Archive · Books · People · Humour
Leo Tolstoy playing with his grandchildren in a photograph from 1909
Don't Worry, Children, It's Only 1,300 Pages. Leo Tolstoy playing with his grandchildren, 1909
Alexandr Radayev
Art · Observations · People
A wheat field painted by Van Gogh in the summer of 1888, when he left Paris and set off for Arles
Sometimes we all need to go to Arles
Archive · Books · People
Oscar Wilde asks Robert Ross for books to await him on his release, in a letter of 1897
“I am terrified for myself, for I shall go out into the world without a single book. My one hope is in my friends… You know which authors I need: Flaubert, Stevenson, Baudelaire, Maeterlinck, Dumas père, Keats, Marlowe, Chatterton, Coleridge, Anatole France, Gautier, Dante and the literature about him, Goethe
NB! · Geography · Maps · Observations · Nature
In 1539 the Swedish cartographer Olaus Magnus peopled his Carta Marina of Northern Europe with fantastical beasts
In 1539 the Swedish cartographer Olaus Magnus peopled his Carta Marina of Northern Europe with fantastical beasts. Had the map been drawn in our own day, in place of sea serpents it would have featured garbage patches, oil slicks and offshore platforms
Archive · Observations · Paris
Pedestrians on the Rue Mouffetard in 1951
Pedestrians on the Rue Mouffetard in 1951. Photo by Robert Doisneau. The picture reminded me of a woman with a very small dog whom I met yesterday on Solyanka: the mistress was coaxing the little creature to stand on the ground on its own little legs rather than merely sit
NB! · Archive · Art · Nature
A Drawing of an Elephant, 1550
NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores
The Duke and Duchess of Kent have been together for 63 years, he is 88 and she is 91
The Duke and Duchess of Kent: 63 years together. He is 88, she is 91
Coming Up · Art · Observations
June issue of RBC Style comes with a Lev Povzner cover and launches the RBC Visionaries project
I do so love the tradition of RBC Style appearing in print with art covers conceived and realised together with contemporary artists. In this issue the series continues with a painting by Lev Povzner, a visionary painter and a master of setting riddles and seeking answers to them. RBC marks
Archive · Heritage · Society
German mining of Pushkin's grave and the clearing of mines from the Pushkin Reserve
A wooden plaque with a warning inscription: "The grave of A.S. Pushkin is mined. Entry forbidden. Senior Lieutenant Starcheus." The Germans occupied the Pushkin Reserve for three years, from 12 July 1941 to 12 July 1944. The fascists were driven out of Pushkinskiye Gory by units of
NB! · Archaeology · Archive · The East · Humour
During the building of the pyramid of King Neferirkare, the tallest of the Fifth Dynasty pyramids, one of the officials in charge of its construction was so overcome by the pharaoh's visit that he died of fright
Art · Mores · Society
Presidential portraits in the Oval Office and Trump's choice of Andrew Jackson
There is a tradition in the USA of presidents staging a demonstrative dialogue with their predecessors by invoking their historical images or the trends characteristic of their era. Every new president rearranges the Oval Office and adds a few details, down to changing the colour of the carpet, but chiefly,
Books · Observations · Nature
There Are Insects That Die Immediately After Fertilisation
There are insects that die immediately after fertilisation. So it is with our joys: the moment of fullest delight, and they are gone! Søren Kierkegaard