Images

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...

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 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...

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...

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)

Colonel Henry Knox bringing the artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to help bring an end to the Siege of Boston, by an unknown artist, 1775. National Archive, collection number: 111-SC-100815...

An 1820 portrait by Constance Mayer of the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). (Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica, Bologna, Italy)

The Nine Muses of Greek mythology were divine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory), revered as patrons of poetry, song, history, and the arts. Early Greek tradition sometimes spoke of an earlier triad—Mneme (Memory...

The British evacuate Boston in March 1776, after the Siege of Boston (19 April 1775 to 17 March 1776), in the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Image by William James Aylward, 1911. New...