Did you know

[edit] 11 August 2007
...that Ananthabhadram, a film by Indian director Santhosh Sivan, was inspired by classical Kathakali dancing and paintings of Raja Ravi Varma?
...that the Royal Fort (pictured) in Bristol was built with façades in Baroque, Palladian and Rococo styles because it was a compromise between the designs of three different architects?
...that Lil' Pimp was the first feature-length film to be created entirely with Macromedia Flash animation?
...that the world's tallest statue of Hindu God Lord Shiva (pictured) is located in Murudeshwara, a coastal town in Karnataka, India?
...that Henri Le Secq was a founding member of the short-lived, first ever photographic organization Société héliographique?
[edit] 31 March 2007
...that the Fenari Isa Mosque (pictured) in Istanbul represents one of the first examples of edifices with a quincuncial plan in Byzantine architecture?
...that according to the controversial Hockney-Falco thesis, the rise of realism in Renaissance art, such as Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, was largely due to the use of curved mirrors and other optical aids?
...that the 1957 film La Anam in 1996 was selected as one of the best Egyptian films in history by the Egyptian Film association?
...that Danish painter Carl-Henning Pedersen was known as the "Scandinavian Chagall"?
...that Fyodor Schechtel, the architect of Yaroslavsky Rail Terminal in Moscow, Russia, was expelled from his classes at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1878 for "bad attendance"?
[edit] 11 March 2007
...that chocolate box art (pictured) started in the late 19th century as box decorations, though the term 'chocolate box' is now used pejoratively to describe sentimental pictures?
...that the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut has architectural influences ranging from Byzantine to Romanesque architecture?
...that Polish painter and critic Józef Czapski was twice sent to the Soviet Union to find missing Polish officers who had been executed by the Soviets?
...that Kiev's Museum of Western and Oriental Art houses the largest collection of foreign art in Ukraine?
...that prominent Russian sculptor Fyodor Kamensky worked as a farmer in Florida?
[edit] 4 March 2007
...that the National Art Museum of Ukraine's (pictured) collections were first exhibited outside the country after it reached independence in 1991?

...that Saturn Devouring His Son, by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, was painted directly onto the wall of his house and never intended for public exhibition?

...that Derek Gardner became a leading British painter of marine subjects after retiring from a civil engineering career due to deafness?

...that the archaeological cave of Juxtlahuaca contains Mesoamerica's earliest sophisticated painted art, as well as its only known example of non-Maya deep cave art?

...that the Evangelist portraits of early medieval Gospel Books used compositions taken from the pagan author portraits of the Late Classical period?


[edit] 24 December 2005
…that the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a 416-page illuminated manuscript and masterpiece of the International Gothic style, has 300 decorated Initial letters?

…that in Chinese art the three Vinegar tasters are allegorical figures representing Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism?

…that a genetic defect prevented Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec from growing more than 1.5 m (5 ft) tall?

…that Giulio Romano, mentioned in The Winter's Tale, is the only Renaissance artist to feature in a play by William Shakespeare?

…that the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti had an obsession with wombats?


[edit] 23 September 2005
…that was the first professional African-American and Native American sculptor was Edmonia Lewis?

…that the sōsaku hanga (creative prints) art movement in early 20th century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, was helped to revitalize ukiyo-e by applying Western concepts of art to the traditional Japanese style?

…that Thomas Gainsborough painted The Blue Boy mainly to prove to his chief rival Joshua Reynolds that it was possible to use the color blue as the central color of a portrait?

…that many culturally significant sites of Australian Aboriginal art have been gradually desecrated and destroyed by encroachment of early settlers and modern-day visitors?

…that the original historical meaning of the word cartoon is a full-size drawing made on paper as a study for a further artwork?


[edit] 24 June 2005
…that syncretism between the cultures of Classical Greece and Buddhism between the 4th century BC and 7th century AD produced Greco-Buddhist art, which included the first visual representations of the Buddha?


BLAST literary magazine of the Vorticist movement…that Vorticism, considered to be the only significant British artistic movement of the early twentieth century, lasted less than three years?

…that cycloramas, a popular 19th century entertainment, were cylindrical paintings of picturesque views designed to provide a viewer, standing in the middle of the cylinder, with a 360° view of the painting?

…that Irving Stone, author of the 1961 biographical novel about Michelangelo, The Agony and the Ecstasy, learned to carve marble in preparation for his book?

…that Salvador Dalí designed the logo for Chupa Chups lollipops?


[edit] 9 June 2005
…that the remaining panels of Duccio’s masterpiece, the Maestà, are divided between five cities?

…that, because the lion is not native to China, many of the guardian lion sculptures outside Chinese imperial palaces are based on Pekingese dogs?

…that the French art thief Stephane Breitwieser was able to recall every one of the 239 artworks he stole, even interrupting the reading of his collection during his trial several times to correct details?

…that the media used by British artist Andy Goldsworthy include twigs, thorns, mud, snow, icicles and leaves?

…that James McNeill Whistler’s death was prematurely reported by a Dutch newspaper, causing Whistler to remark that reading his own obituary gave him “a tender glow of health”?


[edit] 4 June 2005
...that a physician has put forward the claim that background of the figure of God in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam is an anatomically accurate picture of the human brain?

...that Mahatma Gandhi once said that the British art critic John Ruskin had been the single greatest influence in his life?

...that in 1930 stamps depicting Goya's painting The Nude Maja were issued in Spain, but the United States government barred and returned any mail bearing the stamps?

...that the Art Institute of Chicago counts among its famous alumni Walt Disney, who failed to graduate, and Hugh Hefner, who took anatomy classes?

...that the derogatory term 'plop art' is used for uninspiring sculptures made for public places such as office plazas?


[edit] 8 February 2005
...that in 1832 Daumier served six months in prison for the publication of his cartoon depicting the king as Gargantua?


Hokusai color woodcut....that manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures". The word first came into common usage after the publication of the 19th century Hokusai Manga, containing assorted drawings from the sketchbook of the famous ukiyo-e artist Hokusai?

...that the Shilparatna is a South Indian text detailing the colors and combinations of paintings of painting in Dravidian mural painting?

...that ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia?

...that some art forgers have actually gained enough notoriety to become famous for their own right such as the works of Elmyr de Hory?