A haloed saint in a brown habit stands on a rock and bends towards a shark on the shore, with other fish visible in the water behind.

Faith · Art · Humour

Saint Anthony preaches to the fish in a painting by Arnold Böcklin

Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fishes. Arnold Böcklin The shark is positively moved

Observations · Society · People · Humour

Churchill is credited, among a great many others, with the quip that Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he did not know where he was going, did not know where he was, and did it all at the taxpayer's expense

Churchill is credited, among a great many others, with the quip that Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he did not know where he was going, did not know where he was, and did it all at the taxpayer's expense. The sole point of the remark seems to

NB! · Archive · Faith · Rome

The Vatican, St Peter's Square in the 1950s

The cratered edge of the Moon in the foreground and Saturn with its rings seen edge-on against the dark sky.

NB! · Observations · Science · Nature

American astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy photographs Saturn emerging from behind the Moon

Another shot of Saturn emerging from behind the Moon, taken by the American astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy from the summit of a volcano. It is striking how cramped the universe turns out to be: our neighbouring planets are, quite literally, a lens's throw away

NB! · The East · Pop Culture · Ethnography

A Yurt in a J.Crew Shoot, 2000

A mannequin in a black jacket with a large collar, wide trousers and an enormous flat hat stands by a window between silk curtains with a floral pattern.

NB!

Mannequin in a black suit and wide-brimmed hat before floral curtains

Archive · Art · Observations · Pop Culture

Demna's black dress of 2021 and the archival mock-ups of Cristóbal Balenciaga

In 2020 Demna Gvasalia announced the return of the Haute Couture line to the House of Balenciaga, where in Cristóbal Balenciaga's day it was the principal means of artistic expression. The graphic silhouette of the black dress with a hat from Demna's Autumn/Winter 2021-22

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores

I see that many of you liked the antique pet houses; here, for example, is a house-cum-pouffe, early nineteenth century

Art · Moscow · Observations · Mores

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow. Old bourgeois life was everywhere just as cosy and heartfelt. Add the basket on the table and the checked cotton tablecloth. All that's missing is icons in place of

Two women with long dark hair, in white outfits with numbers and tall boots, cross a crosswalk at night. One holds a rose; buildings and a crowd are behind them.

NB!

Two women in white outfits with numbers walk down an evening street

Observations · Mores · Paris · Reportage

Paris tour during fashion week on Parisian romance in the 19th century

Coming to Paris for Fashion Week is becoming a fine tradition. But if last time I was invited to give a lecture in a society salon, this time we set off on a packed walk around the city, with my tour of Parisian romance in all its strangeness and of

Corner of a studio with a glass roof and tall windows, holding easels, canvases, a dark wooden wardrobe topped with a gilded frame, and shawls.

NB! · Art · Observations

Artist's studio with a glazed roof, easels and a wooden wardrobe

The artist's studio. The gold standard

Alexandr Radayev