Art history and art travel guides
Learn to read art, one work at a time.
Most art writing gives you too much or too little. The Art Newbie gives you the part that matters: what you are looking at, why it was made, and what to notice when you stand in front of it. Every term is explained, and nothing is called unmissable unless it is.
Everything on this page has a guide.
The two sections
Two ways in
Art History
The story of art, one question at a time.
Periods, works and ideas in plain English. Every term is explained the first time it appears, so you can start anywhere.
Art Travel
Where the art is now, and how to see it well.
The museums, the monuments and the routes, with how long you need and what to look at first.
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Ancient RomeWhy Does the Pantheon Have a Hole in Its Roof?
The Pantheon's dome is unreinforced concrete and has stood since about 126 CE. How does a roof with a hole stay up?
Ancient RomeHow Did Roman Emperors Use Art as Propaganda?
From Augustus onwards, Roman emperors used portraits, coins, arches and columns to show themselves as victors and gods.
Ancient GreeceHow Did the Riace Bronzes End Up on the Sea Floor?
Two Greek bronze warriors lay in shallow water off Calabria. Who made them, and what were they doing on a ship?
Ancient GreeceThe Erechtheion Breaks Every Rule of Greek Temples. Why?
The Parthenon next door is the model of Greek order. Why did the same city build the Erechtheion so differently?
Ancient GreeceThe First Games at Olympia Date to 776 BCE. Or Do They?
Tradition dates the first Olympic Games to 776 BCE, but the victor list that gives that date was compiled centuries later.
Ancient GreeceDelphi Was the Centre of the World, According to the Greeks
The world's centre sat on a mountain slope; its fame rested on the Pythia, whose answers for Apollo were famously ambiguous.
Ancient GreeceThe Parthenon Was a Church and a Mosque Before It Was a Ruin
The Parthenon is a ruin by accident, not age: its roof survived until the explosion of 1687.
Ancient Greece