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    Empires - The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
    A fascinating and highly entertaining look at one of the most important families of the Renaissance era--the Medici.
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    Sister Wendy - The Complete Collection (Story of Painting / Grand Tour / Odyssey / Pains of Glass)

    “Sister Wendy Beckett has transformed public appreciation of art through her astonishing knowledge, insight and passion for painting and painters.” This set includes Sister Wendy's Story of Painting, Sister Wendy's Odyssey, and Sister Wendy's Grand Tour. Simultaneously delightful and scholarly--this is a must have for anyone interested in art history.

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Entries in Pre-Columbian (2)

Monday
Jan272020

The Toltec: Warriors

Columns in the form of Toltec warriors (Atlantean figures) in Tula - c. 750 CE (earliest possible date) - Limestone, Sandstone, and Volcanic Rock (click photo for larger image)The term “Pre-Columbian” is used to refer to the cultures (and art) of the New World, in the era before significant European influence. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes indigenous cultures as they continued to develop until they were conquered, even centuries after Columbus first landed in 1492 CE. “Pre-Columbian” also refers to the great indigenous civilizations of the New World, in which Mesoamerica (including the Aztec and Maya) are included.

The Toltec is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca. 900–1168 CE). The Toltecs were a warrior culture with dark, ruthless gods who demanded conquest and sacrifice. Their art reflected this: there are many depictions of gods, warriors, and priests in Toltec art

The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tula as the epitome of civilization; in the Nahuatl language the word Tōltēcah came to take on the meaning “artisan". Perhaps ironically, the Toltec tribes participated in Cortes’ attacks on the Aztecs, and contributed to the fall of the Aztec empire.

The figures represented here are considered to be "massive statues of Toltec warriors". They take their name from the European tradition of similar Atlas or Atlante figures in classical architecture.

Wednesday
Aug042010

Archaeologists Find Tunnel Below the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan

Contextual image of the tunnel found in front of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. Photo: CNMH INAH Reprinted from ArtDaily - August 4, 2010

MEXICO CITY.-National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have located, 12 meters below the entrance to the tunnel leading to a series of galleries beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in the Archaeologcial Area of Teotihuacan, where the remains of rulers of the ancient city could have been deposited.

In a tour made by to site today with the media, archaeologist Sergio Chavez Gomez, director of the Tlalocan Project went below the ground and announced the advances in the systematic exploration undertaken by the INAH of the underground conduit, which was closed for about 1,800 years by the inhabitants of Teotihuacan themselves and where no one has gone in since then.

Reat the rest of the article here...