History Gallery

Context: Maximilian was Holy Roman Emperor, who formed the Landsknecht after witnessing the ability of the Swiss Reisläufer pikemen, whom France had a monopoly over their service. These early standing armies under the leadership of generals such as Georg von Frundsberg achieved many military successes, although their reputation declined after the death of Frundsberg.

Context: This is one of five pieces, this particular tapestry is showing Spanish troops attacking the French cavalry during the Battle of Pavia.

You can see on of the front-lines, Landsknecht Doppelsöldners ("Double-Pay Men") who received extra pay for having the most dangerous position. They would use their position in front of the pikemen to fire arquebus or crossbows at the enemy.

Context: Saint Bernard and the Virgin is an oil painting by Spanish artist Alonso Cano (c. 1645–1652), depicting the Lactatio Bernardi miracle in which Bernard of Clairvaux receives milk from the Virgin Mary as a reward for his theological work. The painting is now held in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

The "Sappho" fresco is a 1st-century AD painting from Pompeii depicting a young woman holding a writing tablet and stylus, symbols of literacy and education in Roman society. Though 19th-century scholars speculated it portrayed the Greek poet Sappho, modern scholars believe it's simply an upper-class Pompeiian woman. Discovered in 1760, the fresco is now housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and notably inspired Chinese poet Shao Xunmei to take up poetry after he saw it in the early 1920s.