Portrait of a Canon Regular by Sofonisba Anguissola – credit, Robert Simon Fine Art A lost work by the most famous female artist of the Renaissance has surfaced at a North Carolina estate. The story of how Portrait of a Canon Regular was found begins in 1920 when it was photographed in black and white—before vanishing from … Read more
Mummy Portrait of a Man from Roman Egypt Flavian Period, circa late 1st century A.D. – Courtesy Sotheby’s Sotheby’s recently sold a painting of a man from Roman-controlled Egypt in the first century CE that experts suggest represents the dawn of realistic portraiture 1,200 years before it appeared in Italy. The image is part of … Read more
Schatborn, Peter. “Young Lion Resting” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 4th ed. via Sotheby’s Yesterday, Sotheby’s oversaw the record $18 million sale of a drawing by Rembrandt: one of 6 drafts he made of lions, and the only one to have resided in private hands. Those hands belong to Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan and … Read more
– credit, Aubert, Brumm, et al. The discovery of stylized handprints dating back at least 67,800 years in a limestone cave in Indonesia has broken the country’s own record for the world’s oldest-known example of rock art. It provides direct evidence that humans have been crossing the sea intentionally for nearly 70,000 years, as Man … Read more
Lois Jurgens says goodbye to her salt-glazed 30-gallon Red Wing crock, surrounded by creamy white zinc-glazed pots up for auction (Photo Permission from Bramer Auction and Realty) Like many elderly folks in the midwest whose families used stoneware crocks for sauerkraut, Lois Jurgens held onto one for 40 years. It sat on her porch weathering … Read more
Langton Hughes, whose book Not Without Laughter, entered the public domain on Jan 1st 2026 January 1st isn’t just New Years Day; there’s another little holiday wrapped up inside. It’s Public Domain Day: the moment when a year’s worth of literature, music, film, television, pop culture, poetry, and science enters the public domain and becomes … Read more
Flaviu Costin on Unsplash Singing has been linked to numerous benefits for health, wellbeing, disease resistance, and recovery from injury, but when singing in a group, these benefits are seen to be superior to those seen in solo singers. The research, though not new, still makes for a pretty darn good reason to join a … Read more
Bob Ross painting Cabin at Sunset – credit, screenshot via John Oliver’s Junk GNN reported recently that a Los Angeles auction house recently handled the sale of three paintings by the famous TV artist Bob Ross, with the proceeds of over $600,000 going to fund public television and radio. Inspired by the effort, HBO’s comedy … Read more
Sydney Jones in front of her Odd Commodity stall – credit, oddcommodityshop.com Car break-ins in the Bay Area are down, but not out. From each one of these ugly surprises, local artisan Sydney Jones creates a surprising amount of beauty. Using a kitchen-top kiln, she takes advantage of safety glass’ crystalline structure to quickly turn … Read more
Winter’s Peace by Bob Ross – credit Bonham’s Auctioneers, released Three works from Bob Ross’ classic public television show The Joy of Painting raised over half a million dollars for public television. Having relied for decades on endowment contributions and pledge drives of every tact and description, it was brilliant idea that puts a brilliant man … Read more