Electrum Magazine – Why The Past Matters

Controversies
The Complexities of Art and Antiquities Repatriation and the Evolution of Collecting

3 weeks ago

Jan Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668, restituted to Rothschilds after WWII, then gifted to Louvre (Photo P. Hunt 2025) By Jann Perez – Deep questions about the ethics of collecting and also about repatriation of plundered art and antiquities are far more complex than they might at first appear from shallow […]
History
Frederick the Great: An Enlightened Ruler

2 months ago

By Leah Mordehai – “A single Voltaire will do more honor to France than a thousand pedants, a thousand false wits, a thousand great men of inferior order.” Frederick the Great Why was Frederick II of Prussia an enlightened ruler? One of the most enlightened rulers of all time, Frederick […]
Art
Tamara de Lempincka and Art Deco

3 months ago

Tamara de Lempincka, Madonna, 1937 By P. F. Sommerfeldt – Tamara de Lempincka (1894-1980) was a gifted artist and an iconoclast, often considered a founding leader of the Art Deco movement from the 1920’s through the 1930’s. Art Deco was the perfect trope for an artist known for bold color, […]
Archaeologia, Artifacts of Material History
Maya Sculpture Benchmarks: Jaina Figurines

4 months ago

By Patrick Hunt – One of the features found across Maya sculpture in different media and materials – stone relief, plaster relief, wood and ceramic figures – appears to be a certain amount of heightened caricature and lack of proportionality, in the opinion of this researcher possibly to accentuate imagery […]
Controversies
Rhetorical Manipulation, Emotion, and The Fall of the Berlin Wall

4 months ago

By Alex Dortzbach – Media lies very near the heart of a culture in recording values. It can help create a cultural lexicon, build or reinforce a set of common ideals, and quicken the spread of new ideas. A hugely-insightful book, The Race Against the Stasi (2014) by journalist Herbie […]
Archaeologia
The Athenian Long Walls

5 months ago

By Jess Taylor – The defensive Athenian Long Walls were constructed over the course of the 5th Century BCE to maintain a secure corridor between the Athenian civic center, the city of Athens, and its principal port at Piraeus, located 7 km away.
Art
Philosophy and Poetry: The Partner Paintings of Salvator Rosa

6 months ago

Salvator Rosa, Philosophy, ca. 1645, image courtesy National Gallery London By Natalie Vander Pol – One of the most moving pieces to me personally in the National Gallery is undoubtedly Philosophy by Salvator Rosa (ca. 1645), which symbolizes both a love story and a bond between human thought and art. At first […]
Controversies
The Old Difference Renewed between Living In Justice and In-Justice

7 months ago

John Adams by Gilbert Stuart, 1821, courtesy of National Gallery of Art, Wash. DC By Walter Borden, M.D. – “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals: separated from law and justice he is the worst.” Aristotle, Politics 1.1253a Aristotle speaks of Law and Justice. Is there a […]
Art
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid: Selected Masterpieces

8 months ago

By P. F. Sommerfeldt – If I had to name one of the jewels of European museum collections not enough people visit, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid would be high on that list. Its iconic collection of Renaissance paintings can compete with much larger holdings especially because it is not […]
Art
Leonardo’s ‘Secret’ Design of “The Last Supper”

9 months ago

By John Roman – Historians suggest some religious paintings of the Renaissance may have been intentionally designed to induce subliminal, out-of-body experiences in church patrons. Michael Kubovy, in his book The Psychology of Perspective and Renaissance Art (1989), uncovered a remarkable twist in artists’ use of perspective during the Renaissance. He explored the idea that […]

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