Anna M. Thane

Wow, that is impressive

Small Christmas trees with red and golden baubles in front of a City palace in Munich. Photo taken in the early morning, do it is still dark and the windows are lit by light

A little holiday magic for @sabineshutterbug.bsky.social‘s

#PalacesAndGardens themed #RedGreenGold

I currently don’t have a portrait at hand. She is the one with the striking eyebrows. Impossible to forground her, and not to weave stories about her.

turning the sun into the moon
Advanced magic

letter by Christian Friedrich Pfeffel von Kriegelstein, ambassador, to Friederike Luise Auguste von Hofenfels about the marriage of future Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt on September 30, 1785. The couple wed in Darmstadt .

Detail: tiny water-colour painting of Auguste Wilhemine in a blue dress with yellow skirt (or apron). The 'gossip in the letter is about her slim waist, which was expected to change in about 9 month after the wedding

The art of letter-writing in the 18th century. 🤗

The sender - gossiping about the marriage of Max Joseph and Auguste Wilhelmine - painted the figure of the bride wearing an dress from the 1780ies in the top corner of his letter.

hand-held fan in a shop-window, full view

detail of the fan: a man and a woman standing close to each other.

detail: three women in front of an oriental landscape

detail: a man and a woman standing in a room

treasure in a shop-window:
a hand-painted fan with 19th-century themes

A Matcha-Azuki-bean cake in the background, a bowl of Matcha Tea in the forground

A glorious Matcha-Azuki-bean cake with Matcha tea 😋

‘A Christmas Carol’ Imaginary street scene from Dickensian times. A small group of carol singers outside Scrooge and Marley’s premises.

Hand-sewn dress in fashionable tartan pattern, ca 1845, V&A

Vintage sheet music for ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ carol

‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens, published December 1843 1/2
🎻 Printed silk satin dress, trimmed with velvet ribbon, in fashionable tartan pattern, ca 1845. Hand-sewn, maker unknown. V&A
#Advent

a design by William Morris: on a midnight-blue background you find hundreds of golden stars, a full-moon, an C-shaped ornament partly embracing moon, stars and a meadow with a tree from the left side. The meadow is a tangle of flowers and/or bushes, the tree as only a few leaves, and it looks rather small.

It‘s time for a William Morris-moment

🎶 ‘The holly bears a berry, as red as any blood’ 🎶
#advent #christmas #holly #red

A collage of winter berries in soft, textured light, including red holly berries, yellow and russet crab apples, clusters of deep purple ivy berries, blue-black sloes, bright red rosehips, shrivelled wild rosehips, and small red haws.

December’s berried gifts.

Shiny, Bookish PRESENTS
For... YOU!

Now in its fifth year, for this #NewberryLibrary Advent Calendar, we'll look at SO MANY pretty packages from our Henry Probasco collection. For instance, this stunning 18th c. fore-edge binding I didn't know we had...

December 1 (1/24)

bsky.app/profile/drka...

Cabbage white butterfly hovering above a purple plant.

This may help

Ein rotes, netzartiges Skelettblatt einer Lampionblume an einem dünnen Stiel, leuchtend vor einem dunklen türkisblauen Hintergrund mit unscharfen Bokeh-Lichtern in Form von Kreisen und Blasen, in einer mystischen, nebligen Atmosphäre.

📸 Katarzyna Załużna

Poetry ❤️

Light through the arched Reading Room windows at night time, seen through a window, with reflections of books from inside the Library above.

North Wing reflections @theul.bsky.social, Late Duty Librarian.
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekWforWindows 📷 #photography

Dido Elizabeth Belle and the ‘downstairs’ employees at Kenwood House, Hampstead To date, the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her extended family has been researched and written about extensively here on All Things Georgian, and I realise that this article is extremely lengthy, but as it’s the last one for this year hopefully you’ll find time over the festive period to read it at your leisure. By 1784, Dido was in her early twenties when a key influence in her life, Lady Elizabeth Mansfield died, leaving in the house the then nearly 80-year-old Lord Mansfield, his two nieces, Ladies Anne and Margery (both in their early fifties and the sisters of Viscount Stormont, later to become the 2nd Lord Mansfield) and, albeit briefly by then, …

Dido Elizabeth Belle and the ‘downstairs’ employees at Kenwood House, Hampstead

To date, the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her extended family has been researched and written about extensively here on All Things Georgian, and I realise that this article is extremely lengthy, but as it’s the…

The back of an expansive dove grey silk crinoline gown with a short sleeve bodice and a wide bell shaped skirt. The fabric is printed with a blurry pattern of butterflies and foliage

A side view of the butterfly patterned crinoline which shows the shape and size of the skirt front and back and the tassel trimmed sleeves

A close up of the air of the bodice of the butterfly patterned crinoline which focuses on the ivory coloured silk tassels that dangle from the edge

A detail of the butterfly patterned silk from which the broad crinoline dress is made. It shows the blurry effect of the warp printing

The techniques used for this fabric have created an ethereal, dreamlike effect across an expanse of skirt. The plain weave silk taffeta is warp printed, hence the blurry butterfly effect, then finished with a moiré surface. Pure #1860s magic @lacma.org #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

Yes, please, everybody is welcome!
Love your photos!!

Wow!

Festive season is officially on 🌟 #chandeliersunday #flowersonsunday

The same as previous from the underside, looking straight up. It looks like a giant golden snowflake

Another perspective of the same chandelier
#ChandelierSunday

A massive gold chandelier holding dozens of lights that look like lit candles. The Great Gallery is a large 18th century Rococo ballroom with white walls and gold trimmings, with several large gold candleabra mounted at close intervals around the room. The ceiling has three large frescoes of blue skies and pink clouds featuring royalty, Greek gods, and various small symbolic scenes. None of the scenes are very clear here—it’s the chandelier (and the identical one further down) that you notice

A chandelier in the Great Gallery of Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna. Painted by Gregorio Guglielmi, the ceiling frescoes depict Maria Theresa and her husband, Franz Stephan (parents of Marie Antoinette), surrounded by representations of the virtues of a good ruler.

#ChandelierSunday

A Cup Of Tea With The Bronte Sisters We love our hot drinks in England, from morning coffee to a mug of cocoa before bed (or even Ovaltine), but there’s one drink that has become synonymous with England: tea. The Brontë sisters loved …

Tea with the #Brontës
Lovely post by @nickholland.bsky.social
www.annebronte.org/2025/11/30/a...

The Marie Antoinette exhibition at the @vamuseum.bsky.social is everything that I wanted it to be, in all its glorious, extravagant, smelliness.

Detail of a crystal chandelier, with drop-shaped crystal, the chandelier braches are covered with glass/crystal beads. (Musée des lustres)

…like drops sitting on twigs after the autumn rain

#chandelierSunday

#chandelierSunday

Thanks for sharing this beautiful photo, @josecpalop.bsky.social

#chandelierSunday

Thanks for sharing this beautiful photo, @evankstone.bsky.social

#chandelierSunday

Thanks for sharing this beautiful photo, @writeforwellbeing.bsky.social

#lüsterliebe

Detail of an elaborately embroidered waistcoat of a court suit, with large embroidered button, and a flower-design, including roses, leaves and summer grass

Is it a waistcoat or is it art?

Read more about 18thc-waistcoats: regency-explorer.net/waistcoat/