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

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

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.

NB! · Aristocracy · Cinema · Monarchies · Mores · People · Humour

And yes, the ancestor of Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in "Game of Thrones", a poet and courtier of the sixteenth century, Sir John Harington, invented the first flushing lavatory for the aged Queen Elizabeth I

Books · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour

Sir John Harington's joke, which he played on James VI

Sir John Harington's joke, which he played on James VI. At least, so it is recorded in the book by the admirable Christina Larner, a historian and one of the first to take up the subject of witchcraft. The court poet, incidentally an ancestor of our beloved Kit

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · People · Humour

Marie Antoinette as a Hyena

Marie Antoinette as a hyena. The hairstyle is odd, of course

NB! · Art · Cinema · Monarchies · Museums · Paris · Pop Culture

On 16 October the exhibition "Marie Antoinette, Metamorphosis of an Image" opened in Paris, bringing together hundreds of images of the queen, from the classic portraits of Vigée Le Brun to excerpts from films about Marie Antoinette and the manga "The Ros

Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People

Catherine de' Medici left 400,000 écus to her servants, from doctors to maids of honour

Catherine de' Medici, hated by many and regarded as a spiteful, heartless schemer and a royal mischief-maker, spent her last minutes drawing up her will. It is even said that the will took so long that her son had to finish dictating his mother's last wishes

Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · People

Louvre cast of Catherine de Medici's tomb brought to Blois, where she was first buried

A cast of Catherine de' Medici's tomb effigy from Saint-Denis has recently been brought to Blois from the Louvre. The queen was first buried in the Church of Saint-Sauveur within the walls of the Château de Blois, after a ceremonial effigy of her, fitted with

Archive · Books · Monarchies · Mores · People

To put it mildly, the people and the court received the news of Catherine de' Medici's death with mixed feelings

To put it mildly, the people and the court received the news of Catherine de' Medici's death with mixed feelings. Here are a few interesting remarks about the poor old lady. “There were those who said all sorts of things about her death, and even about poison.

Faith · Monarchies · Mores · People

Catherine de’ Medici, the predictions of Nostradamus and the circumstances of her death

In the Year When in France One Eye Shall Rule, Great Turmoil Shall Come upon the Court, the Grandee of Blois Shall Slay His Friend, and Misfortune and Doubt Shall Beset the King. By the end of the sixteenth century, the obsession with the predictions of Nostradamus had reached such

Art · Monarchies · Mores · People

The marriage of Maria Josephine of Savoy to the Count of Provence, the future Louis XVIII

Firstly, this is not the most popular portrait of Marie-Joséphine of Savoy, and the woman depicted in it is scarcely recognisable in her other portraits, where she appears as a pomaded slip of a thing in wigs and jewels. Secondly, what do we actually know of this Queen of