- Girl with a Pearl Earring Is Not a Portrait
Vermeer's famous girl is a tronie, a study of a type, not a likeness. Her cheap sale, lost eyelashes, and two-stroke pearl explain her hold.
- The Starry Night: What Van Gogh Left Out
Painted in daylight at Saint-Rémy in June 1889, it invents its village, drops the window bars, and drags a cypress close. Its sky may be real, too.
- The Theft That Made the Mona Lisa Famous
In 1911 a Louvre workman walked out with the Mona Lisa. Two years of headlines, an empty wall, and a recovery in Florence made it a popular icon.