Painting of a half-naked red-haired woman raising a mirror as she climbs from a well, while two men in dark and patterned clothes hold her by her garment.

NB! · Art · Museums · Society · Paris

Édouard Debat-Ponsan's painting of Truth, shown at the 1898 Salon in support of Dreyfus

“Truth Coming Out of Her Well”, where a soldier and a prelate would like to hide her. Édouard Debat-Ponsan. The painting was shown at the Salon of 1898, and the artist offered the canvas to Émile Zola in support of Captain Dreyfus

Architecture · Art · Museums · Paris

Auguste Rodin worked for 37 years on “The Gates of Hell”, commissioned in 1880

In 1880 Rodin was commissioned to make the entrance portal for the Museum of Decorative Arts, planned for Paris on the site of the burnt-out Palais d'Orsay. But Rodin failed to finish the work on time and returned the advance. The museum, however, had no need of

Sculpted figure with gilded drapery beneath an ornate vault, half cleaned and half still covered in grey grime.

NB! · Architecture · Museums · Heritage · Paris · Humour

Mollien Staircase decoration at the Louvre before and after removal of 120 years of grime

Decorative elements of the Escalier Mollien in the Louvre before and after the removal of 120 years of grime, dust and soot. And are you still quite certain that your ceiling was grey to begin with?

Coming Up · Moscow · Museums · Observations · Society

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre launches “Managing Turbulence”, a project to help people cope with stress

The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre is launching “Managing Turbulence”, a project to help people cope with stress. What is it? Open training sessions for adults and an evening lecture series. I never thought I would find myself recommending anything with the word “training” in its title. But in our

Archive · Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg

Museum ticket prices in Saint Petersburg from a twenty-year-old Afisha guidebook

Admission prices at Saint Petersburg's main museums, from a twenty-year-old Afisha guidebook. A ticket to the Hermitage museums: 15 roubles; entry to the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art: 10 roubles; to the Yelagin Palace: 5 roubles. Just twenty years ago! How is that for nostalgia?

Close-up of a bronze head of a bearded god with a close-fitting cap, rows of curled hair and hollow eye sockets.

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Humour

Bronze Poseidon of 480 BC found in the Bay of Livadostra in Boeotia, Greece

Bronze Poseidon, 480 BC. Found in the Bay of Livadostra in Boeotia, Greece. Not the handsomest of the gods.

Bag-shaped object with an arched handle, its front carved in relief with eyes and eight-pointed rosettes.

NB! · Archaeology · The East · Museums · Humour

Decorated Mesopotamian weight of 2600 BC and proposed uses for the object

DIOR MINI handbag, Ancient Mesopotamia, 2600 BC. Regarded as a decorated weight, but it may quite as well have served as a part of a loom, for religious purposes, as part of a dowry or as a gift

A vaulted frescoed hall with a woman in a pale gown on a throne at the centre, surrounded by people in red robes.

Aristocracy · Faith · Art · London · Museums · Mores · People · Rome

Painting by Frank Cadogan Cowper, 1910, from the Tate collection

Lucrezia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI. Frank Cadogan Cowper, 1910. Tate Museum

Painted sculpture of a nude curly-haired child holding an apple in a raised hand, on a green base, in front of a multi-tiered altarpiece.

Faith · Art · Museums · New York

Sculpture of the Infant Jesus with an apple dated 1470 at the Metropolitan Museum

The Infant Jesus with an Apple. 1470. Metropolitan Museum

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Heritage · People

To Mark the Centenary of Irina Antonova, Her Study in the Main Building of the Pushkin Museum Is Opened to Visitors as a Museum Room

Moscow · Museums · People · Society Pages

Plaque in memory of Irina Antonova unveiled on Pokrovsky Boulevard for her centenary

A memorial plaque has been unveiled at 14/5 Pokrovsky Boulevard in memory of Irina Alexandrovna Antonova, who lived there for 40 years. The installation of the commemorative plaque, the work of Frangulyan, formed part of the Pushkin Museum's events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of

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