Rectangular brooch with a painted eye under glass, surrounded by a row of small pearls, with the pin visible on the right.

NB! · Art · Mores · Humour

English brooch of the early 19th century with an image of a lover's eye

A brooch "Look me in the eye, I want to say I'll forget you, I won't weep", with the portrait of a lover's eye, as you will understand. England, early nineteenth century

Art · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour

Pablo Picasso's 86-year-old daughter Maya Picasso-Widmaier (68-year-old Brigitte Macron stands beside her, please do not confuse the two) has presented her father's museum with a number of memorial items and 6 of his works, including this portrait, in whi

It must be said, a very good likeness: you have scarcely changed, my dear

NB! · Observations · Paris · People · Humour

Claude Debussy, who died as the First World War drew to its close, has a maximally dull grave, and I cannot imagine how Manuel de Falla managed to dedicate music to this resting place, music of which, incidentally, I am not much enamoured either

Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Hairstyle of Empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, on a coin

All the best things were invented in antiquity. Take this hairstyle of the Empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. I understand that few would expend so much effort on arranging their hair, especially in the absence of slave labour, but it looks positively regal. Incidentally, I commend the maker

A dark iron anchor shaped like a cross on a stone wall with peeling white plaster.

NB! · Architecture · Humour

A façade anchor with tie rods on a wall with peeling plaster

What is a facade anchor with tie rods, or what does iron patience look like? Rather like the back of a television presenter's head after a facelift

NB! · Observations · Humour

Good Boots, Worth Having

Art · Moscow · Museums · Society Pages · Humour

Cosmoscow Anecdotes

Maxim Boxer asks: how much is this Shelkovsky? The reply: the work is not for sale, it is a museum exhibit, you are at the stand of the Multimedia Art Museum. A pity

Art · Moscow · Society Pages · Humour

Presentation of the Ninth Cosmoscow Season at the Manege

Presentation of the ninth Cosmoscow season at the Manege. An empty chair beneath the portrait of Olga Sviblova serves as a reminder of the joke about Olga Lvovna's famous punctuality. ps The best stand at the fair was judged to be that of the Szena Gallery

Chests, knightly shields, bags and poles beside a red basement entrance of a brick building.

NB! · Architecture · Books · Moscow · Humour

Knight Ivanhoe caught up in Moscow's renovation programme in 2021

Sir Ivanhoe falls victim to renovation. Moscow, 2021

NB! · Cinema · Humour

A Disney Remake of "The Pokrovsky Gates"

NB! · Cinema · Moscow · Observations · Humour

Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty"

Stills from Marlen Khutsiev's 1965 film "I Am Twenty". So the young people embraced a little, rolled about on one another beside a football pitch, danced chastely, and nothing came of it: not a single Komsomol card fell off. Who knows what another 20 years will

Books · Moscow · Observations · Humour

It is alarming that Dasha Veledeyeva of Harper's Bazaar repeats the mistake of Lyudmila Sviridova from the bread factory, who was let into the general reading room (Hall No. 3, though the largest in Europe) and told that it was the academic hall (Hall No.

Girls, the academic hall is straight down the corridor, not to the right!!!