Monthly Archives: October 2016

Plantin and Moretus

Not quite a Proustian moment, as no madeleines were dunked in lime-flower tea, but the other day a friend with unexpected time on his hands in Belgium enquired of the world via Twitter what was interesting in Antwerp. Immediately, I … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Bibliography, Biography, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Plant Of The Month: October

This may sound a perverse choice, given all the possibilities, not least autumn-flowering bulbs and corms (and even ivy, the flowers of which are still attracting bees and butterflies), but here goes, anyway.

Posted in Botany, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Bambini

Anyone who spends any time mooching around art galleries cannot fail to be struck by the quite remarkable ugliness of many infant Jesuses. I’m not talking about the extreme stylisation – derived from the Byzantine tradition – of Virgin and … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Object of the Month: October

I came across this fragment in the online catalogue of the Fitzwilliam Museum while looking for something else. Ha! Corinthian, I thought, in my ignorant way, but it isn’t: it’s sixth-century BCE Clazomenian, as classified  (no. 7 in the Tübingen … Continue reading

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