Black-and-white photograph of an older woman in a dark hat and coat looking at a painting of a nude in a shop window, with the street reflected in the glass.

Society · Paris · Pop Culture · Humour

Robert Doisneau's 1948 photograph “Indignant Lady” at the Galerie Romi window in Paris

Elena Mizulina Has Entered the Internet. "Indignant Lady. Shop Window, Galerie Romi, Paris", 1948, by Robert Doisneau

Faith · Mores · Rome · Humour

Historians regard the story of Pope Joan and her exposure as fiction

You will of course know that most historians agree on the fictional character of the tale of a woman on the Papal throne, Pope Joan. Most likely, the myth was devised as an irony at the expense of the dominance of courtesans, kept women and concubines of every description in

NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Humour

Or, as the public prefers to think, Stalin's sewage bunker

Cinema · Observations · Humour

Joaquin Phoenix and Jodie Comer to play Napoleon and Josephine in the film Kitbag

In the forthcoming 2023 film about Bonaparte's military career and rise to power, Kitbag, the 30-year-old Napoleon and the 36-year-old Josephine will be played by the 46-year-old Joaquin Phoenix and the 28-year-old Jodie Comer. Which means that either we shall

A pearl choker on a linen bust, with some beads coloured red and red glass beads falling down like drops of blood.

Pop Culture · Humour

American brand Bethroot Crystals has released the jewellery collection “Dracula’s Kiss”

A pearl necklace with spatters of blood, in the style of "Death Becomes Her" The American brand Bethroot Crystals makes very life-affirming jewellery; the collection is called Dracula's Kiss

NB! · Art · Museums · Humour

The Boy in the Silenus Mask Has Changed a Great Deal in 2,000 Years

Art · Monarchies · Moscow · Museums · Science · Nature · Humour

The Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire Made of Insects, 1842, Presented by an Author from Slovenia to His Colleagues, the Moscow Naturalists

Over the long years the picture has been restored more than once, and by our day all the insects, originally natives of the Illyrian Provinces, have been replaced by insects born, lived and died on Russian soil. One might say that this curious heraldic trinket has, in the end, become

Moscow · Science · Society · Humour

Alexander Chubaryan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ramzan Kadyrov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; and Karen Shakhnazarov, Academician of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts

Alexander Chubaryan, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ramzan Kadyrov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; and Karen Shakhnazarov, Academician of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts. A photograph from the Kremlin reception held in November 2019, on the day the Prize for the Strengthening of

Art · Mores · Humour

Proverb about futile effort on one panel of Pieter Bruegel’s cycle “12 Proverbs”

Pieter Bruegel has a cycle of “Twelve Proverbs”. On one of the panels we see what appears to be a soak pissing at the moon. The inscription reads: “I never get what I want, I always piss at the moon.” The expression means “to waste time on futile efforts”. The

White painted head with a red band on the forehead, dark brows and eyes, red lips and red dots on the cheeks and chin, on a red stand.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Humour

Painted head from Mycenae, 13th century BC, with red headband and rouge

It seems you have gone to bed in your make-up again. Your ceramic head, Mycenae, 13th century BC.

Aristocracy · Cinema · Observations · Mores · Humour

The Duke of Bedford opened Woburn Abbey to the public with help from his wife Nicole

Supper at the Duchess of Bedford's. A familiar situation? When the hosts want a sumptuous table but have no wish to spend much on provisions, the richer service is brought out, and a few tomatoes and a mound of dried apricots are set in the middle of the

NB! · Art · Humour