Bronze doors, 1015, commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael's, Hildesheim (Germany). A conversation with Dr. Nancy Ross and Jennifer Freeman. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Met curator Seán Hemingway on the purity of love in Bronze statue of Eros sleeping from Greece’s Hellenistic Period, 3rd–2nd century B.C.E. The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible. He is clearly based on firsthand observation. The support on which the god rests is a modern addition, but the work originally would have had a separate base, most likely of stone. This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from the large number of extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and, especially, Roman times. In the Roman period, Sleeping Eros statues decorated villa gardens and fountains. Their function in the Hellenistic period is less clear. They may have been used as dedications within a sanctuary of Aphrodite or possibly may have been erected in a public park or private, even royal, garden.

Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, c. 1545, oil on panel, 146.1 x 116.2 cm (National Gallery, London) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker.

Bushel with ibex motifs, 4200--3500 B.C.E., Susa I period, necropolis, acropolis mound, Susa, Iran, painted terra-cotta, 28.90 x 16.40 cm, excavations led by Jacques de Morgan, 1906-08 (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker.

Evan and Anne discuss a Byzantine depiction of a griffin, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. 2000.81). CC BY 4.0.

Evan Freeman, PhD and Anne McClanan, PhD discuss a Byzantine mosaic of a personification of Ktisis/Foundation, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. 1999.99). CC BY 4.0.

Harbaville Triptych, mid-10th century, Constantinople, ivory with traces of polychromy, 28.2 x 24.2 x 1.2 cm (Musée du Louvre) A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Smarthistory.

Camel, first half of the 12th century, fresco transferred to canvas, from San Baudelio de Berlanga, Spain (Met Cloisters, New York) speakers: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Smarthistory.

Capital of a column from the audience hall of the palace of Darius I, Susa, c. 510 B.C.E., Achaemenid, Tell of the Apadana, Susa, Iran (Louvre). Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Steven Zucker and Beth Harris.

4th-3rd century B.C.E. bronze, 69 cm (Capitoline Museums, Rome. Speakers; Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Capitoline Venus, 2nd century C.E., marble, 193 cm (Capitoline Museums, Rome) (Roman copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos, a 4th century B.C.E. Greek original by Praxiteles) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. More art history videos on smarthistory.org.

Business, art, and the American West. Carleton E. Watkins, Eagle Creek, Columbia River, 1867, albumen silver print, 40.01 × 52.39 cm (LACMA) A conversation with Elizabeth Gerber and Beth Harris. A Seeing America video. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

Weems confronts identity, family, and the myth of home in this iconic series of photographs. Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Woman Feeding Bird), The Kitchen Table Series, 1990, gelatin silver print (printed 2015), 27.94 x 27.94 cm © Carrie Mae Weems (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) Speakers: Lauren Haynes, Curator, Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Steven Zucker. A Seeing America video. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

"There is no open road here." George Tooker, Highway, 1953, egg tempera on gesso hardboard, 58.1 x 45.4 cm (Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.134 © Estate of George Tooker). Created by Beth Harris, Smarthistory, and Steven Zucker. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

Watch a sculptor demonstrate the use of traditional tools—such as the tooth chisel, the point chisel, the drill, and the rasp—as he creates a finished figure from a block of marble. Created by Getty Museum.

The naked and the nude have been frequent subjects for art throughout the history of human creation, and also the frequent subject of censorship. What's wrong with seeing the unclothed human body? And what is its place in art?

Sampling, appropriating, borrowing, stealing. Whatever you want to call it, artists have been copying since time immemorial. We look into the history of the practice, and share our theories of why it is done, and what it can offer us.

The powerful and privileged have hoarded precious artifacts in museums for centuries, and it's only recently that these treasures were made available to the rest of us. What purpose did museums serve? And why does every city have one today?

These challenging paintings visually separate indigenous Americans from the Spanish elite; most were exported. Francisco Clapera, Set of Sixteen Casta paintings, c. 1775, 51.1 x 39.6 cm (Denver Art Museum). Speakers: Sabina Kull, Meyer Center Fellow, Denver Art Museum and Beth Harris. Find learning related resources here: https://smarthistory.org/seeing-america-2/

Adriaen de Vries, a 17th century Dutch sculptor, often used "direct lost-wax casting." Because the wax is "lost," each bronze cast is unique. If the casting fails, the sculptor begins again. Created by Getty Museum.