You may be surprised that this woodblock print is actually by a Scottish artist, Elizabeth Keith, who lived in Japan for a decade ~ with blue & white colouring in the clothes worn by woman & shopkeeper, the umbrella, curtains, ceramic plates, & print of The Great Wave on the wall (1925)

British artist Oswald Birley’s glowing portrait of his young wife Rhoda Pike was inspired by their attendance at a costume ball during a honeymoon visit to Venice (detail, The Green Masque, 1922) godsandfoolishgrandeur.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-...

Unflinching study for a portrait of the weather-beaten, salt encrusted “Sea Dog” Walt Anderson, painted by his long-time friend Andrew Wyeth in 1971 (detail, egg tempera) www.facebook.com/groups/58441...

This letter by cartoonist/illustrator Alfred J Frueh to his fiancée Giuliette ingeniously folds out to form a miniature 3-D art gallery (1931, Smithsonian) www.architectural-review.com/essays/folio...

The face of poverty ~ a child’s “shoe doll”, found in a London slum in 1905, made from fabric scraps, the heel of a man’s shoe and a black sock (Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh)

In a turbulent world, take this opportunity to wallow pleasantly in nostalgia, as workaday people line up under the glow of a streetlight at their cosily-lit fish and chip shop. Artist Chris May did this painting in 2025 but it vividly evokes a Britain of the 1950s

In ‘Adrift’, Andrew Wyeth invites us to construct our own narrative ~ has the fisherman died (as in a Viking funeral) or just sleeping? Are the offshore break & empty rowlocks significant? Why’s the image so radically cropped, preventing us seeing anything else? (1982)

Apprehensive elderly villager stares into cracked mirror on wall, as he pulls on his coat to reluctantly leave his family home, escorted by two shadowy figures standing threateningly in background, one with pistol the other with a sabre (Mirror, Dmitry Belyukin, 1992) www.artlib.ru/index.php?id...

Camille Pissarro, a major figure in the development of Impressionism, provides a masterclass in depicting the myriad effects of light on dense foliage ~ and the winding path looks inviting too (Path Under the Trees, Summer, 1877)

A painted ship upon a painted ocean ~ the sea turns to mercury in this luminous image of a fishing fleet by Californian impressionist William Ritschel (‘Boats Returning Home’ c 1915, Irvine Museum, University of California)

Hard not to smile at this Burne-Jones tile design, showing a string-holding Theseus creeping up on a scary peek-a-boo Minotaur in the bone-strewn Labyrinth (1861, Birmingham Art Gallery)

Here’s the resplendent self-portrait of the French artist Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1785). Do you see the admiring student with her hand on the chair? That’s Marie-Gabrielle Capet ~ her own wonderful self-portrait is at R www.artinsociety.com/forgotten-wo...

Exquisite Art Nouveau necklace “Fuchsias”, in opal, pearl, diamonds and gold, designed by Alphonse Mucha and crafted by Paris-based jewellery designer Georges Fouquet (1905)

Labourers drinking at a table are arguing about an upcoming election. They’re all reacting to the man in shirtsleeves who’s forcefully putting his view ~ one, with fists clenched, turns away, one looks bored and another looks on bemused (Friant, Political Discussion, 1889)

22/3/26 Here’s how to be a “modern man of fashion”, 1814 style. Satirist Thomas Rowlandson details three principal requirements ~ dress like a coachman, study boxing & bull baiting, and speak the slang language fluently www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Dramatic use of light and shade in this fine painting of a girl sleeping, commonly attributed to Domenico Fetti c 1620. I like the unusual viewpoint, and the skilful rendering of texture in the girl’s blouse, hair ornaments and brocade cloth (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)

Ever fretted about not having a handy place to keep all your leeches? Well, here it is ~ handsome 1860s earthenware jar designed for apothecaries to store their medicinal leeches, with perforated lid so the little fellows can breathe collection.maas.museum/object/182254

During the 1596 peasant uprising (the ‘Club War’), a Finnish peasant family shelter from advancing troops who have burnt down their snow-bound village. The father holds a crossbow, a forlorn token of resistance (Albert Edelfelt, The Burnt Village, 1879)

From 4/5th century, a Roman single-handed fluted glass jug, with opalized sea-green and sky-blue iridescence, just 5 in (12 cm) high images.goldbergauctions.com/php/lot_auc....

Anna Alma-Tadema, teenaged daughter of the more famous Lawrence, shows her prodigious talent in these paintings of the Drawing Room at 1A Holland Park ~ with Rossetti’s chalk study for ‘Mariana’ on the wall ~ and her father’s library at Townsend House (1880s)

Here’s the interesting Siberian-born artist Larisa Kirillova ~ her self-portrait 1974 / a Madonna-like pose in ‘Happiness’ 1987 / daughter Katya in ‘Girl at the Window’ 1986

This watercolour of Catalina Island by Swedish/American artist Gunnar Widforss ~ a detailed study of colour, light and shadow ~ looks as fresh here as it did when it was painted just over 100 years ago (1921)

In this remarkable Autochrome image, taken more than 100 years ago, pioneering colour photographer Etheldreda Laing depicts her daughters Janet & Iris at their Oxford home. She developed her colour photos herself in a purpose-built darkroom inside the house mashable.com/2015/05/02/e...

Why are bedside tables generally so pokily small? Seen here in her bedroom at La Casa Azul in Mexico, Frida Kahlo bucks the trend and enjoys a generous space for her books and other nicknacks ~ even including a miniature double bed (photo: Gisèle Freund) improvisedlife.com/2022/12/12/b...

Clever installation on façade of Madrid restaurant, created by FOS ~ 250 metres of bright yellow adhesive tape simultaneously creates an illusion of intense artificial illumination, and a feeling of natural summery warmth ~ helped by the presence of pineapples improvisedlife.com/2014/01/14/i...

Pensive farmer & bright-eyed, college-bound son sit on truck’s running board, waiting for the train, in Norman Rockwell’s Breaking Home Ties (1954). Originally bought for $900, & hidden away by its owner behind wall panels, it was sold after its discovery for $15.4m news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...

Enjoying the decorative artistry in this doorway in Prague, from round 1900 (Arnim Schulz) www.flickr.com/photos/arnim...

9/3/26 2,400 years ago, this terracotta plate with models of food was placed in a tomb to provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife ~ pomegranates, grapes, figs, nuts, cheeses, and breads (Paestum, southern Italy) www.reddit.com/r/Sarcophagu....

I’m very taken with this beautiful blue glass cup with white speckles found in Pompeii, 1st century © Parco Archeologico di Pompeii www.alaintruong.com/archives/201...

Giving the effect of a street strewn with white petals ~- grape vines create this sun-dappled shade in the Calle Ciegos at the Bodega Gonzalez Byass winery, in Jerez, Spain

Admiring this skilful mosaic of a jellyfish in a sparkling sunlit sea, from Great Houses of Havana, by Hermes Mallea (Monacelli Press) www.greathousesofhavana.com/purchase.html

Egyptian prince Thutmose was entombed with his companion cat Ta-Miu (aka “little mewer”). Here’s the cat’s sarcophagus ~ the inscription says “I myself am placed among the imperishable ones that are in the Sky / For I am Ta-Miu, the Triumphant” (1,500 BC)

Admiring this splendid prayer desk crafted by Gaudi and his collaborators in 1906. The design is Catalan Modernism, a variant of Art Nouveau

16C artist Bernadino Luini’s luminous ‘Figure of Saint with Palm Frond, Reading the Scriptures’ emerged only recently, after being unseen since 1865. Luini was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, to whom the painting was attributed until 1956 www.alaintruong.com/archives/201...

JMW Turner depicts recently-invented steam train, dark & rain-shrouded, as it dashes over the bridge ~ maybe contrasting the speed of this new technology with the “natural” speed of the fleeing hare & the gently floating boat (Rain, Steam & Speed, 1844) www.artinsociety.com/pt-3-the-new...

Two sides of Italy ~ Slim Aarons achieved fame for his glamorous photographs of 1960s high society, as in this image of dining on a clifftop terrace in Capri ~ but perhaps you may prefer his early blank-and-white image of a foodstall in an anonymous village

On this cold rainy night, people sitting on stools are enjoying hot noodles and sake in this cosy lantern-lit roadside booth (Tomikichiro Tokuriki’s woodblock print ‘Noodle Restaurant on A Rainy Night’ (1951)

“I am the notebook belonging to Monsieur Picasso, painter, of 13 Rue Ravignan, Paris XVIIIe” ~ this is the cover of Picasso’s private sketchbook covering his Blue Period in Montmartre, from 1904

A ‘fame is fleeting’ moment ~ from the storage room of Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in 1979, disembodied heads of figures ranging from Jackie Kennedy to WG Grace to Richard Nixon, plus Elizabeth Taylor’s feet as an added bonus www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPor...

Enjoying this vibrant design for the menu at The Harbor Restaurant on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. Its owners, incidentally, have included actors Jimmy Cagney and Ronald Colman (1957) www.santabarbara.com/attractions/...

I'd welcome your comments on the Journal’s recent article about the first portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci, the strange life of the sitter Ginevra de’ Benci, and the painting’s clandestine journey to America (in a suitcase!). The article is at www.artinsociety.com/the-dramatic...

This 14C Frankish Tower was built as a watchtower for the Propylaea, the ancient building which had acted as gateway to the Acropolis since 400 BC. The tower was controversially demolished in 1874 to restore the Propylaea’s original appearance (at R)

A very old clue ~ here’s a fingerprint left by Leonardo da Vinci when he was reworking the paint surface of his Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci more than five centuries ago (c 1474) www.artinsociety.com/the-dramatic...

JUST PUBLISHED! In our latest article we examine Leonardo’s controversial little masterpiece, his portrait of the enigmatic Ginevra de’ Benchi ~ a controversial work that would later be sold for the highest price ever paid at the time. Read it at www.artinsociety.com/the-dramatic...

This 3rd century Roman floor mosaic at an entrance to public bathhouse depicts a pair of bathing sandals, an oil flask and three curved “strigils” used for scraping off sweat, dirt and oil. The inscription declares that bathing is good for you (Sabratha Museum, Libya)

Did you notice the shape of the woman’s shadow in this poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds? (Laurent Durieux)

Remarkable details of birds, flowers & insects from the border of this 2nd century Roman floor mosaic in Antioch (present-day Turkey), which depicts Ganymede offering a drink to Zeus (in the form of a cranky eagle). Signed by artist Neikias

Joaquin Sorolla celebrates this birth of his daughter Elena, showing just the heads of his wife Clotilde and the newborn as they seem to waft peacefully in a sea of white, as gentle light spreads soft shadows (Mother, 1895-1900)

A hot summer’s day in the French countryside, captured by Paul Signac using his new pointillist style of brushwork (Comblat-le-Château. La Vallée, 1887) www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/...

Outstanding close-ups of starched lacework collar, from Frans Pourbus the Younger’s portrait of Margherita Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua (early 17C, Metropolitan Museum of Art) www.sophieploeg.com/blog/the-10-...