Aves—the Latin term for “birds.” Perhaps more than any other class of animals, birds are irresistibly symbolic. They are as boundless as thought, as contained as hope, as soaring as joy, as weightless as the heavenly host. Even though many people can hardly identify more than a handful of the 11,500 recognized species in the world, images of birds hold us rapt. Taking inspiration from one of the Mauritshuis’s most loved paintings, Carl Fabritius’s The Goldfinch, the British art historian Simon Schama has guest-curated an exhibition that focuses on the myriad ways humankind interacts with birds. Along with artworks by Holbein, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Brancusi, Tracey Emin, and more, the show presents manuscripts, films, and natural history exhibits. —Laura Jacobs