NB! · Archive · Art · Monarchies · Humour

13 June 1803: Britain Resumes Hostilities against France

13 June 1803: Britain resumed hostilities against France. The full-bodied Britannia lashes Napoleon's bloodied backside: take this and that, and be warned, provoke me no more

NB! · Architecture · London · Humour

To Milo of Croton, the Greek wrestler who killed a bull with a blow of his fist and ate it whole

To Milo of Croton, the Greek wrestler who killed a bull with a blow of his fist and ate it whole. A commemorative bas-relief that once adorned the London inn The Bull and Mouth. A good appetite is the guarantee of good health.

Glass display cases with rows of stamps and seals against a wall bearing the Russian inscriptions “Special control”, “Permanent” and “To be returned”.

NB! · Archive · Museums · Society

Collection of KGB officers' stamps at the KGB Museum in Vilnius

Stamps for every occasion in a chekist's life: prohibit, special control, secret. The KGB Museum, Vilnius

Painted portrait of a red-haired boy in a red coat and yellow breeches, hugging a small dark dog under a tree.

NB! · Monarchies · Paris · People

Portrait of the Dauphin Louis Charles with a dog and his death in the Temple prison in 1795

The Dauphin of France, Louis Charles, with his little dog. The unhappy child died in the Temple prison on 8 June 1795 as a result of cruel treatment. He was only 10

NB! · Art · People · Pop Culture

The portraits by the Baroque artist Chardin are an excellent example of the gender neutrality of eighteenth-century fashion: here the aged Jean-Baptiste wears an unusual peaked headdress and spectacles

The portraits by the Baroque artist Chardin are an excellent example of the gender neutrality of eighteenth-century fashion: here the aged Jean-Baptiste wears an unusual peaked headdress and spectacles. This is how he always looked

Portrait of an elderly man in spectacles, a white cap with a blue ribbon and a pink neckerchief against a dark background.

NB! · Art · Paris · People

Jean-Baptiste Chardin portrayed himself in a nightcap, not a turban

Self-portrait by Jean-Baptiste Chardin. The old man is wearing neither a turban nor a headscarf: it is a nightcap

A wall with a deep crack spanned by a white measuring plate, with N17 02.04.18 handwritten beside it.

NB! · Observations · Education · Humour

Crack in a university wall in Russia fitted with a measuring plate

Dropped in at the university. In principle, that is all one needs to know about higher education in Russia.

NB! · Aristocracy · Mores

The water really does have a connection to the Medici family: it comes from a spring on the grounds of their Tuscan hunting estate of Panna, from which the Medici had it brought to Florence in enormous flasks

NB! · Aristocracy · Heritage

This is the key to the Bastille: in 1790 the Marquis de Lafayette presented it to his old friend George Washington

This is the key to the Bastille: in 1790 the Marquis de Lafayette presented it to his old friend George Washington. Washington hung the key in his house at Mount Vernon, where it hangs to this day

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Goya's "Time" shows two old crones with the comic remains of youthful make-up and vacant stares, before the question "What's new?" The old girls plainly fail to notice the mythical creature behind their backs

NB! · Books · People

In honour of Pushkin's birthday, let us recall one of the most popular covers of "The Queen of Spades"

NB! · Faith