Sporting Arts

Elk, Near Fremont Peak (1903)

Carl Rungius, One of the “Big Four,” at the NSLM, Middleburg, Virginia

More than a dozen years ago, I was on the trail of the German-born American…
roy mason
Roy Martell Mason (1886–1972)

The Ever-Disappearing Roy M. Mason

I can think of no sadder words for an artist, whether living or dead, in…
Shah Jahan introduced wearing green as camouflage.

Shikar:  Royal Hunts of the Mughal Empire.  In Miniature

Copenhagen is home to several wonderful smaller museums that started as the private collections of…
Portrait of Col. William F. Cody (1889), by Rosa Bonheur

When Rosa Bonheur Met Buffalo Bill 

That Picasso and Matisse knew each other, were even friends and often rivals, seems plausible…
By John James Audubon (1785–1851)

Five Babes, Five Birds

While my husband recalls his many years hunting lions and buffalo as a professional hunter…
This 14th c. manuscript shows a galleon as a banquet table centerpiece for kings.

Renaissance Robotic Art – A Mechanical Galleon and Clock

It’s likely my fascination with “automata,” or automatons, dates back to a New York City…
On Shed – As We Remember Them in the Last Days of Steam.

David Shepherd:  And There Were Also Trains

Artist David Shepherd (1931–2017) once said that he was attracted to all things “jumbo,” from…
Winter of '43, Somewhere in England

David Shepherd: Before Elephants, There Were Aircraft

David Shepherd’s is a well-rehearsed life in its telling. The same tales oft repeated and…
Horse Surprised by a Lion, ca. 1850

Barye Bronzes to Visit the NSL&M in Middleburg, Virginia

by Brooke Chilvers I wish I could say the larger-than-life lions in front of Manhattan’s…
Stevens-Pope in three volumes, by Warren Greatbatch and Tom Rowe. The books are massive, the photography wonderful, and the information enough to satisfy the most voracious lover of single-shot rifles.

Big Books. Big Big Books.

Some years ago, at a cocktail party connected with one of the big gun shows,…
The kings derived power from wearing jaguar pelts.

Mayan Jaguar Kings – divided we fall…

With all I’ve learned in life, it seems I never knew that by the time…
Dog Painting (1840–1940), a social history of the dog in art.

William Secord and Dogs in Art

Finally, it’s happening.  We are getting out of town in winter to go birdwatching in…