted and warmly h ...
The Bronze Hellenistic Dancer at the MET
Bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, 3rd–2nd century BC, Bronze, 20.5 × 8.9 × 11.4 cm, the MET, NY, USA https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255408?pkgids=351&pos=20&nextInternalLocale=en&ft=*&oid=255408&rpp=4&exhibitionId=%7Bc81fa618-19f5-47a1-a089-fd1b22309109%7D&pg= ...
The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1526/1530–1569The Tower of Babel, 1563, Oil on Panel, 1,140x1,550 mm, Collection Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria https://www.bruegel2018.at/en/the-tower-of-babel/ 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eas ...
The Lady and the Unicorn
The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries, circa 1500, Wool and Silk, Musée de Cluny, Paris, France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_and_the_Unicorn#/media/File:Lady_and_the_Unicorn_1.jpg In the heart of the Cluny Museum in Paris, six exquisite masterpieces from the late 15th century quietly captivate visitors—The ...