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Architecture · Art · Museums · Paris
Auguste Rodin worked for 37 years on “The Gates of Hell”, commissioned in 1880
In 1880 Rodin was commissioned to make the entrance portal for the Museum of Decorative Arts, planned for Paris on the site of the burnt-out Palais d'Orsay. But Rodin failed to finish the work on time and returned the advance. The museum, however, had no need of
NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Pop Culture
Queen Paola of Belgium in a matchless Chanel jacket with her first-born, now King Philippe of the Belgians, who turned 62 today
Observations · Paris · People · Humour
Some hold that genius is passed down by inheritance, while others have no children
Marcel Achard
NB! · Faith · People
Today Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI Would Have Celebrated His 95th Birthday
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
A creepy fellow I would not let within several kilometres of my children. Let alone my wife.
A creepy fellow I would not let within several kilometres of my children. Let alone my wife. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her five children, their governess and Rasputin. Where was Nicholas II looking?
Art · Mores · Paris · People
The Blue Room, 1923
The Blue Room, 1923. Suzanne Valadon. Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) was the first woman admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. She fed her cats caviar, kept a goat in her studio, ate her failed paintings, and married a friend of her son.
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
One day in childhood there comes a moment when you play in the yard with your friends for the last time, until you are called indoors, but you do not yet know it
One day in childhood there comes a moment when you play in the yard with your friends for the last time, until you are called indoors, but you do not yet know it. Look closely at this photograph. The mood is much the same: the wedding of Princess Victoria Louise
NB! · Society · People
On the morning of 15 April 1865, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, died at the age of 56; the previous evening he had been mortally wounded by a gunshot at Ford's Theatre in Washington
Archive · Observations · Society · Humour
Russian Ministry of Finance on European money markets and the rouble to mark rate
And I, what of it? I simply rejoice at Russia's financial triumphs of 1891. "The key to the financial position of Europe lies in the Russian Ministry of Finance... The Russian Ministry of Finance serves Europe as a brokers' bank... Russian influence on the money markets
NB! · Observations · Society
Ghosts of Sanctioned Goods and Pre-Sanction Prices
NB! · Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Paris · Humour
Mollien Staircase decoration at the Louvre before and after removal of 120 years of grime
Decorative elements of the Escalier Mollien in the Louvre before and after the removal of 120 years of grime, dust and soot. And are you still quite certain that your ceiling was grey to begin with?