The Meissen porcelain La Chocolatière reflects the same 18th-century fascination with chocolate luxury evoked in Barbara Crooker’s Ode to Chocolate, where taste, fashion, and Rococo elegance merge into cultural indulgence.
House of Julia Felix
House of Julia Felix reveals a savvy Roman entrepreneur who transformed her property into baths, shops, and rentals, while its refined frescoes capture everyday luxury and commerce.
Idle Hours by William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase embraced European influences yet shaped American art, capturing refined leisure and luminous summer scenes, as seen in Idle Hours’ tranquil seaside elegance.
Unidentified Byzantine Church in Constantinople known today as Gül Camii
Inspired by Symeon the New Theologian, the enigmatic Gül Camii reflects a Byzantine church of uncertain identity, transformed yet enduring as a place of worship for all.
Ring of Michael Stryphnos
The Ring of Michael Stryphnos from the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection encapsulates Byzantine power and decline, symbolizing the troubled reign of Alexios III Angelos and the empire’s approaching catastrophe.
Gold Coin Pendant of Constantine the Great
The gold coin pendant of Constantine the Great in the British Museum celebrates his 321 consulship, combining imperial portraiture, dynastic imagery, and intricate opus interrasile goldwork.
Garden in Corfu by Angelos Giallinas
Angelos Giallinas, a master of atmospheric landscape painting, captured Corfu and Mediterranean scenes with luminous sensitivity, blending precise draftsmanship with the delicate spontaneity of watercolour.
Teaching with Antonello da Messina
Antonello da Messina, inspired by Flemish oil painting, became a pioneering Italian innovator, blending Northern technique with Mediterranean sensibility, creating luminous, emotionally powerful sacred images that transformed Renaissance painting.
Anastasis at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas
The Anastasis mosaic at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas presents the Resurrection as Christ descends into Hades, a masterpiece of 11th-century Byzantine mosaic art radiating spiritual intensity and imperial grandeur.
The Raising of Lazarus by Duccio
The Maestà of Duccio di Buoninsegna, a monumental altarpiece for Siena Cathedral, bridges Byzantine tradition and emerging Renaissance naturalism in a profoundly devotional visual language.