A new exhibit at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusets, focusses on the largely-overlooked field of painted Renaissance terracotta sculptures.

Long used to clean metal and stone, lasers may be the new tool of choice for cleaning famous works of art. The technique is the same used to remove tattoos.

Penn State is pleased to announce the twenty-second Medieval Studies conference will be held on Saturday, May 1, 2010 in the Weaver Building on the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University.

Come all ye pilgrims and travellers, and join the Shire of West
Dragoningshire for a pilgrimage at the Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse
of Noble Poverty.

In his fifties, it appears that renaissance master Michelangelo fell in love with a Roman nobleman 40 years his junior. A record of the infatuation can be found in handwritten sonnets on display for the first time at the British Museum in London.

Bardic-circle.net is a website providing a collaborative resource for the SCA bardic community.

Included are tools, such as a SCA lyrics wiki, a calendar for bardic events around the world, a discussion board and more.

Cal Lane has taken the art of blacksmithing to a whole new level by transforming 44 gallon steel drums into works of art.

Author and photographer E. F. Kitchen has produced a new book on the Society for Creative Anachronism entitled Suburban Knights: A return to the Middle Ages.

In a podcast for the Classics and Ancient History website, Peter Mack and Maude Vanhalen discuss Renaissance thought and the fact that much of its works, most written in Latin, have been "largely unread and unstudied." (MP3)

SCA members Kevin Nunn and Helen Marshall (Arminius the Footsore and Gwerydd verch Rhys) will present a one-day fiction writing workshop at Massey College in Toronto, Ontario on March 28, 2010.

A team of experts from Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage are requesting permission to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci in hopes of revealing the real identity of the Mona Lisa.

Wyndreth of the Kingdom of Northshield reports that an Icelandic Saga Database, offering a "huge selection of Icelandic sagas in various languages, is now available online for viewing or download in PDF format.

Two novelists from the Kingdom of Northshield have announced the recent publication of books.

The Barony of the Cleftlands, the Shire of Eastwatch, and Gorsedd -- the community of bards in northern Oaken, Middle Kingdom -- are proud to announce The Third Bardic Roundhouse, June 18-20, 2010, back at Minion Ridge in Eastwatch.

Michelangelo is revered one of the greatest masters of Renaissance art, especially when it comes to depicting the form of the human body. A new exhibit at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia, explores this aspect of his work.

The Secret of Kells, an animated film directed by Tomm Moore, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

The Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution have announced a new online resource for the study of early Chinese painting. The site features over 80 examples of 10th through 14th century artwork.

In the mid 16th century, Agnolo Bronzino was the most respected portraitist in Florence. Now a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Drawings of Bronzino, offers 59 of his works on paper. (slideshow)

In a letter to the Duke of Milan, Lenoardo da Vinci outlines his qualifications as an engineer and an artist. A scanned version of the resume with translation is available online.

Martin Wyld, chief restorer for the British National Gallery knows that restoring paintings is a difficult job. John McEwen of the London Times walks the galleries with the expert in a recent interview.

A century after the Norman Conquest, the relationship between the French and the English was anything but cordial, if you can believe a 396-line poem written by an Anglo-Norman cleric.

Vito Franco of the University of Palermo thinks Mona Lisa is sick, that is, she suffered from "worryingly high levels of cholesterol." Franco bases his observations on a "xanthelasma – a subcutaneous accumulation of cholesterol – in the hollow of the Mona Lisa's left eye, and a tell-tale lipoma, a fatty tissue tumour, on one hand."

What did Shakespeare do during the "lost years?" Father Andrew Headon, the vice-rector of the Venerable English College in Rome believes the playwright spent the years in the Eternal City and was a "secret Catholic."

Billing itself as the "world's largest book club", the LibraryThing web site offers a venue to share your latest bibliophilic discoveries. In the History section is a group devoted to SCA folk.

What if William Shakespeare had written The Big Lebowski? Humorist Adam Bertocci has an idea in his Two Gentlemen of Lebowski.

Illusion Jewels, a retailer of medieval and renaissance jewelry, has created an online portrait gallery featuring classic paintings from the 15th - 17th centuries that feature jewelry.

"We're wanting to shed light on the dark Middle Ages," said chief curator Peta Motture about lighting conditions at the new Medieval and Renaissance exhibits at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Tim Masters, entertainment and arts correspondent for BBC News has the story.

Despite her ongoing dispute with the university, Cambridge scholar and professor of medieval logic Gill Evans has completed her history of the institution. The University of Cambridge: A New History will be published to coincide with Cambridge's 800th anniversary.

Mysteries set in ancient Rome continue to catch the imaginations of readers.

The BBC's Rome correspondent David Willey offers a tour of the building and recently restored 400-year-old fresco paintings at the Scala Santa or Holy Stairs.