Faith · The East · Monarchies · People · Humour

Nicholas II had a dragon tattooed on his forearm during his 1891 journey to Japan

It is well known that in 1891 Nicholas II travelled in Japan and had a dragon tattooed on his forearm. So what are we to make of it: holy relics with a dragon tattoo?

NB! · Faith · Observations · Society · People

The Head of Oliver Plunkett, the Catholic Bishop Hanged, Drawn and Quartered on a Charge of High Treason

The head of the Catholic bishop Oliver Plunkett, quartered on a charge of high treason. He is regarded as the last Irish martyr, while I would remind you of the growing number of treason cases in Russia today

NB! · Books · People · Humour

The Dadaist Poet Emmy Hennings (1885-1948), or Was She Really Dunya Smirnova?

NB! · Art · People

Portrait of Doctor de S. Playing Chess with Death

Portrait of Doctor de S. playing chess with Death. The doctor points to a winning position of the pieces, and Death concedes defeat. But in the year the picture was painted its author was beheaded, and Death won after all

Archaeology · Science · People · Rome

Leiden reconstruction of Caesar's appearance and the accounts of his birth

The creators of the Leiden reconstruction do not insist that Caesar looked exactly like this. The appearance, however, corroborates the testimony of the literary sources that Caesar was literally torn from his mother's womb. Yet if the head of the Roman dictator was indeed so markedly deformed, it

A marble bust on a cushion beside a reconstructed head held by hands in blue gloves.

NB! · Archaeology · Museums · Science · People

Leiden Museum of Antiquities Reconstructs Julius Caesar's Face from a Bust Found in Turin

The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden has made a 3D model of Julius Caesar's head from the bust found in Turin. The deformed right side of the skull supports the hypothesis of a birth injury

NB! · Art · Society · People · Humour

Sir William Young owned West Indian estates and 1,300 slaves, was an outspoken opponent of Wilberforce's 1789 campaign for abolition, and in the end richly deserved his drubbing

London · Science · People · Humour

The distinguished English surgeon John Hunter, the prototype of Doctor Dolittle, made a considerable contribution to the development of medicine, but also committed several errors that misled physicians of several subsequent generations, who did not…

The distinguished English surgeon John Hunter, the prototype of Doctor Dolittle, made a considerable contribution to the development of medicine, but also committed several errors that misled physicians of several subsequent generations, who did not dare to argue with so authoritative a researcher. For example, he believed that gonorrhoea and

Archive · Cinema · Mores · People

The earrings episode in Tarkovsky’s “Mirror” and its basis in the 1941 evacuation

In Tarkovsky's "Mirror" there is an episode with the doctor's wife, played by Larisa, Andrei's second wife, with Maria Nikolayevna, played by the director's mother Maria Ivanovna, and with an exchange of earrings. The business of the earrings, it turns

Painted portrait of a red-haired boy in a red coat and yellow breeches, hugging a small dark dog under a tree.

NB! · Monarchies · Paris · People

Portrait of the Dauphin Louis Charles with a dog and his death in the Temple prison in 1795

The Dauphin of France, Louis Charles, with his little dog. The unhappy child died in the Temple prison on 8 June 1795 as a result of cruel treatment. He was only 10

NB! · Art · People · Pop Culture

The portraits by the Baroque artist Chardin are an excellent example of the gender neutrality of eighteenth-century fashion: here the aged Jean-Baptiste wears an unusual peaked headdress and spectacles

The portraits by the Baroque artist Chardin are an excellent example of the gender neutrality of eighteenth-century fashion: here the aged Jean-Baptiste wears an unusual peaked headdress and spectacles. This is how he always looked

Portrait of an elderly man in spectacles, a white cap with a blue ribbon and a pink neckerchief against a dark background.

NB! · Art · Paris · People

Jean-Baptiste Chardin portrayed himself in a nightcap, not a turban

Self-portrait by Jean-Baptiste Chardin. The old man is wearing neither a turban nor a headscarf: it is a nightcap