Art · Monarchies · Observations · People · Humour

In 1711 Cosimo III of Tuscany commissioned Bartolomeo Bimbi to paint a 53-kilogram pumpkin

Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany is customarily regarded as an unproductive, dull and mediocre ruler. To me, it takes a fine sense of humour to commission the court painter to make portraits of one's own harvest. The tongue simply refuses to call it a still life, this

NB! · Archive · Observations · Humour

A Rather Fine Element for a Ladies' Halloween Costume from the 1920s

Books · Moscow · Observations · Humour

The four component parts of “The Master and Margarita” and their literary sources

On the eve of the day when the dead and other unclean spirits run riot, one cannot but recall the work of Russian literature that is held to be mysterious, full of otherworldly signs and horror, and is invariably linked with mystical signs. Although, on the whole, The Master and

NB! · Art · New York · Society Pages · Humour

And now, the pride bulletin

And now, the pride bulletin. Sergei Gordeev, the owner of PIK, has lost a million dollars to the art historian Ilyin, having maintained that he was the richest man at the Guggenheim Foundation dinner.

Art · Museums · Humour

Your face when Mum asks you to talk on the phone to a distant relative

Giovanni Bellini's Pietà, 1465-1470, presented to the Pinacoteca di Brera in 1811 by Napoleon's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais, who had taken the panel from the rich Sampieri collection

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

People often ask me what it is like to be the heir to a great dynasty?

People often ask me what it is like to be the heir to a great dynasty? Well, how shall I put it: Eduard Habsburg is obliged not only to pull the burden of Austrian ambassador to the Holy See and the Order of Malta, but also to breakfast on enormous

NB! · Observations · Humour

What headphones are those, might you tell me?

NB! · Museums · Observations · Humour

I feel like the cat of the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and cannot help it

Art · Moscow · Museums · Humour

A subscriber at the Tretyakov Gallery tells a charming story

A visitor standing before "Lenin in Smolny" asked whether it was true that Brodsky had given the bald head an extra glow so that it would look like a halo. The guide replied that no, of course not: the bald head simply had to be set off from

Observations · Mores · Nature · Humour

Lady Hamilton's poodle Codina and the fashion for poodles during the fall of the French monarchy

Aww, what a darling! Little Codina, the favourite poodle of Horatio Nelson's mistress, Lady Hamilton. In Russia at this time large poodles were the fashion, while in Europe small ones like this were preferred. Poodles came into great vogue precisely in the years of the fall of the

Observations · Mores · Society Pages · Humour

At the Veuve Clicquot Award I learnt that Madame Clicquot was widowed very young and inherited rich wine cellars which it was DANGEROUS to enter, owing to the shards of exploding champagne bottles, so that the wine vaults could only be visited…

At the Veuve Clicquot Award I learnt that Madame Clicquot was widowed very young and inherited rich wine cellars which it was DANGEROUS to enter, owing to the shards of exploding champagne bottles, so that the wine vaults could only be visited in special protective suits, against the explosions. Sounds

Archaeology · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · Humour

Leather shoes of Henry VIII's era in Holbein's portrait and in museum collections

In Holbein's portrait, Henry VIII is wearing some seriously cool white leather loafers. This type of footwear was popular in Renaissance England, and such slippers became widespread in court circles precisely in the early sixteenth century, though they had to compete with another fashionable model, the heeled shoe.