The Early Modern Commons

Alberti's Window

Recent Posts

Formal Elements and Personality

19 September 2023

It’s the beginning of the school quarter, and I’m interested in knowing what formal elements have an impact on my students. I’m really influenced by the composition of a work...

“Our Daily Bread” and Brazil

10 August 2022

Anna Bella Geiger, “Our Daily Bread (O Pão Nosso de Cada Dia),” 1978. Six postcards and screenprint on paper bag mounted on card. Tate Modern I recently returned from helping to...

Van Eyck Brothers as “Just Judges”

22 April 2022

Earlier this week I discovered a new(ish) Smarthistory video about Karel Van Mander, an early 17th-century biographer of painters who is sometimes referred to as the “Northern Vasari.”...

Ansel Adams, Structure, and Music

22 February 2022

Ansel Adams. The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. 1942. Image via Wikipedia, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration Earlier last week,...