Art · Observations · Humour

Guido Reni's painting of Atalanta and Hippomenes and the myth of their transformation into lions

Take to Your Heels, You Fool! Guido Reni. Atalanta and Hippomenes, 1622-1625. The picture is based on the myth of the beautiful Atalanta, who invited the men who fell in love with her to run away from her, and entirely unarmed at that. She herself pursued them with a

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People

Maria von Vetsera, her death with Crown Prince Rudolf and the crescent in her hair

The mystery of the death of Mary Vetsera, the Austrian noblewoman and beloved of Crown Prince Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, remains unsolved to this day. The young baroness was found dead together with Crown Prince Rudolf on 30 January 1889. There are many

Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society · Nature

Yesterday came the news that the governor of Smolensk is stripping the Khmelita museum-reserve of its status as a specially protected natural area

Yesterday came the news that the governor of Smolensk is stripping the Khmelita museum-reserve of its status as a specially protected natural area. I am very fond of Khmelita and have been there many times, so I immediately approached the museum's management for comment, and I return

Old sepia photograph of people in early twentieth-century dress sitting in a garden, a woman in a hat smoking.

Books

Virginia Woolf in “A Room of One’s Own” on the importance of being yourself

It matters far more to be oneself than to be someone else. Do not even think of influencing others, I would say, if I knew how to speak beautifully. Concentrate on what you are doing. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

NB! · Art · Monarchies · People

Catherine the Great at Sixty-Two

Catherine the Great at sixty-two. Portrait by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

If Anyone Has Forgotten What Camilla, England's Queen Consort, Looks Like

If anyone has forgotten what Camilla, England's Queen Consort, looks like. Incidentally, she is almost a contemporary of Alla Pugacheva: there are just 2 years between them.

NB! · Geography · Nature

Of Greece's 6,000 islands and islets, only 227 are inhabited, and all of them fall into 6 groups: 🟢 Ionian 🟣 North Aegean 🔵 Euboea and the Northern Sporades 🔴 Saronic Gulf Islands 🟠 Cyclades 🟡 Dodecanese

NB! · Geography · Humour

The Roundest Countries in the World

Aristocracy · Monarchies · People

Elena Kirby, Countess Dvinskaya, maternal half-sister of Maria Vladimirovna Romanova

Elena Kirby, Countess of Dvina, holding her great-nephew Prince Alexander Romanov, with Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov beside her. The Countess of Dvina is the elder half-sister of Maria Vladimirovna Romanova. Elena Kirby was born in 1935, of the first marriage of Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Mukhransky to the American millionaire

Books · Museums · Observations · People · Humour

Facts about Beethoven's mother from Koblenz refute the myth of his African origin

We have already heard about a black Napoleon; now it turns out that Beethoven was black too. One wonders who is next in line: Shakespeare? The author of this theory has even published a book, but not one of the facts he cites as proof of Beethoven's African