Art History Feed

Photographer: Elli Sougioultzoglou-Seraidari.

Interior of #HagiaSophia. The #HagiaSophia was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the cathedral of Seville in Spain in 1511.

Marc Riboud, Madrid, Musée du Prado, 1988.

Crocodile effigy pendant. Period: A.D. 1–500. Object Place: Costa Rica, Atlantic Watershed region. Source: MFA Boston.

Pin (Fibula) with Snail Roman, Imperial period, 2nd-3rd century A.D. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yue-ceremonial axe symbolizes political authority in early China. The main motif of the weapon is a very mean human mask. Inscription “Ya Chou” is beside the mask’s mouth.

Orpheus himself was later killed by the women of Thrace. The motive and manner of his death vary in different accounts, but the earliest known, that of Aeschylus, says that they were Maenads urged by Dionysus to tear him to pieces in a Bacchic orgy because he preferred the worship of the rival god Apollo. His head, still singing, with his lyre, floated to Lesbos, where an oracle of Orpheus was established. The head prophesied until the oracle became more famous than that of Apollo at Delphi, at which time Apollo himself bade the Orphic oracle stop. The dismembered limbs of Orpheus were gathered up and buried by the Muses. His lyre they had placed in the heavens as a constellation.

Frédéric Boissonnas: The Parthenon, Athens, 1908

Etruscan Bronze Turtle, 6th-5th Century BC. In mythology, the turtle is closely linked to Hermes and is his animal-attribute (Hermes made the first lyre with a turtle’s shell, see Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 24-61). Private Collection.

The fortified citadel to the north of the city had two gates guarded by bulls. At the foot of the palace were four residences (K, L, J and M) and a temple dedicated to Nabu, the god of scribes.

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The symbol belongs to the Hattis from the pre-Hittite period. The Sun Disk was used in ceremonies by Hattians about 4.250 years ago from today. Round sphere forming the Sun Disk symbolizes the earth or the sun. At the bottom, there are two horn-like protrusions but what they represent is not clear. The protrusions at the top represent fertility, and the procreation of nature.

According to the Beazley Archive, there are over 237 recorded depictions of dogs in Athenian vase painting. Most are beside their owners, chasing prey, or under the table at a symposium. Yet, very few are depicted completely alone, busy with their own bodily needs. This scratching dog, emerging as the wine drains, is one of those rare moments when an Athenian painter chose to see an animal simply as itself.

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One of the earliest records in Japanese literature associating the word 'sumo' with female wrestlers appears in the Nihon Shoki, dating back to 720 AD. The scene is this: Emperor Yūryaku summons two palace concubines, dresses them in loincloths, and orders them to wrestle. Even though sumo's literary origins are rooted in legendary male figures (a wrestling match for control of the Japanese islands between two male deities, Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata), this event marks one of the earliest moments the female body intersects with wrestling history.This illustration, meanwhile, belongs to the final generation of that tradition. This illustration appears in the June 1951 issue of Kitan Club, a magazine published in Japan between 1947 and 1975. The title reads: 'Observation Record of a Girls' Sumo Fighting Arena: The Bloody Battle Between Yaetsubaki and Chichiharizan.' Kitan Club began publication in 1947, right after Japan's defeat in the war. Covering everything that had been suppressed during the war years - sexuality, violence, and forbidden entertainment - the magazine emerged in an environment where decades of censorship had abruptly vanished. Scenes of female sumo naturally found a place in its pages, since the authority of the old regime that banned it had collapsed. Female sumo, or onna-zumō, was officially banned in Japan in 1926. The justification: disrupting public morality. But the ban was never fully enforced. Professional troupes continued to tour across Japan, Taiwan, and Hawaii. The last professional troupe didn't disband until 1963.This 1951 drawing predates that moment by exactly 12 years. The founder of modern female sumo is Heishiro Ishiyama, an entertainment promoter who operated in the Tendo district of Yamagata Prefecture (northeastern Japan) in 1880. For decades, wrestlers performed in tent arenas, tournaments were held, and gonin nuki exhibitions - a format where a wrestler defeats five opponents in a row - drew massive interest. Kitan Club illustrated and published this scene in 1951.In 1963, the last professional female sumo troupe disbanded. Today, the Japan Sumo Association still prohibits women from entering the ring.

During an expedition to the South Pole, a dog enjoys the gramophone, 1911. The dog's name is Chris. The photo was taken in January 1911 on Ross Island in Antarctica (the frozen continent south of New Zealand). Photographer Herbert Ponting - the official photographer for Captain Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition - personally set up this scene. Later on, reproductions of this photo were made, and the dog's collar was edited out. You can see the original photo in the second image.** The archive record for the photo includes the following text: 'Capt. Scott's Antarctic Expedition 1911.' Ponting had a clear reference in mind: the 1898 painting 'His Master's Voice' by artist Francis Barraud. (See the third image I shared.) In that painting, the dog, Nipper, is looking into a phonograph horn. The Gramophone Company provided the expedition with two HMV Monarch gramophones and hundreds of 78 rpm records. The records were carefully selected: Enrico Caruso operas, Norwegian folk music, Clara Butt songs, comedy routines... Ponting placing the gramophone on a wooden crate in the snow to shoot this photo series was most likely in exchange for that sponsorship agreement. But these bright days were fleeting. When the Antarctic winter set in from May to August 1911, months of pitch-black darkness began. Captain Scott had the gramophone played only once a day, at a set time. The goal wasn't entertainment; it was to keep the biological clocks of 25 men on track throughout the dark winter. Captain Scott and four of his men lost their lives on the journey back from the South Pole. Ponting had originally prepared these photos to be used as slides for the public lectures Scott would give upon his triumphant return. That was the plan. Because Captain Scott and his four men perished, there were no victory speeches; those photos were used for mourning and remembrance instead. The expedition's photo archive is largely a tragedy. Chris provides one of the rare frames in this collection that makes you smile. ** National Library of New Zealand, Alexander Turnbull Library. Scanned from the book Les Grands Explorateurs. Note: Unfortunately, I couldn't find any verifiable information about the fate of the dogs (or Chris). Some sources claim they died, while others say Chris made it back.