NB! · Art · People

Works by the Spanish para-surrealist painter María Remedios Varo (1908-1963)

Art · Books · Paris · People

Surgeon Samuel de Pozzi in the 1881 portrait by John Singer Sargent

The French surgeon Samuel-Jean de Pozzi (1846-1918) is sometimes called one of the handsomest men of his day. In his university years he even earned the nickname Siren. Pozzi's life was a most entertaining one, and it is no accident that Julian Barnes devoted his latest

NB! · Art · People · Society Pages

Ceramics by Apollinaria Brosh: her exhibition opened yesterday at the Triumph Gallery

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

A Crinoline Mishap

A crinoline mishap. Poor girl, one longs to offer her a hand. But the fellow, instead of helping, has raised a finger and stands there looking gleeful.

Art · Nature

Child with hunting dogs in a joint painting by Jan Fyt and Erasmus Quellinus the Younger

A very serious little boy with hunting dogs and a bird of prey. A collaborative painting by the Antwerp animal painter Jan Fyt (1609-1661) and Erasmus Quellinus the Younger (1607-1678). Such joint works were not uncommon among the Flemish, especially for Fyt. The principle was simple: to achieve

Art · Monarchies · Observations

Portrait of Louis Bonaparte by Charles Jalabert and the helmets of French dragoons

Napoleon's younger brother, Louis Bonaparte, in the uniform of a colonel of the 5th Dragoons. Portrait by Charles Jalabert. In the French army, the helmets of dragoon officers were adorned with a turban of leopard skin. I cannot say whether this alludes to the leopard skin fastened to

NB! · Art · Museums

Figures from an Old Barrel Organ

Art

Hippolyte Bellangé’s “Scene from the Napoleonic Wars” sold at auction in Vienna in 2016

Not the most typical sketch for the battle genre. This picture by the French battle painter Hippolyte Bellangé (1800-1866), "Scene from the Napoleonic Wars", seems to capture a far from joyful meeting between a convoy of civilians and a party of soldiers. The horse with a bayonet

Art · Books · People

When General Bonaparte told the French writer, publicist and literary salon hostess Madame de Staël that he did not like women meddling in politics, she replied: "Yes, but in a country where women have their heads cut off…

Portrait of Louise Germaine de Staël (1766-1817), painted in 1812 by Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, when Madame de Staël was visiting Russia and warmly supporting the struggle against Napoleon

Early 15th century medieval miniature: three crowned women and Christine de Pizan raise the white stone walls of the City of Ladies.

NB! · Archive · Art · Books

Reason, Rectitude and Justice help Christine de Pizan build the City of Ladies

Illustration from The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, one of the first female writers of the Middle Ages, early fifteenth century. Reason, Rectitude and Justice help Christine de Pizan to build the City of Ladies

A young man in a waistcoat steadies a basket of daisies and cornflowers on his head, holding a bunch of daisies in his other hand.

NB! · Art · London · Observations · Humour

William Bruce Ellis Ranken’s painting “Covent Garden” (1930) for International Women’s Day

How all men should look on 8 March. William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941), Covent Garden, 1930. Happy International Women's Day, to all the lovely, esteemed, priceless, dear girls and women 🌸

Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Churchill's 1943 painting, given to Roosevelt and later bought by Brad Pitt

I can hardly believe anyone paid $12 million for this Churchill painting. Then again, one remembers Andy Warhol, and belief comes at once. Especially given its provenance: painted in January 1943 after a meeting with the US President Franklin Roosevelt in Casablanca, presented to Roosevelt that same year, acquired in