one art historian puts it, "a lesson in the frailty of earthly glory and a suggestion that even death brought no repose." When we get to the Renaissance, individual professional pride rears its head.

On May 6, 1527, Rome fell. The once-great city, filled with Renaissance art, architecture, and learning, was ravaged. Churches were defiled, priests slain, and nuns violated. Soldiers looted homes ...

In the pantheon of Renaissance art, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa ... but a nuanced representation of a woman’s journey through triumph and tragedy. Similarly, Kulski highlights the portrait ...