Art
Still Life with Plums
The Flemish painter Jacob van Hulsdonck (1582-1647)
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Archive · The East · Art · Mores · Ethnography
Punishments in the Ottoman Empire of the Sixteenth Century
From Pictures of Turkish Folk Life, illustrations by Heindrich Hendrovsky
NB! · Art
Winter, 1643
NB! · Observations · Humour
When you are sitting in a meeting that could have been an email
Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Portrait of Charles IV of Spain from behind, painted from memory by Jean Bozil in 1820
A portrait of King Charles IV of Spain from behind, painted by the court miniaturist Jean Bozil in 1820, twelve years after his abdication, from memory. Apparently all that he could recall. Charles IV is that very King of Spain in whose stead the country came to be set to
NB! · Art · Moscow · Reportage · Society Pages
This is how the Russian Antiques Salon 2023 is going
Art · Museums
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Gustave Moreau, 1864. On the road to Thebes, Oedipus met the Sphinx and had to solve her riddle: “What walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon and on three in the evening?”
NB! · Art · Books
Loki strikes with a staff the wicked giant who has taken the shape of an eagle to prevent Odin, Loki and Hœnir from roasting an ox
NB! · Archive · London · Nature
A Giraffe in London in 1935
Architecture · Observations · Heritage · Paris
Basketball court in Remilly follows the outline of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles
Versailles has given a thoroughly French look to a basketball court in the Rémilly sports complex. The new court follows the outlines of the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, while keeping every sporting dimension required. I look forward to seeing similar courts in Moscow, in place of the dull
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores · People
Napoleon's illegitimate sons Charles Denuelle and Alexandre Walewski and the Bonaparte name
Napoleon's illegitimate sons: Charles Denuelle, called the infernal bastard, Count Léon (1806-1881), and Alexandre, Count Colonna-Walewski (1810-1868). Each left numerous descendants, but none of the offspring of Napoleon's illegitimate sons had the right to bear the surname Bonaparte, although Count Léon pressed the
Art
The Lemon
Édouard Manet, 1880