Secrets of the Four Seasons
This year marks almost 430 years since the death of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian artist known for his original portraits of fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish. Giuseppe so skillfully portrayed…

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10 skillful fakes that museums took for originals
Artistic fakes are a very real threat that museums constantly have to contend with. Fake artifacts appear in many museums from time to time, which can be displayed for several…

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19th Century Girl Albums
The young ladies of the 19th century were not so different from the modern ones: they also needed attention, recognition, evidence of sympathy from friends and, of course, a cordial…

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How Russian artist Makovsky painted a portrait of the US president and opened the “Russian style” to Americans

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Western world discovered the Russian style. Sundresses, kokoshniks, furs and precious fabrics, boyars and feasts – this is exactly such Russia that the great Russian artist Konstantin Makovsky showed the Americans on his canvases. The success of the “Russian Rubens” in America was so great that Konstantin Egorovich in 1901 decided to visit the New World. During this trip, the craftsmen were invited to paint a portrait of US President Theodore Roosevelt.

The conventional wisdom that talent should be hungry was clearly not related to Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky. At the end of the 19th century, he was probably one of the most successful and sought-after masters in Russia. Continue reading

What is special about the landscapes that are called the most Italian: Veduta and Capriccio

History did not preserve the name of the tourist that the first one wanted to take away from Italy a picturesque “postcard” in memory of the trip and thereby laid the foundation for a whole direction in the visual arts. However, it is unlikely that such a lover of beauty was the only one – this country in the south of Europe would sooner or later seduce connoisseurs with its landscapes immortalized on canvas.

Translated from Italian, “Veduta” means “view”. This is a picture, drawing or engraving, which details the city landscape. In fact, Veduta is the prototype of photography, the golden rule of this genre is great accuracy. Therefore, the one who ordered the artist a city landscape really took home the memories of his journey. Continue reading

Aesthetics and the importance of music in the history of human formation

Musical aesthetics exists more than the culture of music as an independent art form. Musical aesthetics was similar to labor, appropriation, submission of the unknown. It carried such functions as organization and augmentation of energy, spiritual forces vital to society. There is no need to talk about aesthetic pleasure at this stage of development. Music and other forms of art in prehistoric times were considered useful in terms of their magical properties, combining the illusory with the real.

Music shaped the nature of man, his abstract thinking, developed sensuality. Thus, music through influencing the essence of man and society influenced the world around him. Continue reading

10 skillful fakes that museums took for originals
Artistic fakes are a very real threat that museums constantly have to contend with. Fake artifacts appear in many museums from time to time, which can be displayed for several…

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Secrets of self-portraits of famous artists: Reflection in the mirror, portrait-bacon and other oddities
Self-portrait in most cases is an instrument of narcissism, an attempt to leave your image in eternity. But if a genius takes up the matter, his image on canvas can…

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Dumas' Three Musketeers for Almost 175 Years: Masterpieces Illustrations Drawn in Different Years
Many in adolescence were read by the works of Alexander Dumas, and especially the novel “Three Musketeers”, filled with adventures and historical events of 1625-1628, as well as entertaining illustrations.…

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