The Past and Future of Boucher’s Four Seasons

Sep 16, 2025

When François Boucher created a series of paintings known as The Four Seasons in 1755, agriculture in France was highly seasonal, just as it had been for millennia — since humans started cultivating crops, in fact. In good years, autumn would have seen a bounty of...

Vermeer and the Lost Art of Love Letters

Aug 20, 2025

Listen up, kids, this is how it worked: When an admirer decided to write to you, they’d take a sheet of paper, inscribe deep thoughts upon it, and mail it. A few days later, an envelope with your name on it would appear in the mailbox, like a gold nugget in a sandy...

Can Steve Martin Help Bring Visitors to the Frick Collection? 

Aug 5, 2025

As if a $220 million makeover weren’t enough, the Frick Collection in New York City has enlisted comedian Steve Martin to promote the newly reopened museum, which returned to its Fifth Avenue headquarters this spring. In a new video posted to the Frick’s...