Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Monarchies · People

Golden sceptre of Empress Charlotte of Mexico being sold by the Goffinet heirs

Golden sceptre of Empress Charlotte of Mexico goes under the hammer in Monte Carlo, estimated at €100,000 to €200,000. This 34-centimetre symbol of imperial power, of 22-carat gold and weighing more than 400 grams, is adorned with diamonds of exceptional spectrum, rubies, emeralds, pearls, perforation, filigree

Art · Observations

Thomas Benjamin Kennington’s “The Ace of Hearts” of 1882 and the man seen in the mirror

The Ace of Hearts, 1882. Thomas Benjamin Kennington (1856–1916). Note that the heroine of the painting is looking not at the viewer but at the man standing directly in front of her, whom we can see in the mirror's reflection. Does it remind you of Van Eyck&

Close detail of an engraving of a face made of concentric lines that spiral outward from the tip of the nose.

Faith · Art · People

Claude Mellan made the engraving “The Sudarium of Saint Veronica” with one spiral line in 1649

The Face of Christ in a Single Spiralling Line. The Veil of Saint Veronica, copperplate engraving, 1649. By the French painter and engraver Claude Mellan (1598-1688)

Art · Observations · Humour

The mood for doing nothing, lounging about and watching box sets

French ceramicist Maturin Méheut, 1925

NB! · Art · Museums · People

Portrait of Peter I in the Uffizi Gallery, painted by Ivan Nikitin (1680-1742), who studied in Venice and Florence

NB! · Art

Portrait of a Youth by Mexican mystical realist Alejandro Cañeda

Portrait of a Youth. By the Mexican magical realist Alejandro Caneda (1902-1978)

NB! · Art · Paris

Negress

Negress. Ilya Repin. Painted in Paris in 1875-1876.

Faith · Art · Books · Science · Nature

Next!

Next! Comrades, let us not hold up the queue! Engraving by Jan Luyken from the frontispiece of Cornelis van Dyck's Osteology, 1680. A tortoise, a hedgehog, a rabbit, a dog, a horse and a camel are leaving the frame. It is no accident that the almost biblical scene