A woman stands in a period-style ball gown, with accentuated white sleeves in the middle of a grand hall

The discovery of the farthingale sleeve

by Ninya Mikhaila The discovery of rare, or unknown items of historic dress is always exciting. It can also be challenging when the extant object offers evidence which contradicts previously held beliefs about people in the past. A farthingale sleeve…

A black and white image of a large museum gallery full of people

Lost Property at the British Museum

by Sarah Keenan It’s easy to get lost at the British Museum. The expansive central London building, set out over three floors and divided up into over 60 galleries, displays some 80,000 objects from all over the world. The British…

A sketch of Lady Justice standing next to a stork in a garden

Lady Justice as an Allegory in Motion

by Valérie Hayaert Animated by signs that are in essence mutable, Justitia (Lady Justice) may be perceived as an allegory in motion. Scholars who pretend to master the intricacies of this “science of images” (iconology) forget an important fact: allegories…