Look but Don't Touch

Probably inspired by the Mona Lisa, the great renaissance artist Raphael painted this portrait of a young woman, but why is she holding a mythical beast in her hands?

With all the religious wars, the 17th century was a tense time in Europe. And in art one theme caught everyone’s imagination: the Virgin Mary.

Christian philosophy is based on two abstract and complex concepts, but art can simplify them: Paradise, where everything was good and is lost, and Hell, which is so scary that no one wants to go there. And in between there is…us!

The painter Artemisia Gentileschi was rediscovered in the 1970s by pioneers of gender studies in art. A simple question arose: why are so few great masters women?

Did you know that the word digital comes from the Latin "digitalis" which means "the size of a finger"? We use it to talk about the digital world, because in the old days we used to count with our fingers! But what has this got to do with Leonardo da Vinci’s St John the Baptist?

In 2010, the Louvre Museum launched an appeal for donations to raise 1 million euros to buy a work by Cranach, which had previously been locked away in a private collection. The poor thing... Fortunately, many people responded to the appeal, so everything went well for her. Lucky her!

Does Jacques Louis David’s painting of the Spartans contain a hint of homoeroticism?

Martyr usually meet grisly ends and Saint Agatha is no exception: According to legend her breasts were cut off with pliers as a torture.

Goya died old, deaf and somewhat forgotten, but he was a pioneering artist of his time and a precursor to the artistic revolution of the 19t century.

From The Birth of Venus to sensual shampoo ads, it seems as if everyone has always been excited by the image of a wet woman... How weird is that?

Is Saint Thomas' touching of Jesus' wounds homoerotic?

The painter explores the sensuality of the encounter between Leda and Jupiter

Is this an episode about Catholic saints or BDSM? Maybe... both?

Hercules is known as an allegory of strength and virility. But his love life doesn't quite match up to that

The Sistine Chapel could have looked very different...

Depictions of nude women can be objectifying and insulting. But Venus is perhaps more inclusive than she looks

Olympia is a classic Venus with a 19th century twist: she's a prostitute

The painting that caused a scandal

A famous image that at first glance looks totally innocent, but is in actual fact full of innuendo

Representations of Diana in art are a contradictory mix of fantasy and repulsion.