Renaissance

A lecture on the nervous system, by C. Bethmont, c.1860. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

A History of Phantom Pain

For centuries, scientists and philosophers used phantom limbs to unravel the secrets of the human mind. While we know phantom pain exists, we still don’t know why.

Ceiling of the Choir in St Maria del Popolo, Rome, by the deaf artist Bernardino di Betto, 15th century. Bridgeman Images.

Deaf Expression in Renaissance Art

Seen to be less capable because of their deafness, deaf artists in the Renaissance used their art as a powerful means of expression.

Violent Ends

Early modern methods of execution were carefully calculated to inflict shame upon the condemned.

Saving Face

The Renaissance face provided clues about the wealth and health of its owner. Those who had been disfigured were often mistreated, but to alter one’s appearance carried a stigma of its own.

Dolphins of the Belfiore

Does the intelligent sea mammal, long associated with Venus, the goddess of love, offer a clue to a lost jewel of the Renaissance?

The Chess Game (Portrait of the artist's sisters playing chess)

Was there a Women’s Renaissance?

We ask four historians whether the great advances of the Renaissance were extended to women.

Solving a Renaissance Murder Mystery

The most powerful family of Florence and the most powerful man in the world offer a new solution to one of the most notorious crimes of the age.

Murder at the Vatican

An unsolved Renaissance mystery casts light on the dark world of extortion, revenge and power politics at the heart of the Catholic Church.

Detail from Massacre of the Innocents, Guido Reni, 1611.

The conflicts that devastated Renaissance Europe were justified by ancient ideas rooted in natural law and Christianity. Though replaced by legal frameworks for the conduct of war between states, the killing continues.