Before Muybridge's experiments on the movement of the horse, artists still portrayed the horse's body totally extended during gallop. Photography corrected this error, so characteristic of many canvases of the day.

To attain the level of technical skill they sought, Renaissance painters did everything in their power to hide the texture of their canvas.

They did so by covering it over with a white coat of paint, then polishing it. In fact, painters even undertook the delicate task of rendering any and all trace of the paintbrush virtually [Read more]

Although his love of nature and animal species is indisputable, John James Audubon employed very particular methods to realize his imposing work on the bird specimens of America.

First, he killed the birds he wished to represent using a lead shot, so as not to damage them. Afterward, he would stage their corpses with wire, enabling him to [Read more]

Chiaroscuro is an effect, in painting or drawing, which involves the use of very dark and very light colors to create contrasts. Highly appreciated in particular by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Giorgione, this process enables the various tones to give more relief and depth to the work.

During the 11th century, Cistercian monks were forbidden from making colored stained-glass windows, which, according to some, drove people to admire more the beauty of the churches than their sacred character. Far from losing heart, they elaborated instead an entirely transparent art, remarkable for its decorative effects and complex [Read more]

The violence and horror found in certain comic strips during the first half of the 20th century led authorities to study the potential danger of these works as regards delinquency and crime.

In 1954, the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency began an investigation into the issue, which obliged comic strip publishers to [Read more]