Watercolour landscape with a wooded slope, a glacier in the foreground and rocky peaks under a cloudy sky.

NB! · Archive · Geography · Art · Observations · People

William Turner's sketches from his 1802 journey through the Swiss Alps

William Turner's sketches made on his journey through the Swiss Alps in 1802. I should like to compare our impressions and visit the place in 2022.

Aristocracy · Archive · Monarchies · People

The unheard-of and barbarous treatment which the King inflicts upon me obliges me to leave France and withdraw to Venice […] If His Royal Highness wished it, I should have the honour of speaking with him, I should tell him many things which, I am sure, wo

The unheard-of and barbarous treatment which the King inflicts upon me obliges me to leave France and withdraw to Venice […] If His Royal Highness wished it, I should have the honour of speaking with him, I should tell him many things which, I am sure, would afford him infinite

NB! · Archive · Observations · Society

The Russian text of the ratified convention on the cession of Alaska is contained in volume 42 of the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire

The Russian text of the ratified convention on the cession of Alaska is contained in volume 42 of the Complete Collection of the Laws of the Russian Empire. This document says nothing about 99 years of lease

Page with the Russian preamble of the treaty, bearing the full title of Emperor Alexander II in a gold ornamental frame with coats of arms and a double-headed eagle.

NB! · Archive · Observations · Society

Preamble of the Treaty on the Cession of Alaska to the United States and the Languages of Its Text

The preamble to the Treaty on the Cession of Alaska to the United States of North America. The treaty itself, rather oddly, is drawn up in English and French; in Russian there is only the page preceding the text of the treaty and the page following it

NB! · Art · Museums

French silk brocade, 1760s-1770s, with the fashionable pattern imitating fur

Art · Cinema · London · People

Marc Chagall’s “The Bride” in Roger Michell’s 1999 film “Notting Hill”

In honour of Marc Chagall's birthday, I want to recall the appearance of his painting "The Bride" in one of the most sentimental and, incidentally, highest-grossing of English films: Roger Michell's "Notting Hill" of 1999. The Chagall reproduction in William Thacker&

Architecture · Moscow · Museums · Heritage

In 2001 a man died when the rear bas-relief fell from the pedestal of the Minin and Pozharsky Monument: a visitor to the capital tried to climb the monument by way of the bas-relief, the copper structure began to come apart, the man fell, and from above o

In 2001 a man died when the rear bas-relief fell from the pedestal of the Minin and Pozharsky Monument: a visitor to the capital tried to climb the monument by way of the bas-relief, whereupon the copper structure began to come apart. The man fell, and a substantial

NB! · Geography · Maps

A map showing the expansion and naval supremacy of the Genoese, Pisan and Venetian republics in the Mediterranean in the 11th to 13th centuries

NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

When you decide to look at your own bibliography after a two-week holiday

Archive · Art · Museums · New York

Ed Reinhardt's black painting at MoMA in New York and a trustee's resignation

A woman at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1964. Photograph by Burt Glinn. After the painting in this photograph was put on display at MoMA, one of the trustees promptly resigned his seat on the board. What we see here is, of course, not Malevich's Black

NB! · Observations

Will You Be Renewing?

The East · Art · Museums · Humour

From the makers of “I Haven’t Had My Fill of Fun Yet” and “I’m Perfectly Fine on My Own”

Jemal Kukhalashvili, Tbilisi Museum of Fine Arts

Alexandr Radayev