Archaeology · Science · People

__________________________

The Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has announced the death, in his 83rd year, of the distinguished scholar Lev Vladimirovich Koltsov, Doctor of Historical Sciences and leading researcher in the Department of the Stone Age. I offer my condolences to his family and friends. __________________________

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · People · Humour

Here is a muscleman: Henry of Navarre as Hercules, victor over the Lernaean Hydra

Here is a muscleman: Henry of Navarre as Hercules, victor over the Lernaean Hydra. The portrait clearly flatters the figure of the founder of the Bourbon dynasty, but it recalls the comical genealogy of the House of Navarre, traced from a son of Hercules

Books · People · Humour

Voltaire calls “Hamlet” a crude and savage play and describes its scenes

"Hamlet" is a crude and barbarous play which even the common people of France or Italy would not deign to read. Hamlet goes mad in the second act, and his beloved in the third. The prince kills the father of his beloved, pretending that he is killing a

Round miniature of a columned domed interior in a gilded frame, with a nameplate reading J. G. Soufflot below.

NB! · Architecture · Art · Observations · People

Miniatures of the Panthéon in the frame of Louis-Michel van Loo's portrait of Soufflot

A portrait of Soufflot by the Rococo master Louis-Michel van Loo caught my attention for the miniatures set into its frame. They show the façade and the interior of the Panthéon, the architect's principal creation

Portrait of Jacques Germain Soufflot in a red velvet coat at a table with drawings, a reproduction on the left and the framed painting on display on the right.

NB! · Architecture · Paris · People

Jacques Germain Soufflot, architect of the Paris Panthéon and mentor of Bazhenov

The French architect of the eighteenth century Jacques-Germain Soufflot was the author of the Paris Panthéon (the church of Sainte-Geneviève). He interests us because for a time he was the mentor of the Moscow architect Bazhenov

Books · Monarchies · People

The death of Richard III at Bosworth and Shakespeare's line about a horse

It is to the Battle of Bosworth, or rather to Shakespeare's reading of it, that we owe the phrase "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!": the mount of Richard III Plantagenet had become stuck in a bog. As we know, no horse was

Monarchies · People

King Richard's last battle and the examination of his remains showing many wounds

Today is the day of the death of Richard III, killed at the Battle of Bosworth as the result of a betrayal. According to legend, despite the treachery of Lord Stanley, which decided the outcome of the battle, Richard plunged into the enemy camp with a small band of knights

NB! · Monarchies · Museums · People

The cradle of Henry IV rests upon the blue royal standard of the Bourbons; it served as a travelling cot for the heir, whom his grandfather, Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, took with him on hunts and long rides

NB! · Books · Society · People

The memoirs of KGB chairman Vladimir Semichastny, "The Soviet Special Services in the Secret War", contain a curious episode about Pasternak

The book by KGB chairman Vladimir Semichastny, "The Soviet Special Services in the Secret War", contains a curious episode about Pasternak. His words on the attempt by Western intelligence services to promote a "dissident" sound especially lively

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · People · Pop Culture · Humour

The portraits of Napoleon's younger sister, Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, recall today's Instagram divas: the same expression and the same angle everywhere, only the frocks and parures change

NB! · Monarchies · People

Today marks the death of James II of Scotland: what, one might ask, could that possibly have to do with a horseshoe?

NB! · Archive · People · Pop Culture · Humour

Dior Fertiliser: Pure Gold!

Dior Fertiliser: pure gold! An advertisement for the struggling chemical fertiliser business owned by Christian Dior's father. Who would have guessed that phosphates would one day yield so outstanding a designer?