NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
The Duke and Duchess of Angoulême: he puts one in mind of our pensioners in Rubchinsky, chasing fashion with their brains switched off; really, silly boy, can one go about with a bikini line like that? Not even in 1823.
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Saint Petersburg
Catherine II was nevertheless the greatest ruler of Russia. Consider only her determination to acquire Voltaire's library for the country at all costs! Neither the expense nor the difficulties of the negotiations stopped her. The library was installed beside the Empress's apartments. Of its nearly 7,
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Sadly, nobody bought me a fragment of Napoleon's crown. But a Love bracelet with diamonds is not bad either
Aristocracy · Art · Observations
Another copy of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder is known as the Lansdowne Madonna, after the English marquesses who owned the painting in the nineteenth century. It was listed among the possessions of the dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne. By the end of the century the work had left the family
NB! · Observations · Heritage · Society · Ethnography
On love for one's native ashes and the graves of one's fathers. In Kazakhstan, memorial events are being held for the heroes of 1723! Not as part of patriotic strategies or state programmes, but on the initiative of their descendants
Archive · London · Observations · Mores · Nature
On 14 November 1813 Byron paid a visit to Chunee, London's celebrated elephant. The seven-tonne giant was the star of the menagerie at Exeter Change. The elephant would take off visitors' hats, accept a coin and hand it back, and open doors. Byron was delighted by
Art · Museums · Observations
There is something in this: to have oneself recorded only with one's finest possessions, one's most cherished objects and in handsome attire. Had Tronchin not been so proud of his collection, and above all of its pearl, this canvas by Rembrandt would have had a different
NB! · Almaty · The East · Art · Cinema · Observations · Ethnography
Remember how in "Kavkazskaya plennitsa" [Kidnapping, Caucasian Style] they called bride abduction a beautiful custom? I stand before Kasteev's 1937 painting "Bride Abduction" and cannot see what is beautiful here; it is simply dreadful!
Archive · Cinema · Observations · Science
Remember the note on two ways of growing a nose? Someone has written to tell me that the Italian method was shown in the fullest detail in the series The Knick with Clive Owen. I have not heard of that episode myself, but we can watch a little of it
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
A few days ago I wrote about the mourning suite of the Duchess of Aumale. https://theparnassian.com/stulchik-iz-garnitura-gertsogini-omal-ili-frantsuzskoi-printsessy-marii-karoliny-burbon-sitsiliiskoi/ https://theparnassian.com/tak-etot-stulchik-vygliadit-s-iznachalnoi-obivkoi/ https://theparnassian.com/delo-v-tom-chto-po-drevnei-traditsii-
NB! · Observations · Humour
NB! · Almaty · Archaeology · Observations · Humour
I dropped into the numismatic shop at the Green Bazaar, where I have been buying for 15 years, and added ducats from the Semirechye hoard to my collection. If you don't know how to spend a million, ask me