TheCollector
A Top Authority On Art, Artists, Ancient History & Collecting For Art Enthusiasts, Scholars & Collectors.
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Latest posts
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What Was Jean Dubuffet’s Vision of Outsider Art?
Jean Dubuffet was a prolific French artist and a promoter of Outsider art—art created by untrained artists in isolation from the art world and its actors. Inspired by the psychiatrists of his time, he studied and collected the works of asylum patients, arranged their shows, and…
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How Ndebele Women Created One of Africa’s Most Iconic Art Forms
Southern African Ndebele art has become an iconic part of the region’s ethnic landscape and a common motif in South African art. With bold, vivid shapes and designs, it adds a unique dimension to a colorful landscape of art and culture. The Historical Trauma Behind Ndebele Mural…
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The Terrifying Viking Ritual That Might Have Been a Total Myth
If you have watched the History Channel’s Vikings, you know the scene: the victim is executed by having their lungs removed to create a pair of bloody wings. Sources for the Viking Age describe this gruesome execution ritual known as the Blood Eagle. However, it is less clear…
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7 Best Museums for Renaissance Art Around the World
The Renaissance was a remarkable historical period in Europe, and its most visible heritage lies undoubtedly in the arts. The era spanned from 1400 to 1600 AD, a time when painters across Italy and Northern Europe ditched the flat artistic style of the Middle Ages and began…
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7 Best Museums to Learn About British History
Britain’s history runs deeper and more complex than most, stretching from Roman legions on Hadrian’s Wall through Saxon kings, Tudor courts, the rise of a global empire, the smoke-stacked industrial age, two world wars, and the modern Commonwealth. While finding one museum to…
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Why the Inca Empire Collapsed So Quickly to Francisco Pizarro
The Inca Empire, also known as Tawantinsuyu, was once one of the world’s largest empires by sheer size, spanning about 2,500 miles. It covered what are now parts of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Within a few decades, the empire was gone. The most productive…
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The Philosophy of Justin Martyr and the Origin of Christian Apologetics
Born in the early 100s in what is now Palestine to Greek parents, Justin sought to find God through various philosophies, including Stoicism and Platonism, until a seaside conversation with an older man opened his eyes to Christianity. Justin had been searching for truth through…
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The Ordinary Lives of the Old Babylonian Period with Amanda Podany (PODCAST)
Nearly 4,000 years ago, people in Mesopotamia used clay tablets to write letters, make business agreements, discuss family matters, and record the details of daily life. Thousands of those tablets have survived, giving us an unusually detailed perspective on ordinary people who…
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Inside El Castillo, the Chichen Itza Pyramid Hiding a Shadow Serpent
El Castillo is an ancient Mayan Temple situated in the Chichen Itza complex, in the Yucatan peninsula. Its name means “The Castle” in Spanish, and it is also often known as “The Pyramid of Kukulcan.” The entire site of Chichen Itza is one of the modern seven wonders of the…
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The Bloody Truce That Split Ireland in Two
Ireland’s division between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland is the result of revolution, compromise, and unresolved conflict. Although often treated as inevitable, partition emerged from a specific historical moment. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 formalized the…
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How Viking Berserkers Used Rituals to Prepare for Battle
The Vikings had a reputation in Medieval Europe as strong, ferocious, and bloodthirsty warriors. But among the Vikings, there was an elite group of warriors considered more ferocious than the rest: the Berserkers. Believed to fight with the spirit of wild animals, they were…
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Why Were Tens of Millions of American Bison Hunted to Near Extinction?
Millions of Bison roamed the American Great Plains in the early 19th century. They were an essential part of the ecosystem and a tremendous resource for thousands of Indigenous people. However, as the century progressed, the bison herd collapsed in a catastrophic way—and it was…
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The Four Brothers Who Tore the Angevin Empire Apart
Known as the Devil’s Brood, Henry the Young King, Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey of Brittany and “Bad King John” were legitimate sons of Henry II, one of the most powerful monarchs of medieval Europe. The Angevin Empire, carved out by their father, extended beyond the previous…
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Why Did Guy Fawkes Try to Blow Up Parliament?
In October 1605, through an anonymous letter the English government learned of a conspiracy, later known as the Gunpowder Plot, aiming to blow up the Palace of Westminster, the meeting place of English Parliament. A subsequent search of the palace’s cellar led to an alarming…
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Why Henry the Young King Was a King in Name Only
This article examines the life of Henry the Young King, the only monarch in English history since 1066 to be crowned in his father’s lifetime. His father, Henry II, granted no lands or power to his son, leaving him with an empty title and no ability to establish himself as an…
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How Did Katherine Johnson Break Barriers to Land the First Humans on the Moon?
Katherine Johnson worked at NASA for over three decades and, despite the discrimination she faced because of her race and gender, proved herself a trailblazer and a key figure in missions such as Apollo 11. Her work was groundbreaking, as was the work of her fellow Black female…
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Why Did Renaissance Masters Paint Rainbow Gradients On Angel Wings?
Brilliant colors seen in Renaissance art helped viewers separate the mortal from the immortal, the fantastical from the ordinary. The Medieval use of colors, compared with the Renaissance, reflects changes in style, new techniques, and materials. These differences would help…
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Forgotten Details of the Devastating 1675 War That Shattered Early New England
Beginning in 1675 and lasting a little over a year, King Philip’s War destroyed settlements in what would later become Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine. A Native confederacy led by Metacom, also known as King Philip, would face off against English settlers in…
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7 Unstoppable Generals Who Redrew the Map of the World
Tactical brilliance wins skirmishes, but true strategic mastery permanently redraws borders and rewrites history. Across two millennia, figures like Julius Caesar, Subutai, and Georgy Zhukov did not merely defeat opposing armies; they collapsed empires and forged entirely new…
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The Evolution of Abstract Art: From Cave Paintings to Minimalism
Abstract art became popular in the early 20th century and gradually transformed, developing new meanings and contexts over time. Some art historians believe that, in a way, abstract art has always been present. They think that it can be surprisingly discovered in ancient cave…