Art · Museums
Portrait of the painter Friedrich Ahlers-Hestermann by Arthur Siebelist, 1900
Portrait of Pavel Durov at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. A work by the German Impressionist painter Arthur Siebelist, 1900
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The East · Art · Books · Society
Nizami describes Alexander the Great's visit to a land without rulers or gold
If any of us is in want, great or small, and we know of it, we share all we have with him. We hold it a law that no one should ever be acquainted with loss. In our possessions we are equal to one another. Riches have been dealt out
NB! · Art · Observations · Science · Humour
Should you ever grow vain, compare yourselves, lying awake until two in the morning with a telephone in your embrace, scrolling through reels, with the seventeenth-century astronomer of the Dutch painter Gerrit Dou, who, with hourglass and globe, passes h
Should you ever grow vain, compare yourselves, lying awake until two in the morning with a telephone in your embrace, scrolling through reels, with the seventeenth-century astronomer of the Dutch painter Gerrit Dou, who, with hourglass and globe, passes his nights over a scientific treatise. Do you feel the
NB! · Cinema · Observations
I don't know about you, but to me Frances McDormand and Willem Dafoe make a perfect pairing
I don't know about you, but to me Frances McDormand and Willem Dafoe make a perfect pairing. A pity that they have only two pictures together so far: the old "Mississippi Burning" and "The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun"
Art · Observations · Humour
Imaginary Portrait of the Poet Virgil by Ludger tom Ring the Elder
The poet Virgil, an imaginary portrait by the German artist Ludger tom Ring the Elder (1496–1547). The artist's first name is Ludger, his surname is tom Ring. When I say "attentively", this is precisely the expression and the degree of concentration I have in mind
Faith · Observations
Gerondissa as the English word for the Russian staritsa
"Starista" in English is "gerondissa". A lovely word
NB! · Faith · Observations · Rome · Humour
The Institute for Religious Affairs as the official name of the Vatican bank
Officially, the Vatican Bank is called the Institute for the Works of Religion. Ingenious
Monarchies · Observations · Humour
British scientists calculate that Wales occupies zero area on the flag of the United Kingdom
British scientists have done the sums. The area of the flag of Great Britain that symbolically represents Wales is equal to zero. This could be remedied by the green stripe or the dragon from the Welsh flag, or by the yellow cross of St David, the patron saint of Wales,
NB! · Archive · Art · Museums · Pop Culture
Charlotte Rampling in 1973, photographed by Helmut Newton in front of Lucas Cranach the Elder's diptych "Adam and Eve" of 1528 in the Uffizi Gallery
Art
A Rather Unexpected Treatment, for the Early Seventeenth Century, of a Decidedly Tedious Subject
A rather unexpected treatment, for the early seventeenth century, of a decidedly tedious subject. The Four Elements, Louis Finson, 1611. The elements of fire, air, water and earth are locked in eternal opposition, yet in truth they form one indivisible figure
NB! · Cinema · Pop Culture · Saint Petersburg · Humour
Tom Bombadil in Amazon's new season of "The Lord of the Rings" and Tom Bombadil in the 1991 Leningrad Television play "The Keepers"
Tom Bombadil in Amazon's new season of "The Lord of the Rings" and Tom Bombadil in the 1991 Leningrad Television play "The Keepers". The Briton Rory Kinnear against the Soviet actor Sergei Parshin
Archaeology · Books · Palaeontology · Nature
“The Last Mammoth” by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and the Yuka mammoth mummy from Yakutia
He trod with effort on the spur above the icebound river. There used to be more of them, the proud ones, many of them, and he was the last of that kind. Tried more than once in the storm, today, as if out of spite, he gave way. From the