I have not been to Florence for some five years, but I remember distinctly the impression made by Domenico Ghirlandaio's Adoration of the Magi of around 1488 in the Foundling Hospital

I have not been to Florence for some five years, but I remember distinctly the impression made by Domenico Ghirlandaio's Adoration of the Magi of around 1488 in the Foundling Hospital. The painter modestly included a self-portrait in the scene: the figure on the left in red looks out at us. In the foreground stands John the Baptist, pointing to the infant Christ while turning his gaze towards the viewer. The Baptist is easily recognised by his halo, his staff with a cross and his clothing of animal skins or, as in this case, something like a woollen waistcoat. Ghirlandaio was rather a long way from the impeccable technique in rendering fur garments of Van Eyck, Hans Memling and Dürer

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

I have not been to Florence for some five years, but I remember distinctly the impression made by Domenico Ghirlandaio's Adoration of the Magi of around 1488 in the Foundling Hospital

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At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s