In 1845 William Parson looked through the world’s  biggest telescope, then in Ireland.  He found and illustrated a spiral nebula, as he called it (example 1). Later we would recognize this as another galaxy.  In 1845 the idea of multiple … Continued

Among Painters who enjoyed winter we have examples from Pieter Bruegel to Claude Monet to Winslow Homer.   Homer’s windy studio on Prouts Neck, Maine was so cold the ice in his water bucket froze if it sat more than 4 … Continued

Painting Flowers has an extraordinary history. For millennia Chinese artists used floral subjects to decorate ceramics, textiles, and paintings. Eventually Europeans would catch up. Caravaggio presented an early isolated basket of flowers. By 1600 Jan Brueghel the Elder made images … Continued

1565 found Pieter Bruegel in his studio painting one of the earliest snow landscapes recorded in Europe (example 1). He was painting each of the seasons, a topical idea at the time.  A century later Poussin would repeat the theme … Continued

Depicting Infinity across time and cultures often emerges as a circle. Before European contact Aztec depictions of the Cosmos and calendar (example 1) appear as circles within circles even as they circumscribe other geometric patterns.  6000 years ago one of … Continued

In Vienna toward the close of the 19th century artists like Gustav Klimt found decorative patterns as a new muse. Eventually, this fascination blossomed into the Jugenstil, or new style (the art nouveau).  For source materials Klimt looked to the … Continued