Members-Only Deep Dives

The Trevi Fountain and the Glory of Rome

The world's most famous fountain is an architectural triumph, yet so too a celebration of Roman continuity, and power over nature...

Mar 8 •

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The Seven Works of Mercy

Caravaggio's tormented painting is a dramatic guide to the life of virtue...

Mar 6 •

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How to Read the Stanza della Segnatura

Raphael's most famous achievement in the Vatican is a temple of beauty, but one laden with eternal meaning...

Mar 1 •

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How Raphael Became a Master

Even the greatest star begins as a student. By humility and study, Raphael eclipsed all who came before...

Feb 27 •

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Before Musk, there was Chigi

The relationship between Elon Musk and the White House has a remarkable precedent in the Italian Renaissance

Feb 22 •

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The Pope Who Saved Rome

After over a century of turmoil in Western Christianity and anarchy in central Italy, in 1420 Pope Martin V reunified the Church and restored Rome to…

Feb 20 •

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The Battleground of History

Which sources can you actually trust?

Feb 15 •

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The First Triumvirate

Faced with a dysfunctional republic collapsing around them, three men joined forces to make politics personal in Rome...

Feb 13 •

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The New Opium War?

The role of narcotics in the escalating trade war with Beijing has a curious echo in the First Opium War — but this time, the roles are reversed.

Feb 8 •

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James II and the Battle for the Soul of Britain

As the last British monarch to openly resist the slide towards parliamentary absolutism, the last Catholic king straddled a crossroads of history

Feb 6 •

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The Illegitimacy of the British Parliament

The problems of Britain are many. The source of many of them are one — the House of Commons

Feb 1 •

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The Mayerling Incident & the Tragedy of the House of Austria

In 1889, the violent deaths of Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his lover Mary Vetsera would have grave implications for Vienna, and…

Jan 30 •

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