Art · Museums

Young Woman Warming Her Hands over a Brazier: An Allegory of Winter

Caesar Pietersz van Everdingen, c. 1644 – c. 1648. Rijksmuseum collection

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Observations

The Pushkin Museum Turns 112

NB! · Books · Museums · People · Saint Petersburg

The Writing Desk in Dostoevsky's Flat

Marble statue of a seated goddess in a crenellated city-wall crown, holding ears of wheat, with a male figure at her feet.

NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Rome

Statue of the Goddess Tyche as the Seleucid Capital in the Vatican Museums

I photographed this statue in the Vatican Museums some time ago because of its extraordinary crown. It turns out that this Roman copy of a Greek bronze depicts the goddess Tyche in the allegorical guise of the capital of the Seleucids. On her head sits a city wall, complete with

A white lamb with bound legs lies on a stone slab against a dark background, a faint thin halo above its head.

Faith · Art · Museums

Francisco de Zurbarán’s “Lamb of God” of 1639 and at least seven versions of the subject

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) The Lamb of God, Francisco de Zurbarán, 1639. At least seven versions of this subject by Zurbarán are known.

NB! · Archive · Books · Museums

The Manuscript of The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky

Art · Museums · Paris

"Apollo and Daphnis", Pietro Perugino, 1495

The identity of the figure with the flute is disputed: some believe him to be Daphnis, pining for love of a deity, while others see in the youth the satyr Marsyas. For a time the painting was exhibited in the Louvre under the title "Apollo and Marsyas". When

NB! · Art · Museums · Paris · People

There is a theory that the man in the red turban in the background of Van Eyck's "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin" of 1435 is the sitter of the "Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban" of 1433, in other words, the painter Jan van Eyck himself

Art · Museums · Observations

Berlin's “Man in a Golden Helmet” ceased to be regarded as a Rembrandt in 1984

In 1984 experts questioned the attribution of Rembrandt's Man in a Golden Helmet in the collection of the Berlin Art Gallery. Is it too much like Rembrandt to be Rembrandt? The work had been ascribed to Rembrandt for many years, until a special Dutch commission for establishing the

Faith · Books · Museums · Paris

Behold the monstrance, like a golden sun, Hung in the air: a magnificent moment

Behold the monstrance, like a golden sun, Hung in the air: a magnificent moment. Here only the Greek language should be heard: A whole world is taken into the hands, like a simple apple. The solemn zenith of the divine service, Light in the round chamber beneath the dome in

NB! · Monarchies · Moscow · Museums

Vladimir Putin and the Diamond Cap of Peter I Alexeyevich

NB! · Art · Museums · Ethnography