Images

A 1771 oil-on-canvas portrait of Edmund Burke (1729-1797) the Anglo-Irish statesman and political thinker. Painted by the studio of Joshua Reynolds. (National Portrait Gallery, London)

Gold rhyton (Takuk in Persian), found in the Qaflankuh highlands near Ziwiyeh, late 7th to early 8th century BCE. The extensive collection of precious artefacts from the first millennium BCE, known as the Ziwiyeh Treasure has been controversial...

Neolithic clay goddess from Tappah Sarab, Kermanshah, 7000-6100 BCE. Clay figurines of female bodies with exaggerated reproductive organs are among the most common features of prehistoric sculpted art. With famous examples from Venus of...

A replica of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus. The Bohemian Duke Wenceslaus I (r. 921-935) was given the honorary title of king by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 962-973) and made a saint. This crown was made in his honour in the mid-14th century...

The Pahlavi Crown, first worn by Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, at his coronation in April 1926. The design reminds of the rulers of the Sassanid dynasty (3rd-7th centuries CE). Made of gold and silver on a red velvet backing. Weighing...

The Imperial Crown of Austria. Made in 1602, this crown has been used by the Habsburg monarchs of Austria, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the kings of Hungary and Bohemia. The crown combines the traditional crown...

The tiara of Pope Pius IX (in office 1846-1878). Made in 1854. Made of a trio of gold crowns set with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, pearls, and other jewels around a silver-thread fabric. It measures 35 cm (13.7 in) in height and diameter...

An illustration of the costumes used in the first production of the opera William Tell. The serious opera, composed by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), premiered at the Opéra in Paris on 3 August 1829. Drawn by Eugène Du Faget.

A c. 1815 portrait of the composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). (Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecila, Rome)

A photograph of the composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). Taken in 1865 by Étienne Carjat. (Harvard Art Museum)