NB! · Archive · Architecture · Art · Paris

Models of Old Paris, including a model of the Île de la Cité as it stood in the sixteenth century, made in the early twentieth century by the topographical artist Gaston Renault

NB! · Art · Pop Culture · Humour

What a Knightly Collaboration between Balenciaga and Maison Margiela Tabi Might Look Like

Black-and-white press photograph of a plaster sculpture of a reclining nude man in a studio, captioned “Worker’s Rest”.

Archive · Art · Education · Humour

Sculpture “Worker’s Rest”, a 1924 work by a VKHUTEIN student

"Sir, are you all right?" "Can't you see? I'm resting." Work by a VKhUTEIN student, 1924

NB! · Geography · Art · Nature

A marble quarry in the Apuan Alps; many Renaissance sculptures were carved from the local stone

Art · Museums · Mores · Humour

Aryballoi, alabastra and strigils in depictions of nude youths

The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens makes skilful use of the theme of eroticism in its display. Naked youths demonstrate quite plainly the purpose of the clay vessels known as the aryballos and the alabastron, in which aromatic oils for rubbing into the skin were kept, and of the

Painted portrait of a young man with tousled brown hair, wearing a dark coat with a fur collar.

Art · Madrid · Museums · Observations · Pop Culture

Portraits by Lawrence, Bol and Aspertini at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

Why can't menswear be like this? Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. Portrait of David Lyon, Thomas Lawrence, 1825. Portrait of a Youth in a Plumed Hat, Ferdinand Bol, 1647. Portrait of Tommaso Raimondi, Amico Aspertini, 1500.

Carved light wood relief of a bearded, half-naked man with a hand raised to his mouth, surrounded by curling flames.

NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Humour

Sixteenth-century memento mori with a chained figure in a boxwood coffin amid flames

A sixteenth-century memento mori: a figurine in a boxwood coffin, chained and ringed with flames, somewhat recalls the plasticine works of the contemporary artist Tatyana Brodach. Let us be frank: the fellow burning in hell comes off rather better

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

A proud skeleton on a mountain of skulls: not a bad design for a monument to Napoleon, and one that remains apt for many a ruler even in our own day

Faith · Art · People

Bridget of Sweden, patron saint of Europe since 1999, in a painting by Hans Schäufelein

In 1999 John Paul II proclaimed Saint Bridget of Sweden a patroness of Europe. Renowned for her righteous life and her Revelations, the fourteenth-century saint is depicted in a painting by the German artist Hans Schäufelein before the Crucifix, dripping wax from a burning candle onto her hand in

Art · Museums

A Most Rare Porcelain Group of Apollo and Marsyas

A most rare porcelain group of Apollo and Marsyas. Apollo flays the satyr Marsyas for having bested him in a musical contest. 1757–65. Height about 25 cm. The satyr is bound to a tree with gilded cords, while the cruel god Apollo sits on a gilded plinth, draped in

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Paris · People

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840. Eugène Isabey

Art · Cinema · Observations · Humour

Primaticcio’s 1540 Spring Costume and the Living Trees in Alexander Rou’s “Morozko”

On the one hand, these costumes resemble the work of contemporary Russian designers. On the other, they are very interesting and, in their own way, beautiful, if alarming. Costume of a spring beneath a grove, 1540, by Francesco Primaticcio. Costume of the animated trees from the fairy tale "Morozko&