Bronze doors, 1015, commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael's, Hildesheim (Germany). A conversation with Dr. Nancy Ross and Jennifer Freeman. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Met curator Seán Hemingway on the purity of love in Bronze statue of Eros sleeping from Greece’s Hellenistic Period, 3rd–2nd century B.C.E. The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible. He is clearly based on firsthand observation. The support on which the god rests is a modern addition, but the work originally would have had a separate base, most likely of stone. This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from the large number of extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and, especially, Roman times. In the Roman period, Sleeping Eros statues decorated villa gardens and fountains. Their function in the Hellenistic period is less clear. They may have been used as dedications within a sanctuary of Aphrodite or possibly may have been erected in a public park or private, even royal, garden.

Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, c. 1545, oil on panel, 146.1 x 116.2 cm (National Gallery, London) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker.

Bronzino, Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo with her son Giovanni, 1544-1545, oil on panel, 115 x 96 cm (Galleria degli Uffizi). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Bronzino Portrait of a Young Man, oil on panel, 1530s (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Bronzino, Lodovico Capponi, Oil on panel, 1550-55 (Frick Collection) Speakers: David Drogin and Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Professor Paul Eggert, University of New South Wales, gives the 17th Annual D.F. McKenzie lecture on the subject of books and gives a case study of Henry Lawson, Australian author of Where the Billy Boils. This podcast is part of the Literature, Art and Oxford series from Oxford University.

Brownie Wise was a self-made woman who revolutionized marketing tactics and had a knack for motivating others. She introduced the now popular household item, Tupperware, to the market.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

This art history video discussion examines Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Dutch Proverbs," 1559, oil on oak, 117 x 163 cm (Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin).

This art history video discussion examines Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Tower of Babel," 1563, oil on panel, 114 x 155 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

Brunelleschi, Dome of the Cathedral of Florence, 1420-36. Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Brunelleschi & Ghiberti, Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panels for the second set of bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery, 1401-2. Created by Beth Harris, Steven Zucker, and Smarthistory.

Brunelleschi, Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence, begun c. 1421 Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Filippo Brunelleschi, Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, begun 1420s, completed 1460s Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dt. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

Filippo Brunelleschi's Santo Spirito, Florence, 1428-81 Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris & Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

In this video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey, learn about bubonic plague and how city officials in San Francisco tried to contain its spread in the early 1900s..

Democratic candidate James Buchanan, as a buck deer, crosses the finish line of a racecourse ahead of competitors Millard Fillmore and John C. Fremont. Spectators cheer in the stands behind. Fillmore appears as an emaciated horse, fallen on the course. Next, Fremont follows close on the heels of Buchanan. Fremont stands astride two horses: one with the head of New York "Tribune" editor Horace Greeley and the other the "wooly nag" of abolitionism. The latter here more closely resembles a filly than a nag. Greeley: "Monte why didn't you lean more on the wooly horse--you gave me all your weight--never mind we've beat the grey Filly [i.e., Fillmore] next time we'ill head off that hard old Buck." Fremont: "Get out--hang you and the Wooly Horse--I could beat that broken down silver grey "Filly" and the old Buck too--had I gone on my own hook." Fillmore: "Oh! Oh! why did'nt I stay in sweet Italy with my friend King Bomba and the lazy Neapolitans--Then I should not have been blowen up like a Bag of wind in this Chase." Buchanan: "Never mind Gentn. I could not "help" beating you, the American Nation wished it so--I will send you all to Ostend--and I promise you that I will have no Tailors in my white House. [As a youth Fillmore had been apprenticed to a tailor.] Mercy on me! to think that this Glorious People should be almost Pierced to Death [a reference to unpopular Democratic incumbent Franklin Pierce] by War and making Free States in this land of Liberty by a set of Fashion inventores 'I'll none of it.'"|Probably drawn by John L. Magee.|Published by John Childs, 84 So. 3rd St. Phila.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1856-18.

A pro-Buchanan satire, critical of the divisive or sectionalist appeal of the other two presidential contenders in the 1856 race. "Buck" or Buchanan (left) has evidently won a card game over Fremont (fallen at right) and Millard Fillmore (at right, blindfolded). Holding four aces and a large cauldron of "Union Soup" Buchanan vows, "I have fairly beaten them at their own game, and now that I have became possessed of this great "Reservoir" I will see that each and Every State of this great and glorious Union receives its proper Share of this sacred food." Fremont has tripped over a "Rock of Disunion" and fallen to the ground, still holding his large spoon "Abolition." He laments, "Oh, that I had been born a dog!--This is too much for mortal man to bear. Had I not stumbled over that "Blasted" rock I might have reached the fount of my ambition and with this good ladle 'Deal' to the North, and leave the South to 'Shuffle & Cut' off their mortal coil, by starvation, I shall have to 'Pass'!" Behind Fremont, Fillmore wanders blindfolded, holding a Know Nothing lantern (reflecting his party's nativist affiliation) and a spoon. He despairs, "I regret to say that 'Going It Blind' is a loosing Game, I did hope that I would be able to dip my spoon in the Pot without much difficulty.--My Hand is played out--'Buck' wins, and I am satisfied--Four aces can't be beat! and Buck holds them."|For sale by Nathaniel Currier at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Gale, no. 803.|Weitenkampf, p. 118.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1856-26.

The purpose of this resource is to observe budburst on selected trees at a Land Cover or Phenology Site. All students will learn about hummingbird natural history and ecology. Students will learn how to identify and age male and female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and to observe migration and feeding behavior. Students will learn how to make connections among hummingbird behavior and weather, climate, food availability, seasonality, photoperiod (day length), and other environmental factors.

This art history video discussion examines the Buddha of Medicine Bhaishajyaguru (Yaoshi fo), c. 1319, Yuan dynasty, water-based pigments on clay mixed with straw, 24 feet, 8 inches x 49 feet 7 inches / 751.8 cm x 1511.3 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).

Why did Buddhism emerge when and where it did? Are there other historical parallels to the emergence of Buddhism?