#WindowsOnWednesday #WallsOnWednesday 🏺 Villa Poppea, Campania Walking through #Roman villa at Oplontis to peristyle around vast pool + gardens, you might catch sight of viridaria like this. Open to sky, they offer unexpected views of exotic plants + birds painted on the walls around small gardens.

Good to wake up to a news headline that has the words #IronAge #WarTrumpet and #Boudicca in it www.theguardian.com/science/2026... PreConstruct Archaeology reveals a complete carnyx plus other martial objects from #Norfolk Wow 😲 We need a lie down @theguardian.com @theduncanmackay.bsky.social

#Epiphany #TympanumTuesday The three kings arrive and present their gifts to the child Jesus: on lintel of Romanesque portal of Pieve Sant' Andrea in Pistoia. Dated 1166, by Gruamonte, a sculptor/architect influenced by Pisa/Lucca style. A rare portrayal, also related to Via Francigena pilgrimage.

#Epiphany #TympanumTuesday The three kings arrive and present their gifts to the child Jesus: on lintel of Romanesque portal of Pieve Sant' Andrea in Pistoia. Dated 1166, by Gruamonte, a sculptor/architect influenced by Pisa/Lucca style. A rare portrayal, also related to Via Francigena pilgrimage.

#InternationalBirdDay A no doubt squawking parakeet: once on a cubiculum architrave #Fresco of Casa Salese #Roman Villa, and now in Stabiae museum, Campania. Meanwhile in London, a gang of 5 ring neck parakeets are dominating my garden this winter. Annoying, greedy, noisy, but always fascinating.

1st #MosaicMonday of 2026 so wishing you best possible #NewYear + revelries galore w a Pompeiian panther + Dionysian symbols. Collected by 18thC Neapolitan aristo Santangelo, whose vast piles of local artefacts rarely seen, even once MANN acquired in 1865. But clxn now to be key part of new MANN2! 🏺

#InternationalBirdDay A no doubt squawking parakeet: once on a cubiculum architrave #Fresco of Casa Salese #Roman Villa, and now in Stabiae museum, Campania. Meanwhile in London, a gang of 5 ring neck parakeets are dominating my garden this winter. Annoying, greedy, noisy, but always fascinating.

1st #MosaicMonday of 2026 so wishing you best possible #NewYear + revelries galore w a Pompeiian panther + Dionysian symbols. Collected by 18thC Neapolitan aristo Santangelo, whose vast piles of local artefacts rarely seen, even once MANN acquired in 1865. But clxn now to be key part of new MANN2! 🏺

#StoneworkSunday Random chat w strangers from Tewkesbury visiting @dulwichgallery.bsky.social led to mention of magnificent fan vaulting of Abbey's Beauchamp Chapel, built c 1430 by Isabel Despenser in honour of 1st husband Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester d 1422. Et voilà. #SundayStonework

European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster): 29cm (11.4in). These colourful social birds are of course native to Europe, wintering in Africa and have an ability to catch insects acrobatically in the air, usually in open country, often near water. Exceptional photo taken by José Luis Rodriguez in Portugal.

#CastleSaturday Fortezza Medicea in walled Tuscan hilltop town of Volterra. Built 14th C before Volterra/Florence relations got very edgy over control of alum mines. When Florentines got upper hand in 15th C, Lorenzo the Magnificent upgraded the castle. And it's now a prison in a park.

#CastleSaturday Fortezza Medicea in walled Tuscan hilltop town of Volterra. Built 14th C before Volterra/Florence relations got very edgy over control of alum mines. When Florentines got upper hand in 15th C, Lorenzo the Magnificent upgraded the castle. And it's now a prison in a park.

#FrescoFriday #FindsFriday 🏺 One memorable day working in finds room at MOLA many moons ago we recorded some of London's best #Roman wall plaster. Grapes are virtually edible, goldfinch became my profile pic: the fantastic #frescos were from Lime St site in the City, just to east of forum basilica.

#FrescoFriday #FindsFriday 🏺 One memorable day working in finds room at MOLA many moons ago we recorded some of London's best #Roman wall plaster. Grapes are virtually edible, goldfinch became my profile pic: the fantastic #frescos were from Lime St site in the City, just to east of forum basilica.

#AdoorableThursday Door to the slype @gloucestercathedral.org.uk - a medieval passageway on the northwest corner, leading to the cloisters. Under the curious scalloped header with 2 figures, the decorative top of the door is also carved with petals, circles and leaves, and a date of 1614.

We wish all our followers a very Happy New Year – but those 12 Days of Christmas aren't quite yet over, so come to The Rose this Saturday for a taste of an Elizabethan Twelfth Night!

#AdoorableThursday Door to the slype @gloucestercathedral.org.uk - a medieval passageway on the northwest corner, leading to the cloisters. Under the curious scalloped header with 2 figures, the decorative top of the door is also carved with petals, circles and leaves, and a date of 1614.

#ReliefWednesday Orgiastic scenes w Dionysus in drunken state, in feminine guise + wearing oriental costume on 2nd C #Roman sarcophagus. Satyrs, satyresses, fauns + priest join in rural rituals. In MANN. Have a glorious, if not so dissolute, #NewYearsEve - and hope 2026 is a v fine year for you. 🏺

#ReliefWednesday Orgiastic scenes w Dionysus in drunken state, in feminine guise + wearing oriental costume on 2nd C #Roman sarcophagus. Satyrs, satyresses, fauns + priest join in rural rituals. In MANN. Have a glorious, if not so dissolute, #NewYearsEve - and hope 2026 is a v fine year for you. 🏺

#TilesonTuesday Relatively rare in England, Spanish tiles were imported from Seville for the rebuilding of All Hallows Lombard Street in the City of London from 1494, where they were used in the chancel. With luck will reappear in new London Museum reopening 2026 in Smithfield.

#TilesonTuesday Relatively rare in England, Spanish tiles were imported from Seville for the rebuilding of All Hallows Lombard Street in the City of London from 1494, where they were used in the chancel. With luck will reappear in new London Museum reopening 2026 in Smithfield.

#MedievalMonday On Feast Day of #StThomasBecket, this exceptional font in Lyngsjö Church, Sweden, where saint was v popular. Made 20 years after Becket's 1170 assassination, Henry II shown as instigating murder. On L he holds a scroll inscribed REX H[EN]ricus. On R knights attack the archbishop.

#MedievalMonday On Feast Day of #StThomasBecket, this exceptional font in Lyngsjö Church, Sweden, where saint was v popular. Made 20 years after Becket's 1170 assassination, Henry II shown as instigating murder. On L he holds a scroll inscribed REX H[EN]ricus. On R knights attack the archbishop.

And I live in Bealham, near a branch of what's now Falcon Brook (a river heading to Thames shown but not named). Interesting stuff.

#SaxonSunday 10th C monumental #StoneworkSunday cross shaft w elaborate decoration: eg acanthus top rt rare in S England but has parallels 8th C Jerusalem. Found in East Stour Dorset chimney breast 1939 then used as garden ornament; BM acquired 1969. Faith Museum, Auckland Project, Bishop Auckland.

St Johns x 2 for Evangelist's Feast Day: 16th C Valencian altarpiece w John the Baptist L + Evangelist R; flanked by episodes of their lives. By Martin Gomez the Elder, whose master trained w da Vinci. At Bishop Auckland Spanish Gallery for opening show, now back to Hispanic Society of America, NY.

St Johns x 2 for Evangelist's Feast Day: 16th C Valencian altarpiece w John the Baptist L + Evangelist R; flanked by episodes of their lives. By Martin Gomez the Elder, whose master trained w da Vinci. At Bishop Auckland Spanish Gallery for opening show, now back to Hispanic Society of America, NY.

Teams meeting BnF Français 16993; Barthélémy l'Anglais, Livre des proprietés des choses, traduit du latin par Jean Corbechon; XIVe siècle (fin)- XVe siècle -début); f. 286v @gallicabnf.bsky.social

#BridgesThursday Back this year for nth time to the Ponte della Maddalena, aka Ponte del Diavolo, the bridge over the Serchio nr Lucca, on Via Francigena pilgrimage route. Arch for railway only real change since c. 1100. It was looking especially stunning w spring snow still on peaks beyond./1

#BridgesThursday Back this year for nth time to the Ponte della Maddalena, aka Ponte del Diavolo, the bridge over the Serchio nr Lucca, on Via Francigena pilgrimage route. Arch for railway only real change since c. 1100. It was looking especially stunning w spring snow still on peaks beyond./1

Perfect Christmas bird - tunefully owning the day.

#Woodensday #AdventAngels Archangel Gabriel, your work is done. Rare and wonderful Angel of the Annunciation: oak, gilded and polychromed, 1415-1450 Northern France. Sweetly smiling in earlier style of sculptures eg at Reims, points up to God or Holy Spirit, probably held scroll in left hand. V&A

The Brooke Antiphonal is a 15th-century choirbook containing choral parts of masses for Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was apparently written for a Benedictine community (possibly of nuns) with a cult of SS Cosmas and Damian.

#Woodensday #AdventAngels Archangel Gabriel, your work is done. Rare and wonderful Angel of the Annunciation: oak, gilded and polychromed, 1415-1450 Northern France. Sweetly smiling in earlier style of sculptures eg at Reims, points up to God or Holy Spirit, probably held scroll in left hand. V&A

#TympanumTuesday #TilesOnTuesday #AdventAngels 3 in 1 for festive season. At Cattedrale di San Zeno in Pistoia, Tuscany, Andrea della Robbia's remarkably small entrance makes a big impression: 1504 archivolt + portal features Virgin+child w host of angels in façade that was reconstructed 14-15th C.

#TympanumTuesday #TilesOnTuesday #AdventAngels 3 in 1 for festive season. At Cattedrale di San Zeno in Pistoia, Tuscany, Andrea della Robbia's remarkably small entrance makes a big impression: 1504 archivolt + portal features Virgin+child w host of angels in façade that was reconstructed 14-15th C.

#MosaicMonday A festive offering, trodden on by thousands at top of main stairs @NationalGallery. One of dozens of quirky creations of 1920s+1950s by mosaicist Boris Anrep, a Russian w studio in Paris and associated with Bloomsbury Group. In his 'Pleasures of Life' group, may it bring joy to all!

#MosaicMonday A festive offering, trodden on by thousands at top of main stairs @NationalGallery. One of dozens of quirky creations of 1920s+1950s by mosaicist Boris Anrep, a Russian w studio in Paris and associated with Bloomsbury Group. In his 'Pleasures of Life' group, may it bring joy to all!

#StainedGlassSunday #AdventAngels in 1905 memorial to John Harvard in Southwark Cathedral: Baptism of Christ by La Farge. Harvard baptised 1607 in what is now cathedral + went to local grammar school. Sailed to Massachusetts 1637. Died 1638: his library/bequest became foundation of @harvard.edu.

#StainedGlassSunday #AdventAngels in 1905 memorial to John Harvard in Southwark Cathedral: Baptism of Christ by La Farge. Harvard baptised 1607 in what is now cathedral + went to local grammar school. Sailed to Massachusetts 1637. Died 1638: his library/bequest became foundation of @harvard.edu.

Hello @pugliaguys.bsky.social - by fantastic seasonal good fortune, one of the greengrocers in London's famed #BoroughMarket had cime di rapa this morning, looking very fresh. So orecchiette at the ready for a pre- #Christmas treat. I've used your recipe before - any special twists for holidays?

#SteepleSaturday Few Romanesque churches have bell towers w passage beneath as in Trani's Cathedral of St Nicholas the Pilgrim, who died in Trani 1094. Church built on Adriatic shore (over 4th C church) soon afterwards to house his relics. Tower added 13th C w windows multiplying towards top.