Getty continues its online-accessible series of exhibits and art exploration. Explore the range of online events, podcasts, and articles.
A spring unboxing video
Spring has sprung, and this year we’re taking a look back at Getty’s biggest Spring, which arrived in November of 2014. That’s when Getty unboxed a much-anticipated painting: Édouard Manet’s Jeanne (Spring). This video is one of our favorite ways to bring in the season and appreciate the influence of this painting on Manet’s career.
The missing utensil on medieval tables
Feasting was really important in the Middle Ages, especially for wealthy households. What did meals include? What decadent foods did King Richard III of England fancy? How were tables set, compared to ours?
Judith Lauand’s Free Hand
Judith Lauand was the only female member of Ruptura, a group of artists associated with concretism. She didn’t always follow Ruptura’s rules, though, and even delved into the frowned-upon figurative painting genre. Art historian Aliza Edelman describes paintings Lauand based on movie love scenes this way: “The women in these images are feminists. They are clearly negotiating notions of suffering and love.”
More about Brazilian artist Judith Lauand
Van Gogh’s Irises
Behind this iconic painting is the artist’s inspiring story about healing as he struggled with the challenges of a mental illness. Learn more about this period in his life and the famous work he produced.
Silhouette sleuthing
It’s 1804 and your wedding day. But the camera has yet to be invented, so no photographer documents your first kiss. How can you commemorate the occasion? Track down traveling silhouette artist William Bache.
Imagined moments like this have come alive for Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, who used a Getty grant to research Bach’s ledger book and discovered the identities of a vast swath of early 19th-century individuals, from former First Lady Martha Washington and President Thomas Jefferson to everyday folk such as a tavern keeper, comedian, and young bride.
Why were medieval books so expensive?
Most people could never have afforded even a single book in the Middle Ages. For one, books were made of parchment—a kind of specially prepared animal hide—and it could take a professional parchmenter weeks to prepare a single skin. Then there’s the matter of the other materials needed, everything from ink for the scribe to fancy gold leaf for the painter. And that’s not all.
How books were made in the Middle Ages
What was life like for women in the Middle Ages?
While depictions of the Middle Ages often revolve around knights, dragons, and fairy tales, the stories of how real people lived during this tumultuous time are even more fascinating—particularly the oft-untold stories of women. Medieval women worked alongside men in the fields, taught children how to read, and even influenced politics at court, all the while enduring fashion trends and health and hygiene practices we might cringe at today.