As an artist, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) defies easy description. Allied with the French impressionists through his commitment to portraying modern life, he also took an independent course, preferring line over color and the visible...
The National Gallery's distinguished collection of decorative arts includes more than eighty works, such as Abbot Suger's jeweled sardonyx cup from the royal abbey of St. Denis, a Limoges reliquary, and a Mosan lion aquamanile. The...