Last night, the Musée National Adrien Dubouché in France was robbed of Chinese porcelain valued at 9,5 millions of euros. Organized groups targeting Chinese antiques are roaming Europe. www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/a...
EN&FR-2-IT freelance translator. Also, transcription, adaptation, proofreading and copy-editing (Italian only). Art, heritage, history, architecture, fine&fashion jewellery, product and interior design.
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Last night, the Musée National Adrien Dubouché in France was robbed of Chinese porcelain valued at 9,5 millions of euros. Organized groups targeting Chinese antiques are roaming Europe. www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/a...
Here is Harry Low's great story on BBC TV London about LISSCA's expert report on how Network Rail's planning application breaches a significant number of national and local environmental policies 🌍 youtu.be/jTmV0hT-9O4 #SaveLiverpoolStreetStation
I used to order from them pre-Brexit. Now, I can only dream of gorging on their cakes, as "delivering food products to Europe remains a challenging process for us to navigate at present." Feeling sorry for my cake-deprived self. Italian patisserie goodies are excellent. Still, Betty's are sth else.
Preorder and we will post you a copy signed by Tessa Hunkin at the end of September. We are including a complimentary copy of 'A Hoxton Childhood' (cover price £20) with all preorders to UK addresses. spitalfieldslife.bigcartel.com/product/tess...
Preorder and we will post you a copy signed by Tessa Hunkin at the end of September. We are including a complimentary copy of 'A Hoxton Childhood' (cover price £20) with all preorders to UK addresses. spitalfieldslife.bigcartel.com/product/tess...
Marcello Scuffi's (1948-2021) paintings have an oneiric nature, with boats ashore, circus tents, locomotives and open cans of paints, all making up his landscapes of memory. It's all in the mind. No human presence required. Hillier's art brought me back to Scuffi's. (Apologies for the picture.)
Marcello Scuffi's (1948-2021) paintings have an oneiric nature, with boats ashore, circus tents, locomotives and open cans of paints, all making up his landscapes of memory. It's all in the mind. No human presence required. Hillier's art brought me back to Scuffi's. (Apologies for the picture.)
Found this little fellow outside peering into our house tonight. 😂
I find Jill's style v. close to that of Italian artist Emanuele Luzzati (1921-2007). For a taste of his genius, here's an animated short he created with Giulio Gianini in 1965, paying homage to Gioacchino Rossini's La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNIy...
I am here with a special request for The Kimono Gallery, aka @roger1952.bsky.social. Could you please post samples of 書道 (shodō, the way of writing beautifully) and the intricate art that is Japanese calligraphy? Or provide pointers for exploring it independently? Thank you.
@thegentleauthor.bsky.social
📷 Fly making a strange bubble (in which you can see my reflection). #MacroMonday
Cooling off.. 😅
As well as signing the petition in the earlier post 👇, please consider writing to OFGEM as well to let them know that we don't want fascism in our electricity network. It's bad enough that @octopus.energy already had deals with Tesla. #NoToFascism actionbutton.nationbuilder.com/share/SPK-QE...
act.38degrees.org.uk/act/no-to-el...
Cedric Morris (L, with his pet parrot Rubio) and Arthur Lett-Haines (R) in both photographs, @tate.bsky.social. L ph. dates from approx 1929-36; R ph. date unknown.
Once again, I am posting one of the portraits in my collection (pretentious, n'est-ce-pas?). This one is by #BorisZueff (or Zuev) and is dated 1936 (apologies about date stamp). Pity I don't have any clues as to who the sitter is. At R, the artist with his wife Irina, also an artist.
Bernardino Licinio (1489-1560) Portrait of a Woman [possibly the artist's sister-in-law, Agnese], 1525-30
Peggy Guggenheim ph. Man Ray 1924
Raymond Loewy Co-op logo 1966
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001) Painting 4 1972
Jean-Etienne Liotard Princess Louisa Anne (1749-68) 1754
Jean-Etienne Liotard Portrait d'une dame prenant du chocolat (The Breakfast) 1752-3 Pastel on vellum
@barns-grahamtrust.org.uk
Thank you, Sue. I've browsed his 'cv'. He truly is the epitome of sportsmanship. And style. Yuck!
As always, thank you for this insightful thread. Sorry, I have to ask, but who is this git in the video, and why would anyone even want to interview such non-entity? Thank you.
@leemadgwick.bsky.social
It's an English summer now, so cool, so grey. Yet I think of my revenge and hurricanes.
@roger1952.bsky.social
Part 2 (Someone at Bluesky: please let us upload multiple videos, such as two videos in the same post or three photos and a video! Also longer videos, if possible.) IG soulsofitaly
It's funny to be in love with something for more than twenty years and the love never fades. Will always love seeing true tailors at work. Unfortunately these sorts of small shops continue to disappear. IG soulsofitaly
To celebrate the announcement of the Booker Prize 2025 longlist, we're launching our biggest ever competition. ‼️💥 https://thebookerprizes.pulse.ly/hleiwgbplj
Spain’s culture ministry publishes a list of 5,000+ items plundered by the Franco regime – including paintings, sculptures, jewellery, furniture and religious ornaments – to help claimants reclaim their family property (almost a century after the outbreak of civil war). ceres.mcu.es/pages/Specia...
Bought this last week. It is a lithograph by sculptor and painter Umberto Mastroianni* (1910-1998) from his 'Immagini' collection of ten different compositions he made between 1975 and 1976. * and Marcello Mastroianni's uncle
Thursday thought
Thanks, Des. And @leemadgwick.bsky.social A flag-like, tricoloured statement, with the premises for a multicoloured start of the week. Let's try and make it a good one.
Just the kind of pick-me-up I needed (shite times). Thank you, Des.
Some people just want to see the world burn!
Heather McGinley ph. Ken Browar & Deborah Ory
James Whiteside ph. Ken Browar & Deborah Ory
Alvin Ailey Dancers ph. Ken Browar & Deborah Ory
The Martha Graham Dance Company Night Journey ph. Ken Browar & Deborah Ory (2018)
Martha Graham Letter to the World ph. Barbara Morgan (1940)
This collection of foreign bodies removed from the oesophagus was donated to the museum in 1928.
🍓Strawberries? In summer? Groundbreaking. Adriaen Coorte, Still Life with Wild Strawberries, 1705
Hockneyesque. Thanks, Des.
I like being alone. Not always of course, but one can't have everything.
#FrancescaWade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife #Thunderclap by @lauracummingart.bsky.social and #KitchenConfidential (25th-anniversary edition) by the late, great #AnthonyBourdain Am in v. good company, I'd say.
Monday morning meh mood
Monday morning meh mood
@nellstevens.bsky.social
Found a confirmation re. my Liotard reference. While in Vienna in 1741, Rotari met Liotard, 'whose work profoundly influenced him', according to Christie's, where one of Rotari's sleeping beauties sold for 102,000USD in 2006. Here they are, the girl and the painter.
Re. 'that' cap, the evidence I found is inconclusive. However, as these portraits were made during Rotari's stay in St Petersburg, the style could be traditional to Russia, or nearby states. Here's a selection of other sitters wearing it, or a variation thereof. 'fraid no info on indiv. paintings.
Have a look at this mind-boggling collection, taking up every inch of wall space in the Cabinet of Fashions and Graces (or Painting Hall) in St Petersburg's Petehof Grand Palace. Altogether, there are 328 portraits on display, and all by Rotari!
I wonder... Could that be a variation in the style of? The mystery thickens...
I'd like to further investigate that cap, as its style also appears in at least a couple of other Rotari portraits. Back to you if I find anything interesting to share. Thank you. And thank you for yours, too!
Headgears and hairdos seem to be frequent in Rotari's later production (a favourite of Catherine the Great). That same mourning attire (same sitter?) resurface in another painting, which however doesn't have the same impact, or quality of the Barberini Corsini one, which reminds me of Liotard.
A trou de force.
🐷 Pigs are highly intelligent animals, showing empathy and self-awareness, emotions and forming social bonds. Yet in factory farming, they are treated like machines. Take action here: bit.ly/4jXkFBS #BeTheirVoice #FriendsNotFood
It's quite something, isn't it?
Having mentioned John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, may I leave you with 'Signior Dildo', from the soundtrack of #TheLibertine (2004), by #MichaelNyman www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRT...
PS Referring to condoms only, but the info might also apply to dildos, the same source states, 'in the 1740s they were sold by a Mrs Lewis in a shop in St Martin's Lane' and later by 'a Mrs Phillips [...] first at the Green Canister in Half Moon St, and later at 5 Orange Court, Leicester Fields.
Source, Lawrence Stone, 'The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800', 1977 (pp. 333-4 of the 1990 Penguin ed.)
'A century later, they were still being imported from abroad, much to the embarrassment of the customs officials, since neither [dildos and condoms] were listed as dutiable, nor were they prohibited goods. They nonetheless ordered a consignment to be burned.' 2/2
I know dates don't match, however according to John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, 'such sophisticated devices as dildoes (imported from Italy as early as the 1660s) were sold at the Sign of the Cross in St James's Street'. 1/2
Speaking of dildos (or 'Italian devices', as per other sources), James Caulfield in his 'Blackguardiana: Or, A Dictionary of Rogues' (ca 1793), informs they were 'to be had at many of our toy shops and nick nackatories.' For the full text, tinyurl.com/53na8kue
Ferenc Berko (1916-2000) Rawalpindi, India 1946
Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707-1762) Giovinetta piangente (young woman crying) One of many paintings (nearly 240) depicting human emotions Rotari made between 1756 and 1762, while living in St. Petersburg. #GallerieNazionaliBarberiniCorsini
Helen Frankenthaler Savage Breeze 1974
...Jools Holland and...James Belushi?!?
Admiring - and not for the first time - this brilliant artwork of yours, @leemadgwick.bsky.social, thanks to Des. Have a nice one, both of you.
#PaulHeber-Percy Portrait of Deborah Levy 2022 On display at the #NationalPortraitGallery, London, as of May 2025.
Speak out against H.R.1 “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Calls are most effective and you can leave a message after hours.
🚨H.R.1, now in the Senate, mandates increased timber harvesting on federal lands and drilling on and offshore. This bill would threaten animal habitats and entire ecosystems. Urge your Senators to oppose H.R.1 www.senate.gov/senators/sen... #BigUglyBill
#MariaLai (1919-2013) Donne che fanno il pane (Women Kneading Bread), 1960s Polimaterico in rosso (Polymateric in Red), 1964 Telaio (Loom), 1998 Pane quotidiano (Daily Bread), date unknown
#LisaLyon (1953-2023) #RobertMapplethorpe (1946-1989) Lisa Lyon, 1982 Lisa Lyon, three photographs, early 1980s #Joel-PeterWitkin (b. 1939) Lisa Lyon as the Anavyssos Kouros, 1983 (the Anavyssos Kouros, Greece, C530 BC)
#ChuckClose (1940-2021) Self-Portrait, 1991 (L) Self-Portrait, 2000 (R)
Dain L. Tasker (1872-1939) US Radiologist and artist X ray of an arum lily C1930
#AngelaGiussani and #LucianaGiussani, the two sisters behind the creation of iconic Italian comic-book villain #Diabolik in 1962, and his partner #EvaKant in 1963.
If you don't mind some fruity language, this Cybertruck fail collection is hysterical: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-isS... #TeslaTakedown #MuskMustFall
Part 2
Nine years ago the godfather of Brexit, Lord Daniel Hannan, predicted life in Brexit Britain in June 2025. Roll the tape… (VO by @gavinesler.bsky.social. Part 2 below👇)
Look and learn, #DamienHirst #spots
A 20-year-old James Joyce signed our visitor book when he came to Marsh's on 22nd & 23rd October 1902, giving his address as 7 St Peter's Terrace (now St Peter's Road, Phibsboro). Learn about what he read in our online exhibition: web.marshlibrary.ie/digi2/exhibi... #Bloomsday2025 #Bloomsday
Apparently there IS such clue in Christie in The Thirteen Problems short story collection (US title The Tuesday Night Club, as it appears in the Literature folder in the link provided in previous post). More in this link (scroll down to Writing Indentation Clue) tinyurl.com/mvc4yk86
No Christie here, but accessing the individual genre folders may provide other (useful?) sources tinyurl.com/5ebah86m
#MondayMood Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio, 1912)
#What-Am-I-Reading? Clue:
Sounds interesting. For a moment, though, I thought he had a mullet. Definitely have to have my eyes checked. Apologising profusely.
I honestly thought that was a bust of #JerryLewis. Apologies. Making myself scarce.
Thinking of #TetsuyaIshida (1973-2005) and his trapped in, boxed in, courtyarded in, boated in, trolleyed in men. 1/2
So, how was it? Thanks for introducing me to #CatPower. She IS good. I could kick myself for not knowing she existed before you mentioned her here.
On the one hand a bit of effort has gone into giving this completely fictitious company a back story. On the other, AI still can't nail hands.
Thinking of 18thC Les Halles, the backdrop - and one of the main characters - in #AndrewMiller 's 'Pure', a tale of ambition, decay, reason and the looming revolution. And then, of London, the Great Stink of 1858 and #JosephBazalgette. Today is bound to be a day of olfactory imagery.
Claire Bretécher, French cartoonist, known particularly for her portrayals of women #WomensArt #Saturday ❤
Just like a detail from a #GeorgiaO'Keeffe painting. Gorgeous. Thank you.
🐱Write to your MP (UK) or Congressperson (US) and tell them you want to see urgent replacement of animal use with advanced, non-animal methods. UK: bit.ly/4eN4Udr US: bit.ly/47NsiW7 🐴Shop our End Animal Testing Collection UK store collection: bit.ly/4fcRlVh US store collection: bit.ly/48FMrxG
Replacing flawed animal tests with scientifically advanced, human-relevant methods benefits animals, patients, and public health alike. How can you help this progress keep moving? 🐶Donate to help us support and promote research into animal-free science methods: bit.ly/3Y7rjgd
