Art · Observations · Humour
A charming winged creature is simply waiting for you to open the window with no mosquito net
Hieronymus Bosch
Section
· 3932 stories
Observations
Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
The Modern Venus, or a Woman of Modern Fashion in Her Natural State
The Modern Venus, or a Woman of Modern Fashion in Her Natural State. 1786. Who could have imagined that a satire on the standards of beauty of the late eighteenth century would be so precisely realised in our own day?
Books · Observations · Mores · Society
Charles Dickens in “American Notes” on evening amusements and the press
Is there no amusement here? Why, yes. There, across the road, is the lecture-room, from which sheaves of light pour out, and then three times a week, or more often, there are evening services for the ladies. For the young gentlemen there are the counting-house, the store and
NB! · Observations · Humour
When They Asked for the Abstract
Coming Up · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Paris
The celebrated French antiques dealer and ardent admirer of Napoleon Pierre-Jean Chalençon has put around 100 items from his famous collection up for auction
The sale will take place on 25 June at Sotheby’s in Paris. Among the lots: Napoleon’s bicorne hat, made by his court hatter Poupard and presented by General Mouton. A campaign bed with a canopy. A ceremonial sword and sceptre used at Napoleon’s coronation in Notre-Dame
NB! · Observations · People · Humour
If I Were Not Alexander, I Should Wish to Be Diogenes
Faith · Art · Observations · Rome
Sculpture of a globe with hidden mechanisms, installed in the Vatican in the 1990s
Could the Vatican not have done without this gleaming sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro? The so-called sculpture was installed back in the 1990s, under John Paul II, which does nothing to mitigate its ugliness. It looks more like some trinket from a metallurgical industry exhibition than a work of art
Architecture · Art · Moscow · Observations · Heritage
The metro station Dobryninskaya (formerly Serpukhovskaya) is adorned with 16 refined bas-reliefs by Elena Janson-Manizer, wife of the author of the bronze sculptures at Ploshchad Revolyutsii station
The marble reliefs depict, for the most part, agricultural workers. This is presumably meant to allude to the chief farming trade of each Soviet republic. Why 16 republics? The Union republics, the RSFSR included, numbered 15 from 1956 onwards; in 1950, when the station opened, there was still the Karelo-
Archaeology · Archive · The East · Art · Moscow · Museums · Observations
Exhibition on the Khorezm Expedition combines archive documents and contemporary art
The Museum of the East has lent unique materials from the excavations of the Khorezm Archaeological and Ethnographic Expedition for the exhibition "Neither Together Nor Apart" at GES-2, on the link between archaeology and modernism and on how art can make. The Khorezm Expedition worked from 1937
Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Demolition of the “Negotsiant” residential complex near the Patriarshy Bridge
The Patriarshy Bridge over the Drainage Canal is under reconstruction. To get from Bolotny Island to Yakimanskaya Embankment, one must use the Maly Kamenny Bridge or the bridge by the monument to Peter, which, as far as I know, has no name. The elite residential complex "Negotiant" at
Archaeology · Observations · Heritage · Rome · Humour
Rome police detain a tourist with an ancient piece of marble from an archaeological site
A 20 kg Fridge Magnet Turns Out to Be the Base of an Ancient Column. The Rome police have detained a tourist who was carrying off an ancient chunk of marble from one of the city's archaeological sites. I am not sure what in this news item provokes
NB! · Architecture · Moscow · Observations
Balloon arch with the number 90 above a Moscow metro entrance at sunset
Beautiful. The Moscow Metro, my absolute favourite ❤️