Why Does Michelangelo Matter?: A Historian’s Questions About the Visual Arts

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By Theodore K. Rabb *61

Published Dec. 1, 2017

Theodore Rabb *61 has been asking what historians should learn from art since the ’70s, and he has argued that visual evidence should be given the same priority as texts. Why Does Michelangelo Matter? (SPOSS) gives specific examples of how art should inform history, from 1920s German portraits to El Greco and the Spanish Renaissance.

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PAW’s December 2025 cover, with a photo of Michael Park ’98.
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Judge Michael Park ’98; shifts in DEI initiatives; a night at the new art museum.