Books · Education · People · Humour

John Milton, author of "Paradise Lost" and Foreign Secretary in Cromwell's government, was known during his student years at Cambridge (Christ's College) as the Lady of Christ's: he was long-haired, pale and languid, and sat under a tree in the Fellows' G

John Milton, author of "Paradise Lost" and Foreign Secretary in Cromwell's government, was known during his student years at Cambridge (Christ's College) as the Lady of Christ's: he was long-haired, pale and languid, and sat under a tree in the Fellows&

NB! · Archive · Art · Books

Boethius sees in a mirror how Lady Philosophy, for some reason standing at a distance from the bed, comforts and heals him in his sickness and infirmity

Archaeology · Museums

In 1859 a boy found the head of an Iron Age woman in the Stidsholt bog

In 1859, a boy walking along the bogs at Stidsholt in Denmark spotted a woven ribbon sticking out of the ground. Pulling at the ribbon, the lad drew out of the peat layer the mummified head of a red-haired woman. The local doctor established that the head had been

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · People · Pop Culture

The Slippers of Eugénie, the Last Empress of the French and Arbiter of Fashion across All Europe

Faith · Observations · Mores

The Beliefs of the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit and Their Condemnation by Clement V

The followers of the religious movement "Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit" denied the importance of the clergy, rites and divine service, accepting only the spiritual side of Christianity. The Brethren, moreover, held that God is present in equal measure in everything in the world, poured out

NB! · Faith · Art · Humour

Ignatius Loyola plays billiards with Francis Xavier; the loser must obey the winner unconditionally for a month

Ignatius Loyola plays billiards with Francis Xavier; the loser must obey the winner unconditionally for a month. The cunning Loyola, of course, won

Faith · Art

How to distinguish the Insulting of Christ from the Mocking of Christ in religious art

In religious art there are subjects that depict the physical torments of Christ. Among them are the trial of Christ before Annas, where an attendant struck him, the spitting upon the Son of God, the scourging, the mocking and the crowning with thorns. These storylines appear in depictions of the

NB! · Faith · Art

Fra Angelico, The Mocking of Christ (1440–1441)

NB! · Faith · Art

Duccio, The Mocking of Christ (1308–1311)

Aristocracy · Books · Monarchies · Mores

Though, in the respectable Nabokov family, things turned out melodramatic enough even without "Poor Nastya": Vladimir Nabokov's grandmother was married to his grandfather from the age of 15 and called her husband "a monkey with cold feet", at the time of

Though, in the respectable Nabokov family, things turned out melodramatic enough even without "Poor Nastya": Vladimir Nabokov's grandmother was married to his grandfather from the age of 15 and called her husband "a monkey with cold feet", while at the time of the wedding

Aristocracy · Books · Observations · Humour

Nabokov's paternal grandmother Maria Ferdinandovna was born Baroness von Korff

It turns out that Nabokov's paternal grandmother, Maria Ferdinandovna, was born a Baroness von Korff. I wonder whether she was related to Baron Korf from "Poor Nastya"? What an amusing turn of events that would be

A black clavi-harp in a museum room, with a harp-shaped frame set on a case with a keyboard and pedals.

NB! · Museums · Observations · Science

The clavi-harp, invented by Johann-Christian Dietz in 1813

The clavi-harp is a rarest of instruments, invented in 1813 by Johann Christian Dietz. It is far lighter and more compact than the upright piano, and it is quite unclear why it never became equally fashionable. I should gladly acquire one

Latest