Aristocracy · Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Heritage
So this is the sorry state of the rear façade of the once-famous palace of Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky, built in the 1780s. To a design by Bazhenov, or by Kazakov, or by someone else altogether. The view of the opposite façade, facing Vozdvizhenka, is blocked by the Kremlin
Aristocracy · London · Observations · Mores
I have been reading about the strange death of the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury. Two years ago, Michael Brudenell-Bruce, aged 98, died after falling from a window of his London home in Shepherd's Bush. The marquess's body was found by his partner; he lay in
Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Mores · Paris · Pop Culture
The Surrealist Ball. Hosted by Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and her husband Baron Guy de Rothschild at their family estate, the Château de Ferrières in Seine-et-Marne, France. The dress code, written in mirror script, read: "Black tie, long dresses and surrealist heads". As the guests
Aristocracy · Archive · Architecture
Photograph by Alexander Zhivago
NB! · Aristocracy · Architecture · Observations · Mores
In my opinion, it is a very strange architectural decision to place two marble columns at the foot of a bed. Or, more precisely, to set the bed between marble columns. But that is how the Earl of Strafford's bedchamber at Wentworth Woodhouse was arranged.
Aristocracy · Art · People
The Milanese ruler of the Torriani family had brought several Lombard cities under his sway from 1265, but in January 1277 he was defeated in battle by the hostile forces of the Visconti. Napoleone and his relatives were taken prisoner by Archbishop Ottone Visconti. Confined in an iron cage hung
Aristocracy · Faith · Books
Put not your trust in princes: They are born of men, And all by nature in this world are equal in honour. The earth brings forth, the earth devours; Everyone born, being born, shall die, Rich and poor, despised and renowned. Then those flatteries shall vanish That were given to
Aristocracy · Art · Museums · Humour
The composition, which recalls familiar religious subjects, is probably meant to lend an even more satirical tinge to the mockery of social conventions and of the excessive fussing over pets among the aristocracy.
Aristocracy · Archive · Faith · London · Monarchies
According to this genealogical construction, the English royal family, namely Elizabeth II and her descendants, trace their origin to the progenitor of the 12 Tribes of Israel, the third Old Testament patriarch Jacob, called Israel. What is more, Elizabeth is a descendant of Jacob-Israel and his son Judah not
Aristocracy · Cinema · People · Pop Culture
It turns out that Sir Christopher Lee, the actor who brought Saruman to life in Peter Jackson's film trilogy, was descended on his mother's side from the noble Italian house of Carandini. This allowed Christopher Lee to trace his lineage directly back to Charlemagne, Emperor of
Aristocracy · Cinema · People · Pop Culture
In 2007 Helen Mirren, born Elena Lydia Vasilyevna Mironova, visited Russia and found her cousins and other relatives. Her grandmother was Countess Lydia Andreyevna Kamenskaya, her grandfather Colonel Pyotr Vasilyevich Mironov. Helen's father arrived in Great Britain at the age of two. In Russia her grandfather had left
Aristocracy · Archive · Books · Observations · New York · Society · Paris · Saint Petersburg
Strange as it may seem, Pushkin and Eugene Onegin are mentioned in Epstein's correspondence. The context is yet another girl whom he is being urged to take on. It is reported that she is connected to the Russian imperial family, and that her great-great-grandfather, a certain