Arts

Art of History

by Amanda Matta

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Latest episodes

Free as a Verb: Art, Speech, and Conflict in Antebellum America

September 26, 2025 · 44 min

What did “free speech” mean before the Civil War...and what did it cost? Today, I'm exploring how Americans have debated the meaning of liberty through words, images, and even violence beginning with Samuel Jennings’s 1792 painting…
The New Modern: The Post-Impressionists

August 29, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min

In the final installment of our Impressionism primer, we meet the artists who broke away from light and surface to paint something deeper. From Van Gogh’s turbulent skies to Gauguin’s mythic Tahitian scenes, Cézanne’s geometric still…
The Real Venus: Simonetta Vespucci (presenting ArtMuse Podcast)

July 17, 2025 · 1 hr 23 min

In this feed swap episode with ArtMuse, host Grace Anna dives into the life of Simonetta Vespucci: the Genoese noblewoman often credited as the muse for Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Hailed as the most beautiful woman in…
Breaking the Frame: Rise of the Impressionists

June 12, 2025 · 51 min

In Part 2 of our Impressionism series, we leave the floating world of Japan behind and step into the bustling studios, salons, and sun-drenched riverbanks of 19th-century France. This time, we meet the artists who dared to defy the rules…
Influencing the Impressionists: Hokusai’s Great Wave

May 8, 2025 · 41 min

Before Monet painted water lilies or Degas sketched ballerinas, a wave was crashing in from the East. In this episode, we explore how Japanese woodblock prints—especially Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’—reshaped the way Western…

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Mme. Tussaud, Witness to the Revolution (with Gavin Whitehead)

March 27, 2025 · 1 hr 20 min

In this special episode, the host and producer of The Art of Crime, Gavin Whitehead, joins us to explore the fascinating life of Madame Tussaud. Known for founding the world-renowned wax museum, Tussaud’s story intersects with the…
Lucrezia Borgia: Art, Power, and Legacy

February 28, 2025 · 1 hr 23 min

In 1501, Lucrezia Borgia—daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI—briefly ruled the Vatican in his absence, a moment as shocking then as it is now. But how did she gain this rare position of power? And how does Frank Cadogan Cowper’s…
The Fall of Icarus: A Myth Reframed

January 30, 2025 · 1 hr 13 min

Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus reimagines Ovid's Metamorphoses, transforming the myth of Icarus into a meditation on human indifference and folly. This episode unpacks how Bruegel intertwines visual…
Art Bite: Queen or Cake?

November 28, 2024 · 30 min

Inspired by The Rainbow Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I at Hatfield Park, an extravagant cake was recently unveiled by Emma Jayne Cake Design, for Cake International 2024. Learn the secrets of this enthralling portrait and its cake twin on…
Darkness and Desire: Witchcraft in Art

October 31, 2024 · 55 min

Witchcraft has captivated the imagination of society for centuries, and is today viewed as an enigmatic symbol of limitless power and feminine agency. But this wasn’t always the case. Through art, we can track how witches, once considered…
Madame X, Unveiled

September 19, 2024 · 1 hr 37 min

The story behind John Singer Sargent’s iconic painting, Portrait of Madame X, rarely focuses on on the life of its subject, Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. A prominent Parisian socialite known for her striking beauty, Amélie's story…
In the Margins of History: Washington & Slavery

August 14, 2024 · 1 hr 42 min

George Washington was many things: general, president, family man, and slaveholder. This giant of American history had a complex relationship with the enslaved—and often invisible—laborers who made his achievements possible. But through…

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About the show

Episodes from history, viewed through great works of art. No pre-reqs required! New episodes every month. Hosted by Amanda Matta, art historian and TikTok's favorite royal commentator.