Illuminated manuscripts and illustrated or decorated books – like today's museums – preserve a rich array of information about how premodern peoples conceived of and perceived the world, its many cultures and everyone's place in it. Often a Eurocentr...

Distant blue hills, soaring trees, vast cloudless skies-the majesty of nature has always had the power to lift the human spirit. For some it evokes a sense of timelessness and wonder. For others it reinforces religious convictions. And for many peopl...