Art history - Getty Images

Art history

Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian, by Jacob Marrel, 1679 (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Maria Sibylla Merian: the artist who challenged the natural world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William Hogarth, seen in a self-portrait with his pug

William HogarthThe satirical artist inspired by the teachings of the Bible. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval manuscript makers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Josiah Wedgwood: the radical father of English pottery. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Daniel Lambert in a 19th-century painting

Super-sized Georgians: why satirists were fixated with fatness. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wedgwood: the radical potter. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Should they stand or fall? The great statue debate. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Napoleon portrait by Jacques-Louis David shows is perhaps the most famous painting of the French emperor with one hand tucked out of sight

Why do Napoleon’s portraits often show him with one hand inside his shirt? The story of the French emperor’s missing hand…

Hogarth: the chronicler of the 18th century. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Photo by Alamy)

Ravenna: from Roman powerhouse to artistic hub. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William Blake: “artist or genius, or mystic, or madman”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Painting the Tudors: Hans Holbein the Younger. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Napoleon the art thief. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Zdeněk Burian’s painting from 1952 offers a sympathetic portrayal of Neanderthals practising cannibalism. Self-assurance, even contentment, emanate from “It appears as a calm response to death, rather than murderous carnage,” writes Rebecca Wragg Sykes. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Neanderthal in the mirror: our changing perceptions of these ancient humans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Drawing of an old and young man, possibly Salai, by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci’s private relationships: what's known?

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

Leonardo & Michelangelo: rivalry and inspiration

Leonardo da Vinci’s full-scale cartoon drawing of Isabella d’Este

Leonardo da Vinci's patrons: the people who paid for the masterpieces

Salt cellar with Neptune and Tellus by Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto CelliniHow the 'bad boy' sculptor gives us a fresh perspective on the Renaissance. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci's paintings: a guide to 8 famous works

Da Vinci's sketch 'The Vitruvian Man'. Da Vinci's talents ranged from anatomy to military engineering, and many of his innovations were not explored further for several centuries. (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

Your guide to Leonardo da Vinci: his life, inventions and milestones in his career

500 years of women’s self-portraits. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michelangelo was a Renaissance sculptor, painter and visionary. This 17th-centruy portrait was completely shortly after his death

Your guide to Renaissance sculptor and painter Michelangelo

Cellini: the “supreme scoundrel of the Renaissance”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of a 17th century plague doctor

Fake historyHunting down false facts about the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Formidable dynasties of the Italian Renaissance. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Madame Tussaud's exhibition at Baker Street, London. But who was her first waxwork? (Photo by Bettmann, via Getty Images)

Q&AWho was Madame Tussaud’s first waxwork?

Actor Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster in James Whale's classic 1931 film

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: the birth of a gothic monster

The Persian empire: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.