NB! · Archive · Art

Father Time, Pieter Christoffel Wonder, 1810

NB! · Art · Observations · People

Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is every one of us, facing not only the new year but each new day

NB! · Faith · Observations · Rome · Humour

Francis reflects that in the tenth year of his papacy he has been left the only Pope in the whole Vatican

NB! · Mores · Ethnography · Humour

Livia Drusilla makes sure you burn your slip of wishes and eat the ashes before the new year begins

NB! · Faith · Society · People · Rome

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 Rome time in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican

Harper's Bazar cover for December 1916: a couple in masquerade costumes embrace against fireworks and flowers.

NB! · Archive · New York · Pop Culture

Harper's Bazar marked its fiftieth year with an anniversary cover in December 1916

The anniversary cover of Harper's Bazar. In December 1916 the magazine of fashion, style and society marked its fiftieth anniversary

NB! · Archive · London · People · Pop Culture

Vivienne Westwood in an ermine cape and a fur-trimmed crown hat of her own design, in a shoot for Vogue, August 1987

Painting of an elder in an embroidered fur coat and tall hat, holding a staff on a snowy cliff beside a carved post. A hawk perches on a stump; a frozen river, village and flocks of birds li

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White-Bearded Elder with Staff and Hawk on a Cliff above a Winter River

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Whenever I think of Ancient Rus', I picture exclusively Hyperborea as painted by Vsevolod Ivanov⁠⁠

Whenever I think of Ancient Rus', I picture exclusively Hyperborea as painted by Vsevolod Ivanov⁠⁠. And the riding mammoths are my absolute favourites

Floor mosaic detail showing a crowned Alexander holding skewers in raised hands between two griffins, with an inscription beside him.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations · Humour

Norman mosaic of Alexander the Great and griffins in Otranto, Italy

Mood on this birthday: Alexander the Great holds skewers of meat above his head to make two griffins carry him up into the sky. Norman floor mosaic in the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata, 11th century, Otranto, Italy

A Black woman raises her arm against an older man in a white coat while a child clings to her skirt; a list of fruits and an inscription appear above.

NB! · Archive · Observations · Mores

Enslaved woman fights off her master's advances in a casta painting

It is well known that enslaved women were constantly subjected to violence by their masters, but it is pleasant to learn that at least one woman managed to repel the advances of her lord. And didn't the scoundrel get what was coming to him 💪🏽

NB! · Cinema · Observations · People

Today Gérard Depardieu Is 74

Today Gérard Depardieu is 74. This is how I remember him