From wax to metal (de la cera al metal), Goldmaking techniques of the ancient Colombians © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.

Video by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Headdress, late 19th–Early 20th century, Tsitsistas (Cheyenne) or Lakota Artist, bald eagle and other feathers, wool, buffalo and cow hide, horse hair, beads and pigments (Minneapolis Institute of Art). Created by Smarthistory.

Met curator Nicholas Reeves on fragmented history in Head of Tutankhamun from the Amarna Period of Egypt’s New Kingdom, c. 1336–1327 B.C.E. This head is a fragment from a statue group that represented the god Amun seated on a throne with the young king Tutankhamun standing or kneeling in front of him. The king's figure was considerably smaller than that of the god, indicating his subordinate status in the presence of the deity. All that remains of Amun is his right hand, which touches the back of the king's crown in a gesture that signifies Tutankhamun's investiture as king. During coronation rituals, various types of crowns were put on the king's head. The type represented here—probably a leather helmet with metal disks sewn onto it—was generally painted blue, and is commonly called the "blue crown." The ancient name was khepresh. Statue groups showing a king together with gods had been created since the Old Kingdom, and formal groups relating to the pharaoh's coronation were dedicated at Karnak by Hatshepsut and other rulers of Dynasty 18. The Metropolitan's head of Tutankhamun with the hand of Amun is special because of the intimacy with which the subject is treated. The face of the king expresses a touching youthful earnestness, and the hand of the god is raised toward his crown with gentle care.

Met curator Isabel Stünkel on precaution in Hippopotamus dating from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, c. 1961–1878 B.C.E. This well-formed statuette of a hippopotamus (popularly called "William") demonstrates the Egyptian artist's appreciation for the natural world. It was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz. Beneath the blue-green glaze, the body was painted with the outlines of river plants, symbolizing the marshes in which the animal lived. The seemingly benign appearance that this figurine presents is deceptive. To the ancient Egyptians, the hippopotamus was one of the most dangerous animals in their world. The huge creatures were a hazard for small fishing boats and other rivercraft. The beast might also be encountered on the waterways in the journey to the afterlife. As such, the hippopotamus was a force of nature that needed to be propitiated and controlled, both in this life and the next. This example was one of a pair found in a shaft associated with the tomb chapel of the steward Senbi II at Meir, an Upper Egyptian site about thirty miles south of modern Asyut. Three of its legs have been restored because they were purposely broken to prevent the creature from harming the deceased. The hippo was part of Senbi's burial equipment, which included a canopic box (also in the Metropolitan Museum), a coffin, and numerous models of boats and food production.

Met curator H. Barbara Weinberg on the power of nature in Winslow Homer’s Northeaster, 1895; reworked by 1901. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For three years, a research team from the British Museum, the University of Reading, Royal Holloway University of London and the Universidad Nacional de San Cristobal de Huamanga set out to discover how the Inca Empire used a stone platform known as an ushnu as a symbol of political power. By enhancing our knowledge of how ushnus were built, their symbolism, what activities took place on them and what artifacts might be found around them, the project has increased our understanding of Inca culture and how they conquered the Andes to become one of the world’s most successful civilisations. © Trustees of the British Museum. Created by British Museum.

Gossart was among the first northern artists to travel to Rome to make copies after antique sculpture and introduce historical and mythological subjects with erotic nude figures into the mainstream of northern painting. Most often credited with successfully assimilating Italian Renaissance style into northern European art of the early sixteenth century, he is the pivotal Old Master who changed the course of Flemish art from the Medieval craft tradition of its founder, Jan van Eyck (c. 1380/90--1441), and charted new territory that eventually led to the great age of Peter Paul Rubens (1577--1640).

Met curator Ian Alteveer on reticence in Jasper Johns’s White Flag, 1955. "White Flag" is the largest of his flag paintings and the first in which the flag is presented in monochrome. By draining most of the color from the flag but leaving subtle gradations in tone, the artist shifts our attention from the familiarity of the image to the way in which it is made. "White Flag" is painted on three separate panels: the stars, the seven upper stripes to the right of the stars, and the longer stripes below. Johns worked on each panel separately. After applying a ground of unbleached beeswax, he built up the stars, the negative areas around them, and the stripes with applications of collage—cut or torn pieces of newsprint, other papers, and bits of fabric. He dipped these into molten beeswax and adhered them to the surface. He then joined the three panels and overpainted them with more beeswax mixed with pigments, adding touches of white oil. The fast-setting medium of encaustic enabled Johns to make each brushstroke distinct, while the forty-eight-star flag design—contiguous with the perimeters of the canvas— provided a structure for the richly varied surface, which ranges from translucent to opaque. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Josiah McElheny on Horace Pippin "Every human being has the potential of great insight." Video by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For more information please visit http://www.moma.org/1913. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.

Met curator Joan R. Mertens on self-reliance in Marble Statue of a kouros (youth), c. 590–580 B.C.E. from the Attic culture of ancient Greece. This kouros is one of the earliest marble statues of a human figure carved in Attica. The rigid stance, with the left leg forward and arms at the side, was derived from Egyptian art. The pose provided a clear, simple formula that was used by Greek sculptors throughout the sixth century B.C.E. In this early figure, geometric, almost abstract forms predominate, and anatomical details are rendered in beautiful analogous patterns. The statue marked the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat.

Met curator Joanne Pillsbury on immortality in Mask, 10th–6th century B.C.E., by the Olmec peoples of ancient Mexico. Depicting a typical Olmec face with slanted, almond-shaped eyes and a toothless, slightly downturned mouth, this mask is rendered with simplicity and elegance. Its harmonious proportions are indicative of the sophistication attained by Olmec sculptors. The smooth, highly polished planes of cheek, forehead, and chin plus the almost fleshy quality of the nose and parted lips belie the incredible hardness of the jadeite cobble from which the mask was made. The face itself is neither human nor supernatural but, rather, an idealized type that incorporates otherworldly aspects—such as the mouth, with its reference to the so-called were-jaguar, a powerful mythic being with human and jaguar traits. Masks of this size in stone have not been excavated in archaeological sites and it is difficult to determine their function. Lacking holes for eyes and nose, it could not have been worn over a living face, but there are attachment holes along the edges by means of which it might have been used as a costume element or adhered as a face to a mummy or a sacred bundle. There is a polished, circular depression on the back of the mask. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Met curator Rebecca Rabinow on disquiet in Henri Matisse’s The illustrated book, “Jazz," 1947. . Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mató Nájin/Standing Bear (Minneconjou Lakota/Teton Sioux), Battle of Little Bighorn, c. 1920, pencil, ink, and watercolor on muslin, 91.4 × 268 cm, made in Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, United States (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Nampeyo (Hopi-Tewa), Polacca Polychrome Water Jar, c. 1895–1900, clay and pigment, made in Arizona, U.S., 30.5 × 34.3 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); speakers: Gaylord Torrence, Fred and Virginia Merrill Senior Curator of American Indian Art, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and Brian Vallo, Director, Indian Arts Research Center School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Created by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

P.H. Emerson (1856-1936) believed that "nothing in nature has a hard outline" and attempted to emulate natural eyesight wherein the subject is sharp and everything else gradually falls out of focus. Created by Getty Museum.

One of the most radical paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite movement is Work by Ford Madox Brown, which attempts to capture the entire social fabric of Victorian London in a single scene. Curator Tim Barringer explores its multiple stories. Ford Madox Brown's Work is one of over 150 works currently on show at Tate Britain in the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde (2013). Created by Tate.

Curator Jason Rosenfeld reveals the story behind John Everett Millais's painting Isabella and explains why this historical work is inherently modern. Millais's Isabella is one of over 150 works currently on show at Tate Britain in the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde. Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde is at Tate Britain (2013). Created by Tate.