This arrived yesterday morning, and was read last night. Not a subject about which I know much at all but even more interesting (for me) was how it thinks about writing, and the writing of history. Lots to think on and with here, as you can see from my page markers. Thank you @maiakotro.bsky.social

schokkend nieuws over de collega informateur van Weijers. De @nrc zal hierover ongetwijfeld over gaan schrijven.

Baby Jesus' first bath. 🛁 This intimate domestic scene by Lorenzo Lotto is on loan to Milan from Siena - thankfully back in time for my trip to Siena in March next year. 😊 Love the way baby braces himself for the impact with the water.

Plot thickens. Epstein email: 'is it a coincidence that the russian that bought the house in palm beach [from Trump] and knows all is the same guy that sold a painting last year for 450million that was only worth 1.5million? my art guy said the painting wasn’t very good' ... #EpsteinTrumpFiles

am not sure whether to regard it as an imperial wonder or as imperial kitsch. www.christies.com/en/stories/a...

Dat is nou echt lekker vet schilderen. Je voelt 't plezier waarmee dit blad vorm en volume gegeven is. Rachel Ruysch, 1710.

Pieter Codde (Amsterdam, 1599–1678), Portrait of a Man with a Watch (ca 1630). Oil on panel - 63.3 cm x 50.8 cm. Gemäldegalerie Berlin.

Romeo and Juliet are on Facebook! 💕

In 1720 hadden ze ook al XR.

[Sound on] The Imperial War Museum revealed a graphic sound document that features the moment of the Armistice at the River Moselle on the American Front. It records the sound of guns falling silent at 11.01 am #onthisday, 11 November, 1918. Nothing, then birdsong ....

Deze verguld-zilveren kan was een geboortegeschenk voor Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen van zijn peetvader Stadhouder Maurits van Oranje Nassau. De Stadhouder's wapen is gegraveerd in de bodem van de kan. Gemerkt Hieronymus Berckhaussen, circa 1610.

It's the Feast Day of Saint Martin of Tours. Simone Martini depicted his life in frescoes in Assisi's Chapel of Saint Martin (1313-1318). Shown here is the dream Martin has after sharing his cloak with a beggar: Christ appears to him wearing the very half of the cloak Martin had given away.

Elvis Presley cutting Johnny Cash's hair, 1960.

I didn't know this oil on copper. Supposedly a self-portrait of as Anna Maria van Schurman as a “pudicitia” representing the Roman sexual virtues of chastity, femininity, and shame. 1633. Thare are many (self-)portraits of Schurman in Museum Martena, not all right, but several coming from her family

Wonderful concertante Händel opera Flavio with Concerto Köln and soloists at the Concertgebouw. 😊

Yesterday in 1360, Princess Bonne, daughter of Charles V and Jeanne de Bourbon, died. Bonne was one or two years old. Her sister had died 17 days earlier. The tomb commemorating the tragedy stood for 500 years, until the French Revolution. All that remains are a drawing of it and Bonne's head ....

"When [his brother Taddeo] was living in the house of Calabrese he could never make drawings in the daytime and hardly ever in the evenings; but his desire was so great that he would get up and draw by moonlight on the windows." ▪️ Federico Zuccaro. Taddeo Drawing by Moonlight, c1595.

Sterfdag John Milton (1608-1674), auteur van het forse dichtwerk 'Paradise lost', dat handelt over de zondeval. De intellectueel en prominent denker schreef ook 'Areopagitica', een beroemd pamflet over persvrijheid. Weetje: Milton is de bedenker van het woord 'pandemonium'.

This lovely young lady, attributed to Wallerant Vaillant, sold just now at Sotheby's Paris for 8,000 euros hammer, 4,000 euros under the low estimate. Vaillant is just not a Name. And he worked in so many places that no country actually "owns" him. Maybe my new friend Jaco bought her. 😃

Het verslag van Saskia Belleman op X vandaag over de rechtszaak tegen de "pleegouders" van het Vlaardingse meisje is hartverscheurend. De foto kort voor de ziekenhuisopname beschreef de voorzitter als: "een verkreukend vogeltje". Mijn hart brak ...

Beeldig reliëfje op de PAN. De handelaar zegt buxus, maar ik denk eerder lindenhout. Het is heel erg licht qua gewicht, en de kleur is lichter dan op de foto's

Bizarre indeed ...

Ziet er fraai uit, maar dit is bittere armoede. Oudezijds Achterburgwal thv nummer 20 - Bernard Eilers - 1907-1910 (met 'n tikkie kleur)

Detail of one of Masaccio's frescos in the Cappella Brancacci. 1424-c.1428, Santa Maria della Carmine, Florence. Masolino da Panicale(c.1383 – c.1435-40), and Masaccio (1401 – summer 1428).

One of my PAN favourites: cute dummy board kids with grumpy kitty. 😻

Amsterdam in 1500 is niet groter dan een dorp. Als gevolg van het Mirakel van Amsterdam waardoor veel pelgrims naar de stad komen, zijn er maar liefst 19 kloosters te zien. Op het hoogtepunt waren dat er 30.

'They are chanting now the service of All the Dead And the village folk outside in the burying ground Listen--except those who strive with their dead, Reaching out in anguish, yet unable quite to touch them' T.S. Eliot #AllSoulsDay Painting: Michael Sweerts

Virtuele impressie van het nieuwe Museum Boijmans. Hoe lang gaat het duren? Ik vrees het ergste: eind volgend jaar wordt pas met de renovatie begonnen ...

All Saints Day. All Saints is celebrated on the 1st of November within the Catholic church and commemorates all of the saints and martyrs. The tradition of commemorating the saints and martyrs dates back to the 4th Century.

De Allerheiligenvloed van 1 november 1170 was een stormvloed van bijna mythische omvang. De Noordzee brak door de duinen, waardoor de Zuiderzee en Waddenzee ontstonden. De stormvloed was zo krachtig dat er zelfs eb en vloed optrad bij Utrecht en er zeevis gevangen werd voor de stadsmuren.

It's the first day of November and here's Joachim von Sandrart's personification of the month, painted 1643.

"Poetry in other words is the gilded tongue of silence. Unimaginable when absent, self-evident when present." Hommage à Harry Mulisch who passed away fifteen years ago on 30 October.

Happy Halloween! 🎃

During the late 4th to early 3rd millennium BC, craftspeople in Elam created remarkable depictions of animals, like this smug little mountain goat (3500–2700 BC). Present-day southwestern Iran. #archaeology height x length: 4 x 7 cm (1 9/16 x 2 3/4 in.) At Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Potverdorie, wilden we een boek over Pompejus Occo gaan schrijven, is Herman Pleij ons voor .... 🙄 uitgeverijprometheus.nl/boeken/pompe...

Election Day in The Netherlands!

"Go on then, give her a kiss!" 💋 Joachim and Anna meeting at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem. Nicholas Dipre (1460-1532) This story is not found in the New Testament, but is found in the Proto-Gospel of James. Date : 1499/1500 Oil on panel

Met AI kun je net doen of het Paleis van Volksvlijt nog in Amsterdam staat.

William Marshal (1146–1219) is known as “the greatest knight in history". He rose from a penniless younger son to become regent of England through skill, loyalty, and honour. He served 4 kings, earning wealth, power, and respect. In his 70s he saved England from civil war and reissued Magna Carta.

🌿Goodbye Björn Andrésen (26 January 1955 - 25 October 2025) ! Björn Andrésen as 'Tadzio' in Luchino Visconti's film "Death in Venice", 1971

Herfst in het Vondelpark. Zien jullie de reiger?

TODAY IS THE DAY ‼️‼️‼️

When you explain for the umpteenth time that the clock should have been shifted BACKwards, not forward, and the stupid king still doesn't get it. (Bible moralisée, French, early 13th c.)

Funny. I still think it's a possible fake ...

Peak Hyperallergic. "How can we make this about colonialism."

King Tutankhamun’s Tomb Is at Risk of Collapse, Study Finds

Commandansthuis. Gezien in oostelijke richting. Links: Monument 1830 ("Naatje"). Ook links: bouwterrein waar De Bijenkorf gebouwd zal worden met daarachter de Beurs van Berlage. Collectie Stadsarchief Amsterdam: 1907 ca.

New installation for Mantegna's Presentation in the Temple at Fondazione Quirini Stampalia in Venice. Poor Carlo Scarpa turns in his grave ... 🤔

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"Gestolen" schilderij van Picasso teruggevonden - het was niet gestolen, men had vergeten het in te laden! 😂