Here is the Late Medieval ideal of the most beautiful woman imaginable, and I want to draw your attention to her hair – specifically where it isn’t. Yes, Bathsheba’s golden locks, seen in this exquisite late 15th-c illumination, trail down her back in full glory, but also check out her pubes, or not – because
Female Pubic Hair and its Removal in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe Read More »
The master artist Raphael rendered this portrait of a maiden with a unicorn. It’s a paean to the way Italian 16th-century men concieved of beauty and virtue — the two were inextricably woven together. And perhaps Raphael didn’t mean it, but his painting also shows how fantastical and unrealistic these expectations were for most women
Raphael and Patriarchal Standards in Renaissance Italy Read More »
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC is an astonishing and powerful testimony to this country’s heritage. Showcasing the trajectory of African American history from the centuries of enslavement through the period of legalized apartheid and Jim Crow laws, the exhibits also portray the ways that Black Americans from
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC Read More »
This is an actual Ducking Chair, made in England in the 1600s, designed for publically humiliating and frightening those strapped into it by plunging them into water. Importantly, it was only for women.In England — and its burgeoning North American colonies — urbanization, capitalism, and religious and political turmoil were all on the rise, which
Oh, the poor, damned site of the Colonial Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Here you see a recreation of the fort, originally built in 1607, less than a year that three ships set out with 104 men from England under a charter by the Virginia Company to colonize this part of the New World. Money-making and
The Struggle of Jamestown Read More »
This 1st century BCE “Ara Pacis” celebrates fertility with breastfeeding children on a woman’s lap along with other symbols of fecundity. The artistic program matched with the mode of the day in Imperial Rome — the Republic had ended, and the new leader wanted to increase the population of elite Roman citizens. The birthrate among
Marriage and Children in Augustinian Rome Read More »
Ever heard of the “neck-verse”? The kneeling man in this painting probably would have wished he had. It’s a detail from Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s _The Triumph of Death_ (1562-1563). In it, the man with the blindfold on is about to be unalived by the skeleton with the sword in a public execution.Violence was rife
The Neck-Verse in Early Modern Europe Read More »
Remedio Varo is much better known in Mexico than in the US, but she produced hundreds of paintings that evoke the subconsciousness. Her contributions to the Surrealist movement added not only lovely, dreamlike art, but also a perspective that imagined women as central figures with their own designs — definitely a break from the images
Remedio Varo an accomplished Surrealist artist Read More »
Historical hoaxes can be so much fun, and certainly the Kensington Runestone ought to count as one of the most whimsical and widely discussed frauds of all time. Google scholar lists 1,010 articles on the subject, and there are numerous books and dissertations about it. The city of Alexandria, Minnesota even has an enormous 28
Kensington Runestone Read More »
“To the one who knows how to look and feel, every moment of this free wandering life is an enchantment.”So go the words of Alexandra David-Néel, who led one of the most best possible lives (IMHO) in human history. She lived to be 100, and her life was so full that this one post cannot
Alexandra David-Néel, Explorer and Adventurer Read More »
The Austrian Room is a particularly lovely example of one of the many National Rooms found on the first and third floors of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning. Each of these thematic classrooms was funded by interested representatives of whatever ethnic or national group planning the room, and Austria’s was formally dedicated in 1996. The walls
The Austrian Room at the Cathedral of Learning Read More »
The Cathedral of Learning, aka “Cathy”, is one of Pittsburgh’s most iconic structures. Located in the Oakland neighborhood, the Cathedral forms the central building of the University of Pittsburgh’s campus.The towering skyscraper (535 feet/163 meters) is rendered in Indiana limestone, done in Late Gothic Revival style. You can see it from many parts of the
Cathedral of Learning Read More »
_Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror_ is one of the world’s most famous films. Released as a silent movie with a musical soundtrack background, its portrayal of Count Orlok as the rat-faced, hulking vampire who brings death to the fictional village of Wisborg, Germany, is still easily recognized over 100 years later. (In fact, a remake
Nosferatu and World War I Read More »
This terracotta figure of a merchant dates from seventh-to-eighth century Tang China and is testimony to the role of long-distance trade along the Silk Road and other conduits. I also think this guy looks like Dr. Strange, so there’s that.
Chinese Terracotta Merchant Figurine Read More »
The scholar-elite class of dynastic China were not always engrossed in studying or affairs of state. This gourd with ivory-carved lid held live crickets, who were set to fight in staged cricket matches for the amusement of the Chinese intelligentsia. From 19th-century Qing China, the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Chinese Ivory Gourds Read More »
This hooked metal tool was called a “strigil” by Ancient Romans. Centuries ago, such instruments were used in the process of bathing: you would scrape dirt, sweat, and the ubiquitous Mediterranean olive oil off your skin with it before your bath.
Ancient Roman Strigils Read More »
In the very late 19th- and early 20th- centuries, the Spiritualist movement had a strong influence in Western Europe and the United States. Many adherents believed that spiritual mediums could guide listeners in conversations among the living and dead during seances. One of the oddest components of these otherworldly gatherings was a substance called ectoplasm,
Seances and Ectoplasm Read More »
When the artist Larry Harvey first set fire to a 9-foot wooden effigy of a man and began a ceremony now celebrated annually at Black Rock City, Nevada, he had never heard of the famous 1973 cult horror film, “The Wicker Man,” which took its cue from an alleged Celtic practice of human sacrifice. In
Human Sacrifice in Ancient Celtic British Life Read More »
Musical instruments are one of the hallmarks of the radical change in complex culture that started to mark human history after 50,000 BCE. Some scientists even like to refer to our species after this benchmark era as _Homo Sapiens Sapiens_, stressing the “extra” smarts we apparently showcased after this time. But important questions remain. Pictured
The Neanderthal Flute Read More »
Many Ancient Greek and Roman physicians (male) developed intricate theories about the female body which dovetailed neatly with their assumptions of women being inherently flawed and lesser than men. Among the most hysterical (this is a pun: “hysteria” comes from the word for “uterus,” and hysteria was a medical diagnosis for a grab-bag of female
Physicians of the Ancient World Read More »
