A saint in a red cloak with a lamb and a kneeling man in a dark habit in an interior with a convex mirror on the wall.

Art · Observations · Humour

The convex mirror as a picture within a picture, one of its earliest depictions in painting

For a second I thought Robert Campin's "Saint John the Baptist" of 1438 was standing next to a washing machine. If you look closely, the convex mirror on the wall is, as it were, a picture within the picture, offering a glimpse of the interior and

NB! · Observations · Humour

How Long to Rivendell?

Detail of an engraving showing a laughing man in a ruffled collar holding a needle between his fingers.

Art · Monarchies · Humour

Engraving by an anonymous engraver after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius, around 1600

Prince Charles in an engraving 400 years old? Anonymous engraver, after a drawing by Hendrik Goltzius, c. 1600.

Cinema · London · Monarchies · Humour

The British throne from George II to his grandson and on to Queen Victoria

It is not often that a grandfather hands the throne to a grandson rather than a son. But George II and George III are precisely such a case. True, if George III quite conventionally passed the baton to his son, George IV, the latter was succeeded by his younger brother

NB! · Observations · Education · Humour

Lads, if you are going to a law exam, could you at least remember that a limited partnership is not a religious sect?

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · People · Humour

The younger sister of the King of the Belgians, 61-year-old Astrid, Princess of Belgium and Archduchess of Austria-Este, is learning a new trade

The younger sister of the King of the Belgians, 61-year-old Astrid, Princess of Belgium and Archduchess of Austria-Este, is learning a new trade. Should the need arise, we shall find her a post in Moscow's public transport

NB! · Observations · Humour

When at last you marry off your 2,000-year-old daughter

NB! · Observations · Humour

How About This Couch, Then?

Four men with open mouths and a cat in a lace collar sing from a sheet of music against a dark background.

Art · Mores · Humour

The painting “The Singing Company” by Niccolò Frangipane

When everyone at the party has the same beautician, except the cat. A Singing Company, Niccolò Frangipane

NB! · Nature · Humour

A Piglet with a Human Face: His Mother Was So Unpleasantly Surprised That She Refused to Feed Him

NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Imaginary Lego sets are always better than real ones

Cinema · Books · Humour

Watching "Khraniteli" (The Guardians), the Soviet heartfelt screen adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, based on the splendid translation of the novel by Muravyov and Kistyakovsky, in which many details cut from the plot in Peter Jackson's version have be

Watching "Khraniteli" (The Guardians), the Soviet heartfelt screen adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, based on the splendid translation of the novel by Muravyov and Kistyakovsky, in which many details cut from the plot in Peter Jackson's version have been preserved. Tom Bombadil, for instance,