Art · Observations · Humour

Scatological scene on the base of a Greek drinking vessel from around 500 BC

The base of a drinking vessel, c. 500 BC. A man in a cloak, leaning on a staff, wipes himself with a smooth stone. The Greeks did not often turn to scatological subjects, that is, to those connected with the natural functions, in the applied arts, but this was evidently

NB! · Art · Museums · Rome

Dog Biting a Stag, from the Collection of the Vatican Museums

Two young women in elegant dresses sleep on a red sofa beside a black screen with an Asian-style design, one holding an open book.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Auguste Toulmouche’s painting “Midday Idyll”, created in 1874

Auguste Toulmouche, 1874. A Midday Idyll, or Weary of the Squabbling

Architecture · Art · Heritage · Paris

Six women restorers are restoring the face of Marianne on the Arc de Triomphe

Six independent women restorers are repairing a symbol of France: Marianne from the sculptural group La Marseillaise, which stands on the Arc de Triomphe. Marianne's face suffered badly during the Yellow Vests demonstration of 1 December 2018, and photographs of her with a smashed cheek went round the

Faith · The East · Art · Ethnography

Saint Helena Discovers the True Cross of the Lord

Saint Helena Discovers the True Cross of the Lord. Jan van Eyck, 1424. Perhaps it is precisely this legend that lies behind the custom of knocking on wood three times, to ward off bad luck or to invite good. The aged mother of the Emperor Constantine, Helena, searched long in

Art · Observations · People

Jacob Vrel, Known Only by His Name, and His Painting “Woman at a Window”

All that is known of the author of this painting is his name, inscribed on several dozen other works created between 1654 and 1662, presumably in Delft and Haarlem. Jacobus Vrel is one of the most enigmatic of the Little Dutch Masters, and mystery hangs over his canvases too, "

Archaeology · Faith · The East · Art · Museums · New York

An alabaster figurine from a Parthian-period necropolis, probably depicting Ishtar, the Akkadian goddess of love, fertility and war

An alabaster figurine from a Parthian-period necropolis, probably depicting Ishtar, the Akkadian goddess of love, fertility and war. The central female deity of the Mesopotamian pantheon is shown as a beautiful girl with a high bust and a narrow waist, ruby eyes, a headdress in the form of a

NB! · Art · Mores

Sleep and His Half-Brother Death

Sleep and His Half-Brother Death. John William Waterhouse, painted in 1874, after the death of two of the artist's brothers from tuberculosis. Incidentally, the picture illustrates well the old European fashion for sleeping in a half-seated position, which enlightened people considered the most correct for one&

NB! · The East · Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

To gauge the level of early medieval Japanese sculpture, simply compare these wooden guardians with, say, the French statue of Adam from the 12th century in the Musée de Cluny

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · People

Baroness Natalya Mikhailovna Stroganova (1743 - 1819)

Art · Observations · Society

Medusa Gorgon, whom we remember as a terrifying monster with snakes for hair, a lolling tongue, scales, claws and a hideous visage, turning to stone all who meet her gaze, and asleep, beheaded by the valiant Perseus…

A sexist reception of the heritage of world culture leaves outside the brackets of memory the story of how Medusa was turned into a monster: the beauty, raped by Poseidon, found neither help nor consolation in the temple of Athena, protectress of justice, but received instead a curse from the

A chain of red-orange coral links with a carved cross, lying in a museum display case.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums

Coral chain of the Order of the Holy Spirit that belonged to Louis XVI

The collar of the highest French order, that of the Holy Spirit, made of coral and belonging to Louis XVI. The other members of the order had to make do with something plainer: gold and enamel