"Noble simplicity and quiet grandeur" were the ideals proclaimed by J. J. Winkelmann as the beauty gospel of Greek art in his first publication on the subject in 1755. Today, however, it is generally accepted that sculpture in ancient Greece, and even in ancient Rome, was not quite as "simple" as first supposed. Sculptures were... Continue Reading →
In the skin of another – literally!
In the National Museum of San Salvador (El Salvador) there stands a simple clay sculpture of a man. At first glance you think he is wrapped in feathers. At second glance, his clothes seem strange. And indeed they are. He wears a man's skin that has been stripped off and is decaying on his body.... Continue Reading →