Twenty-seven flower drawings by Herman Saftleven the Younger for Agneta Block

The delicate flowers of the Dutch Baroque artist Herman Saftleven the Younger (1609-1685) are part of one of his last commissions. Twenty-seven drawings of flowers and plants are known that Saftleven produced at the end of his life for Agneta Block. She commissioned several painters at once to depict the plants in her collection; all the works were kept in several albums and were inscribed in the patron's own hand on the reverse

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of 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

Twenty-seven flower drawings by Herman Saftleven the Younger for Agneta Block

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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