NB! · Observations · Humour

When Everyone Must Urgently Learn What a Well-Read Young Lady You Are

Museums · Observations · Society · Paris

A separate ticket for the Mona Lisa room at the Louvre and criticism of museum management

So, let us take a close look at the decision of the Louvre's management to introduce a separate, though in fact additional, ticket for admission to the room with the "Mona Lisa". Judging by my own impressions as a visitor, based on five to seven visits

Observations · Society · People · Humour

Churchill is credited, among a great many others, with the quip that Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he did not know where he was going, did not know where he was, and did it all at the taxpayer's expense

Churchill is credited, among a great many others, with the quip that Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he did not know where he was going, did not know where he was, and did it all at the taxpayer's expense. The sole point of the remark seems to

The cratered edge of the Moon in the foreground and Saturn with its rings seen edge-on against the dark sky.

NB! · Observations · Science · Nature

American astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy photographs Saturn emerging from behind the Moon

Another shot of Saturn emerging from behind the Moon, taken by the American astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy from the summit of a volcano. It is striking how cramped the universe turns out to be: our neighbouring planets are, quite literally, a lens's throw away

Archive · Art · Observations · Pop Culture

Demna's black dress of 2021 and the archival mock-ups of Cristóbal Balenciaga

In 2020 Demna Gvasalia announced the return of the Haute Couture line to the House of Balenciaga, where in Cristóbal Balenciaga's day it was the principal means of artistic expression. The graphic silhouette of the black dress with a hat from Demna's Autumn/Winter 2021-22

NB! · Art · Observations · Mores

I see that many of you liked the antique pet houses; here, for example, is a house-cum-pouffe, early nineteenth century

Art · Moscow · Observations · Mores

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow

The bearded paterfamilias at supper in Édouard Vuillard's painting lends the table the atmosphere of merchant Moscow. Old bourgeois life was everywhere just as cosy and heartfelt. Add the basket on the table and the checked cotton tablecloth. All that's missing is icons in place of

Observations · Mores · Paris · Reportage

Paris tour during fashion week on Parisian romance in the 19th century

Coming to Paris for Fashion Week is becoming a fine tradition. But if last time I was invited to give a lecture in a society salon, this time we set off on a packed walk around the city, with my tour of Parisian romance in all its strangeness and of

Corner of a studio with a glass roof and tall windows, holding easels, canvases, a dark wooden wardrobe topped with a gilded frame, and shawls.

NB! · Art · Observations

Artist's studio with a glazed roof, easels and a wooden wardrobe

The artist's studio. The gold standard

NB! · Architecture · Observations · Paris

Spiral Staircases of Paris Are a Love Affair of Their Own

Dark terracotta bust of a man with curled hair tied with a ribbon, on a plinth before a large mirror in an interior with a marble floor.

NB! · Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour

Bust of a Man in Patinated Terracotta by Jean-Jacques Caffieri

Why do lifestyle bloggers all have such cheekbones? That was my first thought on looking at this patinated terracotta by Jean-Jacques Caffieri. Incidentally, the bust before us is of a man

Museums · Observations · Humour

French Lessons

French lessons. Le fou en ville A fool in town. Remember it. That is what we call a person who, instead of going to a museum, chooses a shop.