Aristocracy · Cinema · Books · Observations

I do not care for round-ups as a format, but this time Buro has put together an excellent list of 7 books of aristocratic character, from Julian Fellowes's "Snobs", the very same Fellowes who shamelessly cribbed details of the private life of the Earls of

I do not care for round-ups as a format, but this time Buro has put together an excellent list of 7 books of aristocratic character, from "Snobs" by Julian Fellowes, the very same Fellowes who shamelessly cribbed details of the private life of the Earls of Carnarvon

Still life with a metal dish of rolled wafers, a glass of wine and a wicker-covered flask on a blue tablecloth against a dark background.

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Still Life “Wafer Rolls” by Lubin Baugin, Painted in 1635

Wafer rolls. Still life. 1635, by the French painter Lubin Baugin. With boiled condensed milk, I trust.

NB! · Observations

Alexey Kondakov Is ❤️

Museums · Observations · Ethnography · Humour

Ivan Grinko in “Etno dialogi” proposes viewing the museum through the concept of totemism

Ivan Grinko of the Moscow Agency for the Organisation of Leisure and Tourism offers, in his article in "Ethno Dialogues", a rather original view of museum totemism. Let us replace the word "totem" in the definition with the word "museum", and it really does

Page of a handwritten register with an illegible entry and the line John Russell, Monzie.

NB! · Archive · Books · Observations · Humour

Illegible handwriting of a visitor to Innerpeffray Library in 1878

When some self-important reception-desk outfit presses too insistently for my passport details, I deliberately write in the same hand as this charming visitor to the Innerpeffray Library in 1878. Kindred spirits find one another even across the centuries

Art · Books · Observations

In Robertson Davies’s novel, an expert spots a fake Hubert van Eyck by its monkey

"In the novel What's Bred in the Bone by the celebrated Canadian writer Robertson Davies, there is a scene in which international experts meet in The Hague in the second half of the 1930s. Art-historian connoisseurs who have come from the USA, France, Belgium and Germany,

London · Monarchies · Observations

Incidentally, on the subject of Camilla, the potential Queen Consort, it is curious that it was originally supposed that, should Prince Charles be crowned, she would receive the title of Princess Consort…

Incidentally, on the subject of Camilla, the potential Queen Consort, it is curious that it was originally supposed that, should Prince Charles be crowned, she would receive the title of Princess Consort, and this was connected with the special position of the late Princess Diana, chiefly in the hearts of

NB! · Books · Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Can it be that the Duchess of Cornwall photographs books for her blog against a box of Matchesfashion? I do the same when I don't want my house to be the backdrop

Architecture · Moscow · Observations · Humour

I Love Moscow Landscapes of the Era of Mass Terror

The famous bas-relief on the façade of the Nikitskaya electrical substation of the metro, designed by Fridman in 1934-35, was popular with several generations of Muscovites for its daring and its symbolism. It strikes me as an excellent opportunity to paraphrase "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of

Books · Observations

Audiobook of “Parnassian Mockingbird” read by Igor Knyazev runs for nine hours

My year has begun with some very pleasant news, and I hope it will please you too. The Parnassian Mockingbird has come out as an audiobook, already available on all the specialist platforms, for example on Litres, Ozon, Google Play and LiveLib. Nine hours of captivating narration from one of

Black-and-white photograph of a woman with pinned-up light hair, wearing a dark jacket and white shirt, aiming a pistol.

NB! · Cinema · Observations · People · Pop Culture

Renata Litvinova's birthday and the universal admiration for her

Renata Litvinova is a person whom everyone adores, and not only on her birthday. Understandably so: Renata strikes straight to the heart, even when she is firing at the ceiling. The main thing is that the bullets never run out

Gilded relief in an oval frame of reeds showing two nude men swimming and a child running along the shore.

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Paris · Humour

Swimming lesson scene on a relief panel from Louis XV's bathroom

A most inspiring relief on a panel from the bathroom of Louis XV. The mood is Versailles. What these nude athletes are up to, I think you have guessed for yourselves: they are staging a highly original scene of a swimming lesson. The child, as is only proper, strives to