In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato  explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with th...

Island of the Dead , 1880, oil on wood, Arnold Böcklin “You will be mourned by myself, and others you will mourn, and by your presence, you ...

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with the...

Aeolipile (steam blower), South German, Augsburg, or Bohemian, Prague (Czech Republic), ca. 1590-1600, bronze with dark patina, silver After...

San Lorenzo, ora pro nobis Unable to sleep, last night I crept into the backyard with a glass of absinthe and looked toward the heavens. The...

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with the...

A Sphinx from Villa San Michele, Capri The enduring image of the sphinx has long stirred the imagination, appearing in the haunting works o...

The Forge of Vulcan , ca. 1660, Luca Giordano Beneath Etna’s ancient slopes Burned the hidden forge of      Hephaestus, Divine smith of gods...

A European (skull) mount of a buck,  recalling the Buck Moon and the ancient symbolism of renewal Udremo a notte le sue lunghe muggia, udrem...

Graziella , 1879, Jules-Joseph Lefebvre Graziella gave her heart to a young stranger from a distant land. While mending her grandfather’s n...

The Ascension of Mary Magdalene , by Tilman Riemenschneider (1460–1531) Among the many traditions surrounding St. Mary Magdalene, few are as...

Pygmalion and Galatea , ca. 1890, Jean-Léon Gérôme Pygmalion, a sculptor of rare genius, Devoted himself to the pursuit of perfect beauty. ...

Phoebus Apollo, beneath the blistering sun at Pompeii As the summer sun bears down with its full fury, I find myself doing what generations ...

Orpheus and Eurydice , 1893, Auguste Rodin When Eurydice, The beloved bride of the       poet-bard Orpheus, Was claimed by death He desce...

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato  explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with th...

Polyphemus and Galatea in a Landscape , Roman wall painting from the villa at Boscotrecase, late 1st century B.C. Among the most haunting su...

“He is raised aloft that he may be hurled down in more headlong ruin.” ~ Claudian,  In Rufinum * Some works of art seem less like images tha...

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato  explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with th...

In Search of… with the Ghost of the Count of Sciancato  explores mysteries where history and legend blur and conjecture begins—along with th...

Now that the pleasant weather has returned, I find myself once again drawn back to a favorite haunt— Elizabeth Street Garden . There is some...