History Today

Landscapes of Memory

Susan-Mary Grant argues that the cult of the fallen soldier has its origins at Gettysburg and other battlefield monuments of the American Civil War.

Portrait of a Ladies’ Man: Dr Samuel-Jean Pozzi

The enigmatic subject of a fine portrait by John Singer Sargent, Dr Samuel-Jean Pozzi dazzled the women of Paris in the late 19th century, including Sarah Bernhardt, and earned himself the nickname ‘the love doctor’. But he was also a respected surgeon and gynaecologist, soldier and politician, artist and collector. Caroline de Costa and Francesca Miller illuminate the life of this Renaissance man.

Seeing is Believing

Art historian and museologist Julian Spalding finds nothing to beat looking carefully at historic objects in their original surroundings.

Publish and be Damned

Cartoon historian Mark Bryant looks at the work of one artist who took on the power of Tammany Hall and won – and his protégé whose enemies resorted to drawing up legislation in their unsuccessful effort to muzzle him.

The King and the Craftsman

Few works of art are as closely linked to history as the gold salt cellar commissioned by Francis I of France in 1541 from the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini. Its theft three years ago from an Austrian art gallery is a major loss to world heritage as Robert Knecht explains.