London · Monarchies · People
On 21 April Elizabeth II would have turned 97. In the photograph the Queen is pictured in her last summer, surrounded by her younger grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Beside Her Majesty are her grandchildren Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex, the children of Prince Edward; her great-grandchildren
NB! · Art · Cinema · People
Art · People · Rome
When Orest Kiprensky presented a portrait of his father to the Roman Academy of Painting, the president declared, on behalf of the Academy, that the Russian artist was attempting to pass off as his own work a painting from the brush of Rubens. Certain academicians expressed their conviction that the
Art · Mores · People · Rome
Orest Adamovich Kiprensky, already a very celebrated artist in Russia (1805: Large Gold Medal for the painting “Dmitry Donskoy on the Field of Kulikovo”; 1812: academician; his contemporaries called him the Russian Van Dyck), lived for long stretches in Rome, which he first reached in 1816, at the age of
Archive · Faith · Science · Mores · People
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov makes a most unexpected connection between the Easter festivities and a rise in mortality. In one of his letters to Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, written in 1761, speaking of Easter, Lomonosov describes the dangers to life and the multitude of deaths that overtake the Orthodox people every year.
Faith · Art · Moscow · Museums · People
Alexander Ivanov worked on “The Appearance of Christ Before the People” for twenty years, although he had expected to finish it within the span of his Italian placement. His close friend Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, incidentally portrayed in the painting as the figure nearest to Christ, wrote that “Ivanov has long
Cinema · People · Humour
Rod Steiger as Napoleon on the set of Sergei Bondarchuk's epic historical film "Waterloo", about Bonaparte's last great battle
Art · Books · Observations · People · Rome
I got for my labour only a goitre, a sickness (So muddy water bloats the cats, A common plague in parts of Lombardy!) And my chin wedged into my belly; My chest like that of the harpies; my skull, to spite me, Crept up to my hump; and my beard
Aristocracy · Archive · Monarchies · Science · People
In the intervals of his aristocratic existence, this imposing old gentleman assembled one of the largest libraries of rare books in England, organised expeditions to the East to observe solar eclipses and the transit of Venus, built a private observatory, patronised astronomers, became a sponsor of the founding of the
Archive · People · Humour
Are You Quite Sure You're a Photographer? In the hat: one of the pioneers of English photography, Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904). The athlete in shorts has preferred to remain anonymous. Photograph of c. 1887
NB! · Aristocracy · Mores · People
NB! · Art · People