Portraiture: Did you mean...?

Coin portraits in particular show how Cleopatra wanted to be presented. Though varied in their facial features, her portraits emphasize her position of power as Ptolemaic queen. Sculptural portrait attributed to Cleopatra (Gregorian Profane...

Ancient portraits of Cleopatra depict her assertive, but certainly not unattractive features. The wide royal headband (diadēma) and traditional wavy coiffure express her sovereignty based on her Lagid descent. Silver tetradrachm struck...

Roman sculpture blended the idealised perfection of Classical Greek sculpture with a greater aspiration for realism. It also absorbed artistic preferences and styles from the East to create images in stone and bronze which rank among the...

Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532-1625) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cremona who achieved considerable fame during her lifetime as the first widely-known female artist. She was invited by the Habsburg King Philip II of Spain (reign...

Elephants were thought of as fierce and frightful monsters in antiquity, very real though rarely seen until the Hellenistic period. They were deployed on the battlefield to strike terror into the enemy, however, since fear was considered...

Capturing in paint for all time the faces of particular people has been an endeavour of artists for millennia. In this gallery, we present in chronological sequence a series of 40 portraits, from antiquity to modern times, a sequence which...

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a French impressionist painter who transformed modern art with his emphasis on light brushstrokes, bright colours, and uncluttered nature. Famed for his landscapes and series of paintings that captured the same...

Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441 CE) was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter who was famous in his own lifetime for his mastery of oil painting, colouring, naturalistic scenes, and eye for detail. Amongst his masterpieces are the 1432 CE Ghent...

Byzantine art (4th - 15th century CE) is generally characterised by a move away from the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards the more abstract and universal, there is a definite preference for two-dimensional representations, and...

The art of the Carthaginians was an eclectic mix of influences and styles, which included Egyptian motifs, Greek fashion, Phoenician gods, and Etruscan patterns. Precious metals, ivory, glass, terracotta, and stone were transformed into highly...