A young man kneels, cutting stakes with a hatchet — a rare, vivid 1580 Venetian miniature capturing February’s quiet rural labour, from the National Gallery’s charming Labours of the Months series.
Constantino Brumidi
Constantino Brumidi — Greek-Italian immigrant, Vatican fresco master, and political exile — spent decades beautifying the U.S. Capitol, yet died in an unmarked grave, his genius long forgotten by America.
Pilastri Acritani and European 19th century Art
Two ancient pillars looted from Constantinople in 1204, long misidentified as war trophies, inspired Turner and other 19th-century masters — Venice’s silent Byzantine witnesses hiding in plain sight.
Teaching with Domenico Ghirlandaio
Vasari called Ghirlandaio one of the greatest masters of his age — his tender Portrait of an Old Man and his Grandson still moves hearts across five centuries.
The Labours of the Months: January
Twelve tiny Venetian panels, vivid with ultramarine and vermilion, trace a year of rural labour — a rare, charming 16th-century celebration of seasons, work, and life’s quiet rhythm.
The Legendary Shield of Achilles
Homer’s Shield of Achilles — a microcosm of war, harvest, dance, and law — inspired Flaxman’s stunning 1821 silver-gilt masterpiece, proudly displayed at George IV’s coronation banquet.
Teaching with Domenico Veneziano
Vasari’s gripping tale of artistic jealousy, a lute smashed and a murder committed — totally fictional, yet Domenico Veneziano’s ethereal Florentine masterpieces remain breathtakingly, undeniably real.
Matisse and Jazz
Matisse’s Jazz — bold, improvisational, electric with colour — mirrors the music it celebrates. Two dazzling pochoirs in Athens invite us to feel rhythm through cut paper and pigment.
Lion Hunt Mosaic
Did Pella’s breathtaking Lion Hunt mosaic echo Krateros’s lost bronze monument at Delphi — immortalising Alexander’s legendary struggle with a lion in marble, metal, and memory?
Dioscurides and Krithamo
The Vienna Dioscurides — a breathtaking 515 AD Byzantine manuscript gifted to Anicia Juliana — preserves Greek botanical wisdom and over a thousand medicinal plants in luminous illuminated splendour.