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Articles Index

What's Your Deal, Anyway?

In all honesty, it's a glorious thing that so many people are talking about art history - which has a somewhat justifiable reputation for being a stuffy, boring subject.

If you wish to be polite, artistic license means taking liberties with reality. Conversely, you may be the blunt sort and thus able to call it cheating. Either way, artistic license is usually harmless and entertaining.

Are You Saying Leonardo Was Gay?

"John" is no anomoly, bolt out of the blue or unprecedented mystery. There is more than one instance of Leonardo portraying a guy as a "pretty" young guy.

What Is Art?

What is art? 6.8 billion different things, strictly speaking. When writing a paper, however, you should probably stick with "Art is form and content."

Will You Help Me with My Art History Paper?

Before you send an email asking this question, please read these tips and suggestions.

What Is Representational Art?

What is representational art? The word "representational," when used to describe a work of art, means that the work depicts something easily recognized by most people.

Where is the Holy Grail in this painting?

The short answer is it's not present in the painting. Why? Best guess: Mention of the Holy Grail is not found in the canonized Gospels. There would not have been a practical reason to represent it in the composition.

What are the "elements" of art? Why are they important?

The elements of art are both fun and useful. Remember: line, shape, form, space, texture, value and color. Knowing these elements will allow you to analyze, write and chat about art, as well as create it yourself.

What Is a Catalogue?

In matters art historic, a "catalogue" is a published listing of the works included in something. "Something" can be either permanent, as with collection catalogues and catalogue raisonnés, or temporary, as happens in the cases of exhibitions and auctions. Let's look at each in turn.

What Are the Functions of Art?

Try to remember four main points if required to describe "the functions of art:" (1) context and (2) personal, (3) social and (4) physical functions.

What Is Visual Art?

What are the visual arts? The visual arts are those creations we can look at, such as drawing or painting. If you care to know how we arrived at this term, read on.

What's the Difference Between an Era, a Period and a Movement?

No matter whether era, period or movement is being employed in a situation, they all mean "historic chunk of time." Art created during any of the three is distinguished by characteristics common to the era/period/movement. Whichever term is being bandied about, these two factors apply.

Help! I Have to Write a Paper on The Da Vinci Code!

You have to write your own papers, but here are a few words about the accuracy of The Da Vinci Code to help you get underway. Fair enough?

What Was Leonardo's Name?

Let's get this straight. Leonardo's full name at birth was simply "Leonardo." Using "Da Vinci" is incorrect for several reasons.

How many Vatican commissions did Leonardo receive?

It would only even remotely be correct to say that Leonardo received "hundreds" of Vatican commissions within the context of a fictitious novel.

What about the disembodied hand?

Well, here's what I did, taking my cue from the character in the book who said, " ...if you count the arms, you'll see that this hand belongs to ... no one at all."

Do I Have to Like Everything?

Do you like every piece of music you hear, every book you read or every food you taste? Art is a sensuous experience. Despite what others may have implied, not every work you see or every artist you "meet" is going to electrify your senses.

Please explain that "V" and/or "M"

As with everything else surrounding the Last Supper, post-Da Vinci Code publication, the hidden letters are a matter of "po·tay·to" and "po·tah·to".

Is that John or Mary Magdalene in the Last Supper?

In Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, the figure at Jesus' right arm does not display an easily identified gender. He's not bald, or bearded, or anything we visually associate with "masculine". In fact, he looks feminine. Fine. We all can, and should, agree on this. The Burning Question seems to be: Is this figure a woman? My answer: No.