15 August, 4.30 in the morning. My God, have mercy on me! My eyes have no more tears with which to weep for you, my poor children; farewell, farewell!
Marie Antoinette
The Queen of France wrote this line in her prayer book a few hours before her death, knowing that her children would be killed after her
They were served stewed spoiled eggs, roast suckling pig, seaweed, ginger preserve, goose livers, shark-fin soup with crab roe, toasted almonds, soup with pigeon eggs, ham and chicken, boiled young bamboo, green peas, boiled chicken with bamboo shoots, bird's-nest soup with eggs and ham, fried frogs
"Madonna with Cherubim" was long considered the work of Giovanni Bellini, until in 1885, during restoration, features characteristic of his chief rival, and incidentally his relative, Andrea Mantegna, came to light. What misled viewers was a softness uncharacteristic of Mantegna. Despite the established title, the Madonna and Child
The silliest thing about this renaming is its poor timing. For when the Pushkin Museum was offered, as a gift, the greatest collection of contemporary art of the second half of the twentieth century, the collection of Peter Ludwig, the very reason for the refusal was the condition that the
Yeeeehaw!