Dr Francesca Santoro

Quite lovely. I've seen many gold leaf crowns but never a ceramic one. I suppose it make sense; does it perhaps indicate the existence of a 'funeral emporium' where such goods were on sale? gold for the rich & ceramic for ordinary folks; or did one have such things on hand for a rainy day?😊

I’m excited to be joining Stephen Colbert tonight on “The Late Show.”

Back in 2013, I joined “The Colbert Report” to discuss how we build an economy that works for the many, not just the few.

Among the French and émigré artists of École de Paris, many of whom where "cursed" by a life of repeated dissipation to die tragically under appreciated and suffering from poverty, painter Moïse Kisling could be called an exception. Born in Poland, he came to Paris when he was 19. After two years, he already had contracts with art dealers and was living well. Known as cheerful and open-minded, Kisling gained many friends, and became a central figure in the nightly festivities of Paris, and was even called "King of Montparnasse." One year before this portrait was painted, his first solo exhibition was a great success and secured his fame. The model in this painting is his spouse, Renée, whom he married five years before. She often posed for her husband. This work was completed around the time Kisling started to establish his own style of painting. Emphasis on volume, a simplified background plus a smooth and silky quality all speak undoubtedly of the beginning of the Kisling style. It is said that the couple enjoyed a happy married life filled with mutual understanding and trust. "The blessed painter" Kisling was apparently also a good husband and father. Renée has short, dark brown bobbed hair, styled in a fashion typical of the early 1920s. Her face is pale with subtly rendered features, and her expression is one of quiet contemplation. Her eyes are downcast, and her mouth is gently closed in a neutral expression. She rests her chin on her hand, cradling her face. She wears a vibrant, loose-fitting red sleeveless bodice, which contrasts against her pale skin. Her skirt is a blend of reds, blues, and purples, with a plaid pattern, painted in a loose, impressionistic way. Around her neck, she wears a thick strand of elegant pearls. The background is a deep, moody blue, painted with visible brushstrokes suggestive of depth and texture via darker and lighter areas, creating slight variations in tone.

"Portrait de Madame Renée Kisling" by Moïse Kisling (Polish French) - Oil on canvas / 1920 - Nagoya City Art Museum (Japan) #WomenInArt #art #artwork #PortraitofaWoman #artText #BlueskyArt #OilPainting #MoïseKisling #Kisling #MoiseKisling #名古屋市美術館 #JewishArtist #portrait #spouse #NagoyaCityArtMuseum

I take it you mean that the discovery is over a decade old, and not the skull, which is truly from 4th-3rd c. BCE. Have any other *ceramic* crowns of flowers been found? Fascinating!

I should have known!😼

Unfortunately, they cut down the jacaranda tree after it was damaged in a storm, and the raccoons disappeared.😢

Click on the photo (It got cut off). It has a tail (not cut off).😉

I heard it's International #owl day, or somesuch.😊
(One of them is an imposter! 🦉)
@lightacandle.bsky.social @linda2.bsky.social
@tonylarch.bsky.social @tjmiddleton.bsky.social

Thank you—it looks so unusual in light of the rest of the statues.

I won a huge (un-liftable) volume of Shakespeare once, for performing a 30-line monologue at a California Shakespearean festival. 🎭🥴

Was this one sculpted after his lifetime (The carved pupils of the eyes)?

Beautiful green, sadly the recipe for the Egyptian blue lost to history but scientists hoping to recreate (see attached post below this one.)
Paints - red (red ochre), blue (Egyptian blue), green (a mixture of Egyptian blue, yellow ochre, and orpiment) and two black (carbon black, from charcoal)'

Super! Good Luck!😊

Germany moves to protect top court against far right – DW – 12/20/2024 Authoritarian governments often try to undermine the independence of supreme courts. As far-right populists gain ground in Germany, the Bundestag has now voted to protect Germany's Constitutional Cour...

Yes.
www.dw.com/en/germany-m...

💙 THESE JUSTICES NEED
TO BE REMOVED!!! 💙
👇👇👇👇

Zorro—the fox—was a California masked hero & noble Spaniard who used his sword to save the people of LA from political oppression when Calif. still belonged to Spain. Although the character was popularized by a 19th c American novel, it was based on Mexican folk legends [Britannica].

James Mason could read the telephone book & I'd be swooning in the aisles (I saw this film with my High-school drama class—back in the days when Hollywood at least aspired to culture).🙄

Summer. Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951). 1909. Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Providence, Rhode Island. Benson was an American impressionist trained in Boston. This painting depicts his four daughters, off the coast of Maine. They all wear white dresses, three are seated. One stands looking out towards the sea. The brushstrokes for the clouds and vegetation along with the use of lighting are a great example of plein-air Impressionism.

Summer.
Frank Weston Benson.
1909. Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Providence, Rhode Island.

#art #arthistory #summer #painting #FrankBenson #Americanimpressionism

We call that sight-reading. Cicero, Sallust, Livy, Tacitus; or chunks of Catullus, Vergil, or Ovid.

I think you're right; sight-reading 'unseens'—filling in the blanks, grammatically & logically—aids us with cryptograms.😊

Wheeeeeeee!😊

The N would be to the left of the apostrophe & the T, to the right. I got in with the apostrophe words & guessing the first 3 words. [Can you explain Latin "unseens"? I probably know, but we may call them something else.]

Almost unchanged in appearance, still a a verandah on rivers edge, similar awnings and table settings

You can still dine at Restaurant Fournaise, on the banks of the Seine, the setting for Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party 140 years ago. Incidentally, that’s Aline, Renoir’s future wife, at lower L, & fellow artist Gustave Caillebotte at lower R www.artinsociety.com/floating-ple...

#MosaicMonday 👀

#Roman mosaic unearthed in the Villa di Negrar di Valpolicella, near Verona, #Italy in 2022.

#Archaeology #History #AncientBlueSky🏺

a close up of a man wearing a black mask and a hat ALT: a close up of a man wearing a black mask and a hat

Tonight's DVD oldie: I watched "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) w/ Antonio Banderas, & Anthony Hopkins. A keeper despite a couple of gratuitously OTT scenes. With all the nefarious ICE raids lately, California could use a Zorro right now. ⚡ 😒 @lightacandle.bsky.social @linda2.bsky.social

The painting "H. I. M., (Her Imperial Majesty) the Empress Dowager of China, Cixi" is a portrait of the powerful and influential Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) in late Qing dynasty of China. She rose from being a concubine to effectively ruling China for decades, significantly shaping the country's modernization and reforms. In 1905, Vos, now an American citizen, returned to China and was asked to paint the dowager empress. Cixi, who had been on the throne for 40 years when Vos arrived, was a notorious figure who had been much gossiped about in Europe and the U.S. It was whispered, for example, that she had poisoned her nephew and had his favorite concubine thrown down a well. Vos had to appear at court at 5 a.m. to meet her, and was given only four brief sessions in a studio on the top floor of a Beijing hotel. In his letters he later related his impressions of his subject: “Erect, with a tremendous will power, more than I have ever seen in a human being. Hard, firm will and thinking lines, and with a brow full of kindness and a love for the beautiful. I fell straight in love with her.” Vos ultimately painted two portraits of the Empress, who was 71 years old. She looks considerably younger, and the artist reportedly enlarged her eyes and plumped her lips at Cixi’s request. She wears elaborate traditional Chinese royal attire, including a headdress adorned with jewels and beads. The details of her teal, green, and gold clothing are intricate, featuring flowers, birds, and other decorative elements. Her expression is serious, and her gaze is steady. The Empress Dowager holds a round, ornate fan, decorated with a painted image of a peony flower. Her fingers are adorned with long, elaborate gold nail guards. The background is a muted, brownish-gold hue, with a subtle dragon design. Above her head, a rectangular banner contains Chinese characters with her royal name and title. She is seated on a dark wooden chair with intricate carvings.

“H. I. M., the Empress Dowager of China, Cixi” by Hubert Vos (Dutch American) - Oil on canvas / 1905-1906 - Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, Massachusetts) #WomenInArt #art #慈禧太后 #artText #portraitofawoman #HubertVos #Vos #FoggMuseum #artwork #bskyart #royalty #Chinese #HarvardArtMuseums

Good Grief, 20!🤭

Anacamptis syriaca © Jon Dunn

Ophrys iricolor © Jon Dunn

Ophrys lapethica © Jon Dunn

Orchis sezikiana © Jon Dunn

It's a guaranteed departure on 2-9 March 2026, and it's also guaranteed to generate a donation to our good friends at @bsbibotany.bsky.social, to help support their vital botanical conservation work. Great orchids, great birds, great reptiles, great butterflies - this tour has it all. (2/2)

Orchis punctulata © Jon Dunn

Ophrys kotschyi © Jon Dunn

Good morning, and welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Cyprus, a marvellous way to start the spring, looking for orchids (and other wildlife) on this warm and friendly island with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social & Dave Fairhurst. (1/2)

mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

There still exist numbers of separated children from the thug's first term.
Breaking families and sex trafficking are crimes against humanity. Trump and his enablers must pay the price for their brutality.