Renaissance Art

January 31, 2024

X-Ray Scans Reveal Hidden Portrait of the Young Charles II Behind the Older King

Thanks to modern technology, we’re able to uncover hidden images within historic works of art. One recent discovery comes from a 17th-century portrait of a royal. The Habsburgs ruled early modern Europe. For almost seven centuries, members of the clan intermarried and ruled across Europe. From Hungary to Portugal and Germany, their power rose and fell.

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December 1, 2023

Conservator Restores 16th-Century Portrait of Isabella de’ Medici, the “Paris Hilton” of the Italian Renaissance

Years ago, a painting of a young woman ended up at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum was not very impressed by the benign, uninspired face of the sitter, leading to the painting's eventual deaccession from the collection. Instead, it found its way into the collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It then sat in the basement, unseen, until it caught the eye of Louise Lippincott, a former museum curator.

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November 3, 2023

Restored Rembrandt Is on Sale for $30 Million

Works by Rembrandt van Rijn are rarely seen at auction. The precious Old Master's works are worth many millions, coveted by private collectors and museums alike. In 2009, Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo (1658) set the Rembrandt record with a €23.2 million sale (over $24.6 million). Other sales, such as Abraham and Angels (c. 1646), have been private for amounts ranging upwards of $20 million. Now, another masterpiece is up for sale.

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August 13, 2023

Genius Mind of Leonardo da Vinci Is Now on Display in Largest Online Archive

Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519. Over the course of his life, the Italian Renaissance man proved his genius across multiple fields, including painting, drawing, inventing, and anatomy. His Codices in particular hold the internal workings of his mind. Spanning about 6,000 pages, these collected notes can now be explored through an online experience, aptly called Inside A Genius Mind, which was created by a fascinating collaboration of AI technology and human scholarship.

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