NB! · Art · Moscow · Observations · Humour

In the helmet of a figure in Gerard David's 1498 diptych "The Flaying of the Corrupt Judge", after a story from Herodotus' "Histories", yet another Stalinist high-rise appears to be reflected

The East · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

The legend of Fath Ali Shah and the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica

There is a legend that Fath Ali, Shah of Iran (1772-1834), having received in 1797 the 18-volume edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, read it from cover to cover and added to his royal title the words "Most Formidable Lord and Master of the Encyclopaedia Britannica". It

Books · Observations · Humour

The Aeneid retold by Ivan Kotlyarevsky and Nikolay Osipov

Эней был парубок бедовый И хлопец хоть куда казак, На шашни прыткий, непутевый, Затмил он записных гуляк. Когда же Трою в битве грозной Сровняли с кучею навозной, Котомку сгреб и тягу дал; С собою прихватил троянцев, Бритоголовых голодранцев, И грекам пятки показал. Literal translation I have discovered an incredible pleasure,

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Good Lord, just look at these conceited monarchs!

Good Lord, just look at these conceited monarchs! Porcelain figurines of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by Neapolitan craftsmen of the 1800s. True, the porcelain personages have ended up with rather Habsburg jaws; in two-dimensional images they generally look far better

NB! · Books · Observations · Humour

One might say I have fulfilled the dream of any author: to stand, if only for a moment, beside the diaries of Alina Hess

Observations · Education · Humour

Why no commas are needed in New Year wishes using the imperative mood

In case anyone else fancies making a New Year card in the spirit of "Pandemic go away! Wealth come!", no commas are needed, since names of persons and things used with the imperative in the sense of a wish ("let") are not forms of address. By

Archive · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

I never expected to bump into Nadezhda Babkina on Telegram, having last seen her on a bottle of mango-flavoured Pepsi in the company of Timothée

I never expected to bump into Nadezhda Babkina on Telegram, having last seen her on a bottle of mango-flavoured Pepsi in the company of Timothée. So far Babkina has only given RTVI an interview about some denunciations. I am certain that this time nobody asked her about so little-

NB! · Humour

When you have quite literally dressed to the nines in anticipation of meeting a proper fellow with a great deal of money

NB! · Observations · Society · Humour

While @museumsnob and @KirillandhisFriends have received notice of their priority right to a free vaccination as workers in cultural institutions, I have been assigned to the sphere of TRADE AND SERVICES; thank heavens it was not the internal organs

NB! · Museums · Observations · Society · Humour

Quite right: if ration cards for sugar and butter are being brought back, one may as well book a museum visit by telephone, or better still, by telegraph

Observations · Mores · Society · Humour

Convertible sofa of the 18th century at La Motte-Tilly and Soviet folding sofas

There was once a text about the Soviet passion for sofa-beds, which still haunts the hapless tenants of flats where a single room finds itself holding a bed, a sofa-bed and an armchair-bed, all against the backdrop of a carpet. For some reason there is a special

A moustached man in a white vest and white tights with pink trunks stands half-turned, one hand on his hip, against a dark background.

Art · Observations · Humour

Arthur Kampf’s painting “Artist”, created in 1907

In the old days men were men, not like now. The Artist, Arthur Kampf, 1907.