Art · Observations · People · Pop Culture
François-Marie Banier is perhaps one of the foremost celebrity photographers of the twentieth century. I remember how, at the exhibition of his work in the Manege some 15 years ago, I was struck by the number of remarkable people whom Banier had managed to capture. But he is known
NB! · Observations
Art · Observations · Humour
A girl pines for her beloved and scrolls through their photos together on an iPhone. Girolamo Induno, 1862. On the wall, as a tribute to romantic memories, hangs a reproduction of Francesco Hayez's "The Kiss". So that is how it goes: they wander about kissing, and
Art · Books · Observations
There are faces like sumptuous portals, Where greatness seems to dwell in every trifle. There are faces, the likenesses of wretched hovels, Where liver is boiled and tripe lies steeping. Others, cold and dead faces, Are shut behind bars, like a dungeon. Others are like towers in which for long
NB! · Monarchies · Observations · People
Prince Harry turns 39 today, fifth in line to the British throne. One would wish him a little sense, and that the queue never, in fact, reaches him or his descendants
Art · Observations · Society Pages
Two exhibitions by Rostan Tavasiev have opened at once at Sistema Gallery, both on a cosmic theme: "Asteroids and Comets" and "Planetary Nebulae". They are united in the artist's project entitled "A Catalogue of Works of Art in Outer Space". The very
Archaeology · Archive · The East · Observations · Mores · Humour
The boy cites the son of his father's assistant, who has two new sets of clothes. "Even though you bore me, and his mother merely adopted him, his mother loves him, and you do not love me!" 3,500 years have passed, and so little has
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Observations · Rome
The Roman marble figure of the 2nd–1st centuries BC, found in the Baths of Titus and showing a youth biting the hand of his companion, was at first known as the Cannibal. One man bites another man: who can he be, if not a cannibal? But in 1760 the
Observations · Science
Intuition is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is its faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. Albert Enstein
Aristocracy · Architecture · Art · Observations · Humour
The 12-metre ceramic pavilion "Wedding Cake" by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. The present day. Waddesdon Manor in the English county of Buckinghamshire, property of the Rothschild Foundation. The author calls her work a building, an immersive sculpture. At first glance it appears a rather striking structure,
Aristocracy · Books · Observations · Mores
Counts Alexei Konstantinovich (1817-1875) and Lev Nikolayevich (1828-1910) were second cousins to one another
NB! · Observations · People
It's just that sort of day. Dmitri Shostakovich