Architecture · The East · Art · Heritage

The Parthenon in Jacques Carrey's 1674 painting and its destruction in the 1687 siege of Athens

As of 1674, when this painting was made, the Parthenon in Athens was intact. More or less in its original form, if one sets aside the Ottoman decorative transformation. Jacques Carrey, the French artist famed for his Athenian sketches, who belonged to the retinue of the French ambassador to the

Black and white pen drawing of a slender woman with a full hairstyle and closed eyes, holding a cigarette, with Hirschfeld's signature below.

NB! · Art · Observations · New York · People

Portrait of Maggie Smith by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, 1971

Portrait of Maggie Smith by the Broadway caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. 1971: so in more than 50 years she has scarcely changed

Art · Paris

Profile of Paris

The artist Sempé, 2001

NB! · Art · Observations · Paris · Pop Culture

The Best Fashion Find in Paris Today Is a Children's Version of the Dress from the Portrait of Caroline Murat

Monarchies · Museums · Observations

Napoleon's Cot, Hat, Writing Desk and Dressing Gown from Saint Helena

Note the dimensions: truly very piccolo

Art · Observations · People

I assumed it was perfectly obvious that everyone must share my love of a sky thick with clouds

I assumed it was perfectly obvious that everyone must share my love of a sky thick with clouds. And it came as a positive shock to discover that some people prefer sunny weather. Even now I cannot understand it. But that is another story altogether… Glenn Gould, 1979 Illustration: CLOUDS

In a gallery with a stucco ceiling, two large paintings of miniature houses hang on white walls: a yellow house by a fence and a house on a table tennis table.

Art · Observations · Paris · Society Pages

The author visited two exhibitions on the way to dinner and described their atmosphere

I like that at many galleries in Paris anyone can look in on a private view: there is simply a sign on the door, "we're open! welcome!" On my way to dinner I visited two very charming exhibitions. No doormen, everyone in a good mood, standing

NB! · Faith · Art · Observations

In the Environs of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery

In the environs of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. A painting by Levitan and my own recent photograph

NB! · Archive · Art · People

The Leap of the Dancer Palucca and Kandinsky's Graphic Scheme for the Photograph

Engraving of two tattooed men seated on the ground under a tree, with a hut, palms and mountains behind and a Russian and German caption below.

NB! · Art · Maps · Books · Moscow · Museums

Engravings after Tilesius von Tilenau in the Atlas to Krusenstern's Voyage Around the World, 1813

Engravings after drawings by Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau. From the “Atlas for the Voyage Round the World of Captain Krusenstern”, 1813. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Faith · The East · Art · Books · Ethnography

“The Hindus call the bull father, and the cow mother

“The Hindus call the bull father, and the cow mother. On their dung they bake bread and cook their dishes.” Dmitry Butorin. Illustration to Afanasy Nikitin’s Journey Beyond Three Seas. 1960

Drawing of people in long black cloaks walking beside a hearse under a golden canopy, with ranks of soldiers on both sides and buildings and a crowd behind.

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Alexandr Radayev