Art of History
Episodes
Free as a Verb: Art, Speech, and Conflict in Antebellum America
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What did “free speech” mean before the Civil War...and what did it cost? Today, I'm exploring how Americans have debated the meaning of liberty th...
The New Modern: The Post-Impressionists
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the final installment of our Impressionism primer, we meet the artists who broke away from light and surface to paint something deeper. From Van G...
The Real Venus: Simonetta Vespucci (presenting ArtMuse Podcast)
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this feed swap episode with ArtMuse, host Grace Anna dives into the life of Simonetta Vespucci: the Genoese noblewoman often credited as the muse f...
Breaking the Frame: Rise of the Impressionists
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Part 2 of our Impressionism series, we leave the floating world of Japan behind and step into the bustling studios, salons, and sun-drenched riverb...
Influencing the Impressionists: Hokusai’s Great Wave
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before Monet painted water lilies or Degas sketched ballerinas, a wave was crashing in from the East. In this episode, we explore how Japanese woodblo...
Mme. Tussaud, Witness to the Revolution (with Gavin Whitehead)
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, the host and producer of The Art of Crime, Gavin Whitehead, joins us to explore the fascinating life of Madame Tussaud. Know...
Lucrezia Borgia: Art, Power, and Legacy
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1501, Lucrezia Borgia—daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI—briefly ruled the Vatican in his absence, a moment as shocking then as it is n...
The Fall of Icarus: A Myth Reframed
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus reimagines Ovid's Metamorphoses, transforming the myth of Icarus into a meditation on hum...
Art Bite: Queen or Cake?
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by The Rainbow Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I at Hatfield Park, an extravagant cake was recently unveiled by Emma Jayne Cake Design, for Cake ...
Darkness and Desire: Witchcraft in Art
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Witchcraft has captivated the imagination of society for centuries, and is today viewed as an enigmatic symbol of limitless power and feminine agency....
Madame X, Unveiled
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The story behind John Singer Sargent’s iconic painting, Portrait of Madame X, rarely focuses on on the life of its subject, Virginie Amélie Avegno ...
In the Margins of History: Washington & Slavery
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
George Washington was many things: general, president, family man, and slaveholder. This giant of American history had a complex relationship with the...
J.C. Leyendecker: The Making of American Manhood
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artist and illustrator J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1951) helped shape modern American visual culture as the mind behind advertising campaigns like the lege...
History Daily: The Discovery of China’s Terracotta Army & The Execution of King Louis XVI
15 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm on vacation, and I hope you'll get some time away soon, too! Our featured podcast today is one that you'll 100% want to listen to on your summer t...
Art Bite: King Charles' New Royal Portrait
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The internet has been ablaze with hot takes on King Charles III's brand-new royal portrait by British artist Jonathan Yeo. Does it depict a strong, ca...
Portrait of a Woman: Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (with Bridget Quinn)
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749–1803) rose from shopkeeper’s daughter to an official portraitist of the French royal court—only to have her achi...
Double Agent: Chevalier d'Éon
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Chevalier d'Éon (1728–1810) is known as a transgender icon, living the first half of their life as a man, and the second as a woman. Theirs is ...
Aina: The Forgotten Princess
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did the daughter of an African ruler become goddaughter to Queen Victoria? A young black girl named Aina, later called Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843–...
The Death of Lady Jane
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the tragic demise of Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554) serving as inspiration for countless works of art, it was hard to select just one to focus our at...
The Other Side: Women Artists and the Spirit World
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda is joined on the podcast for this special episode by Jennifer Higgie, author of The Other Side: A Story of Women in Art and the Spirit World. ...
Unheard Melodies: Hildegard von Bingen
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At age 42, a nun named Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) decided to heed the command—which she believed came from God—to write down that which she ...
Joséphine: More than a Queen
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It may have been easy for Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814) to scoff at the “extraordinary destiny” once promised to her by a fortune-teller. ...
Art History Horror Story: The Nightmare
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) was the man behind one of art history’s most famous spooky paintings: ‘The Nightmare.’ But how much do yo...
Eighth Wonder, Vanished: The Amber Room
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Last seen in 1945, the Amber Room is the world’s most valuable missing piece of art, valued as highly as $500 million. Looted by the Nazis after Ope...
Cities of Women: Christine de Pizan with Dr. Kathleen B. Jones
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Kathleen B. Jones joins us on the podcast to discuss not only her new book, CITIES OF WOMEN, but also to dive into the life of literary and artist...
Art Bite: Thomas Cromwell's Book of Hours
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When historians first made the link between a book of hours at Trinity College, Cambridge and two others belonging to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Bol...
Art Bite: Anne of Cleves' House
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Divorced, beheaded, died... divorced... A house connected to Anne of Cleves (1515-1557), Henry VIII's fourth wife, is currently on the market! Let's d...
Just Another American Fable: Grant Wood
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Grant Wood (1891-1942) is probably best known for his double portrait depicting a man and woman on a farmstead - that icon of American painting, Ameri...
Art Bite: A New Portrait of Henry VIII's Final Queen
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m so excited to be bringing you the first of a NEW offering on the Art of History podcast! 🎉 These “Art Bites,” as I’m calling them, wi...
Silence is So Accurate: Mark Rothko & Abstract Expressionism
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was at the forefront of a generation of American artists who revolutionized the scene, right down to the way we understand the...
Romantic Getaway: Gèricault's Raft of the Medusa
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite his short life, French painter Thèodore Gèricault (1791-1824) is remembered of one of the giants of art history. In his evocative masterpiec...
Genius Has No Sex: Rosa Bonheur
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marie-Rosalie, or Rosa, Bonheur (1822-1899) has been lauded as the most celebrated woman artist of her time. Her breathtaking animal paintings showcas...
The Baroque Bearded Lady: Magdalena Ventura
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, gender is largely understood as a fluid concept. And while an increasingly loud minority insist that "men are men and women are women," and tha...
Death of Cleopatra - Edmonia Lewis, Pt. 2
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Part II of Edmonia Lewis' story takes us for a closer look at her masterpiece: the 1876 sculpture, 'Death of Cleopatra.' In an echo of Edmonia’s app...
History Daily: The Accident that Changed King Henry VIII & The Death of Queen Elizabeth I
07 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Art of History, I am beyond thrilled to bring you two episodes of a show that has quickly become a staple in my daily podcast listening: Hist...
Forever Free - Edmonia Lewis, Pt. 1
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907) was history’s first internationally recognized sculptor of African American and Native American descent, and (as you might...
Family Matters: Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ilya Repin (1844-1930) was one of Russia’s leading realist painters, known for his evocative portrayals of 19th-century working conditions. He was a...
Ghosts at the Palace
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two things are true of history podcasts: Everyone loves a bit of Tudor History, and everyone loves a good ghost story. Today, we explore a bit of both...
Who ARTed: Han van Meegeren
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode comes to you courtesy of Kyle Wood, host of an art podcast that fans of Art of History NEED to have on their radar. Who ARTed brings you ...
Art is Political: The “Degenerate” Art Exhibition
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
85 years ago, a groundbreaking art exhibition was held in Munich. It showcased the work of 120 artists, many of these internationally renowned moderni...
Flower Power: Tulipmania and Those who Painted It
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tulipmania has stuck in our collective memory as one of the biggest economic calamities to ever strike the western world. The popular narrative holds ...
HRH The Duchess of Baltimore
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (1785-1879) was one of America’s first international celebrities and self-made women. But how did this Baltimore girl ...
The Man and His Muse
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) is considered one of American’s greatest modern artists. His works combine a regionalist simplicity with a surrealist view ...
Spring in Her Step
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sandro Botticelli (c.1455-1510) is credited as the man behind some of the greatest mythological paintings in Western art history—a great feat, espec...
Elizabeth: The Early Years
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, I put my art history degree to good use (finally) as we discuss a lesser-known portrait of Elizabeth I as she appeared late in the re...
A Call to Arms
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode has everything: snakes, missing limbs, a true crime case, and sculptor Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni being annoyed. Today’...
The Real Queen Charlotte
12 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The depiction of Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) as a woman of color in the Netflix series Bridgerton brought her to the forefront of a conversation about...
A Swing Called Love
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s (1732-1806) painting The Swing is an icon of the Rococo era and a widely-celebrated depiction of innocent, carefree leisure...
Mr. Lincoln, I Presume?
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1872, Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) visited the photography studio of one William H. Mumler (1832-1884), who claimed to be able to capture images o...
Becoming Joan
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jules Bastien-Lepage's life-size depiction of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) shows her at the very beginning of her journey to sainthood. But a lot happened ...
The Life of Dido
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the mid-1770s, the Earl of Mansfield (1705-1793) commissioned a portrait of his two great-nieces, Elizabeth Murray (1760-1825) and Dido Belle (1761...
Who Tells Your Story?
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) was a giant of the French Revolution. I guess you could say that one thing led to another, though, and he ended up dead in...
(Queen) Victoria's Secret
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our popular image of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) paints her as a monarch, a mother, a wife, and a widow. But today we are looking at a portrait of Vict...
Introducing the Art of History Podcast!
22 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Join me for episodes from history, viewed through great works of art. No pre-reqs required! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/amanda-mat...