In a dark temple interior a beam of light falls on an old man holding an infant and a woman in blue, with a crowd around and a figure in crimson robes at left.

NB! · Faith · Art

Rembrandt's 1631 painting of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Rembrandt, 1631

Faith · Art · Rome

Plautilla's Veil in Christian Iconography of the Apostle Paul's Beheading

Paul called out to her: "Greetings, Plautilla, daughter of eternal salvation! Lend me the kerchief with which you cover your head, and go yourself beyond the barrier for the people and wait there until I return to you and give back your alms. I shall bind my eyes with

NB! · Archive · Art · Books · Monarchies

A Most Unusual Peter I in an Engraved Portrait from the First Printed Biography of Peter and the Lifetime Edition of "The Present State of the Russian Empire" of 1717

Art · Museums · Society · Paris

Louvre director Laurence des Cars has just declared that the Mona Lisa will be viewable only with the purchase of an additional ticket

The ticket will be purchased as a supplement to the ticket for the main exhibition. "Our proposal is to accept the exceptional status of the Mona Lisa," said des Cars, calling the painting "a blessing for the Louvre". Yet only a few days ago Macron announced

Faith · Art · Museums · Rome

Giotto depicts the kerchief returned to Plautilla on the back of the Stefaneschi Triptych

The Roman noblewoman Plautilla gave Saint Paul her headscarf so that he would have something to blindfold himself with at his execution. Saint Paul promised to return the scarf after his death. On the reverse of the panel showing the beheading of Paul, in the Stefaneschi Triptych, Giotto depicted the

A haloed saint in a brown habit stands on a rock and bends towards a shark on the shore, with other fish visible in the water behind.

Faith · Art · Humour

Saint Anthony preaches to the fish in a painting by Arnold Böcklin

Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fishes. Arnold Böcklin The shark is positively moved

Archive · Art · Observations · Pop Culture

Demna's black dress of 2021 and the archival mock-ups of Cristóbal Balenciaga

In 2020 Demna Gvasalia announced the return of the Haute Couture line to the House of Balenciaga, where in Cristóbal Balenciaga's day it was the principal means of artistic expression. The graphic silhouette of the black dress with a hat from Demna's Autumn/Winter 2021-22

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores

I see that many of you liked the antique pet houses; here, for example, is a house-cum-pouffe, early nineteenth century

Art · Moscow · Observations · Mores

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow. Old bourgeois life was everywhere just as cosy and heartfelt. Add the basket on the table and the checked cotton tablecloth. All that's missing is icons in place of

Corner of a studio with a glass roof and tall windows, holding easels, canvases, a dark wooden wardrobe topped with a gilded frame, and shawls.

NB! · Art · Observations

Artist's studio with a glazed roof, easels and a wooden wardrobe

The artist's studio. The gold standard

Dark terracotta bust of a man with curled hair tied with a ribbon, on a plinth before a large mirror in an interior with a marble floor.

NB! · Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Bust of a Man in Patinated Terracotta by Jean-Jacques Caffieri

Why do lifestyle bloggers all have such cheekbones? That was my first thought on looking at this patinated terracotta by Jean-Jacques Caffieri. Incidentally, the bust before us is of a man

Faith · Art · Museums · Observations · Rome

Guido Reni's Moses, painted between 1620 and 1625, and the influence of Caravaggio

And although the song most apt to the occasion went "don't lose it and don't break it", the masterpiece by Guido Reni in the Galleria Borghese is called "Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law" The canvas dates from 1620-1625. By