Dürer's Double-Sided Panel of 1507 with an Allegory of Avarice and a Portrait of a Young Man

Allegory of Avarice. Albrecht Dürer. 1507.

This remarkable double-sided picture obliges us, quite literally, to turn our view of Dürer's art upside down. The front of the panel shows a grim Allegory of Avarice in the form of a hideous old woman with a bag of gold, symbolising the transience of earthly riches. On the reverse of the very same board lies hidden a splendid portrait of an unknown young man, painted by the artist during his Venetian period.

I recommend that you lose no time in reflecting on the striking contrast between fleeting youthful beauty and inevitable spiritual decay

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Neanderthal wooden spears and a club found at Abric Romaní near Barcelona

Researchers of the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution have published the first full analysis of the wooden finds from the Neanderthal site of Abric Romaní. The site lies beneath a rock shelter in the town of Capellades, not far from Barcelona. Neanderthals lived here from roughly 62,

Old photograph of a shop sign reading “Universal Store Kaztorg”, with a mounted camel and people in warm clothing at the entrance.

The first department store opened in Perovsk, later known as Kyzylorda

The first department store in Perovsk, also known as Ak-Mechet and Kyzylorda

Black-and-white photograph of a man in military uniform and a woman in a hat holding a parasol, seated on benches in a park.

Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in the Alexander Park at Tsarskoye Selo, May 1917

Emperor Nicholas II with Alexandra Feodorovna in the Alexander Park. Tsarskoye Selo. May 1917. Not the most flattering angle for the Empress: this photograph, of course, shows that she looked somewhat older than her 45 years, especially next to such a handsome man.

Close-up of a glass bottle with a blue label showing STALINE in red letters, along with the words “de source” and “état naturel”.

French mineral water Staline, with a name that echoes Stalin's

No one has done more for the rehabilitation of Stalin than a plain French mineral water

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Neanderthal wooden spears and a club found at Abric Romaní near Barcelona

The first department store opened in Perovsk, later known as Kyzylorda

Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in the Alexander Park at Tsarskoye Selo, May 1917

French mineral water Staline, with a name that echoes Stalin's