Christ the Redeemer is a statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that was built as a symbol of Brazilian Christianity. Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with the French engineer Albert Caquot. It’s considered the … Read more
The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. The chapel has the same dimensions as the Temple of Solomon, as described in … Read more
A Fabergé egg is one of a limited number of jeweled eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé and his company between 1885 and 1917. After being commissioned to create an Easter egg for the royal family of Russia in 1885, the Imperials liked the result so much that further eggs were commissioned each year. Fabergé … Read more
The Chauvet Cave (a.k.a Caverne du Pont d’arc) is one of the most famous prehistoric rock art sites in the world. With one exception, all of the cave art paintings have been dated between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago. Chauvet contains a total of over 300 paintings and engravings. These were grouped in specific ways. … Read more
The Terracotta Army is a part of a massive burial tomb built for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 – 210 BC) spent much of his life searching for immortality and built himself a tomb complex that encompassed 50 km² (20 mi²). There are over 8,000 life size … Read more
Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Scholars estimate the painting was completed in 1665. The painting is an example of a type of work called a tronie. Popular in the Dutch Golden Age, tronies were paintings that focused on the face of a subject with an … Read more
The Persistence of Memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dali, and is one of his most recognizable works. The well-known surrealist piece introduced the image of the soft melting pocket watch. It epitomizes Dalí’s theory of “softness” and “hardness“, which was central to his thinking at the time. The Persistence of Memory is … Read more
The Pieta (1498–1499) is regarded as one of the greatest works of the Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. This exquisite work of art features the body of Jesus placed on the lap of the Virgin Mary after the savior’s crucifixion. Pieta is the only work Michelangelo ever signed. Michelangelo carved it from a single slab of … Read more
Painted by Vincent van Gogh just months before his tragic suicide, The Starry Night is perhaps his greatest masterpiece. The painting was completed in 1889 with oil paint on a canvas. The Starry Night was created within an asylum, the Saint Remy de Provence, in France that van Goghcommitted himself too in his later life. “This … Read more