Two views of Dresden from the right bank of the Elbe, above the Augustusbrücke & below, painted in 1747 & 1748 by Bernardo Bellotto, pupil and nephew of Canaletto, died #OTD 1780; used as important references in the reconstruction of Dresden after World War II bombing. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

Admiring this wooden spiral staircase adorned with gilded six-pointed star motifs at the Yeşil Mosque in Kütahya, Turkiye www.facebook.com/groups/arche...

“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my Lords, that where laws end, there tyranny begins.” The Great Commoner, William Pitt the Elder, born #OTD 1708. Portrait by William Hoare c. 1754, National Portrait Gallery London

From Bronze Age Wales, the spectacular Mold Cape! 🤩 An incredible ancient feat of sheet-goldworking, beaten from a single gold ingot some 3,600 years ago! The extraordinary embossed decoration is said to mimic strings of beads. 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

Camille Pissarro, influential Danish-French artist, who inspired Cézanne; a pioneer of Impressionism in 1870’s, he embraced pointillism in 1880’s, working with Seurat & Signac. He died #OTD 1903. Les Toits Rouges, Pontoise 1877, Musée d’Orsay La récolte des Foins, Éragny 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Once upon a time in a university near you, in-person teaching was a thing, as you can see in this image of 1612. Young people with hats came together, regularly and voluntarily, prepared for classes, and enjoying a lively learning situation of *checks notes*, a 90 minutes monolog of someone else ...

Okay, time for a much-requested thing: a THREAD OF THREADS. I've now written dozens of these sciencey threads now, and it's increasingly easy to lose them in the scrum of new stuff on here, so - here's a roundup. First: the mystery of the BONG BONG BONG: bsky.app/profile/mike... 1/

Who was responsible for creating these structures in the past? Workers, certainly. But who funded them? Rich people. Wealthy patricians and emperors funded the creation of public bath houses and arenas of Ancient Rome. The Medici family also funded religious buildings in Italy.

JUST PUBLISHED! In our latest article we examine the 17th century craze for writing and reading letters, and how this became a major feature in Dutch art, featuring in masterful paintings by artists such as Gabriel Metsu and Jan Vermeer www.artinsociety.com/gabriel-mets...

A 2,000 year-old blue glass wine cup inscribed in Greek ‘EYΦPAINOY EΦωПAPEI’ “Be glad that you are here” Roman drinking cups like this were used to welcome guests at social gatherings. 1st century AD 🍷 📷 Corning Museum of Glass #EpigraphyTuesday #Archaeology

This is Angel Falls in Venezuela, with its 807-metre sheer plunge - the tallest waterfall on our planet. Except - it isn't. There's one that's bigger. MUCH bigger. And when I learned about it this week, my mind was fully blown. OK. Buckle up! (Especially if you don't have a head for heights.) 1/

La Saliera: gold & enamel salt cellar 1543, masterpiece made for François I, by Benvenuto Cellini, Italian Mannerist goldsmith & sculptor, born in Florence #OTD 1500. La Saliera featured in Balzac’s novel La Peau de Chagrin; Cellini inspired Dumas’s novel L’Orfèvre du Roi. Kunsthistorisches Museum

Marianne von Werefkin’s Bei Cuno Amiet (1919) to lift your Sunday morning.

"You left Europe because you wanted less boats. You have more boats. You left Europe because you wanted more investment. You have less investment." Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania on the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Watch in full ➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0

The Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden used to be the railway station. Most crowned heads passed through on their way to take the waters.

The month of November Novembre, 1485-86, painted on vellum by Jean Colombe The acorn harvest: swineherd in oak forest, using a stick to dislodge ripe acorns, to fatten his foraging pigs. Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Musée Condé Château de Chantilly

Presentation of Jesus, oil on wood panel 1516, by Fra Bartolommeo, Italian Renaissance artist & Dominican friar, died #OTD 1517; friend of Raphael, known for distinctive purity of line & harmonious composition. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

Would Corbusier have been wriggling in his cinema seat at the sight of ‘Villa Arpel’ in Jacques Tati’s 1958 film Mon Oncle? Created on a set with production designer Eugène Roman, Tati lampooned a particular class of post war aspiring fellow Frenchmen. Photo with thanks to @gilbertkann

Corbusier’s 1954 Mill Owners Association Building, Ahmedabad. Its beauty lies in its sense of volume, light and raw concrete surfaces. Corbusier’s five points are noted, it a seems to float, pilotis make an open ground floor. Corbusier used a favourite, ramps to connect floors image John Gollings ©

Simply beautiful: Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age flint daggers found in Saxony-Anhalt, 2300-1600 BC (Unétice-Culture). On display at Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Halle. 📷 me 🏺

Just a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians

A Bronze Sestertius coin (132-134 A.D.) The inscription reads FELICITATI AUG - Prosperity from the Augustus (Emperor). At San Rossore, the wrecks of 30 vessels were found including cargos & everyday items. Now in Museo delle Navi Antiche di Pisa, #Pisa #RomanSiteSaturday.

”I believe that everyone ought, in duty, to do any good they can.” The man who saved children: Thomas Coram, English sea captain, philanthropist & founder of London’s Foundling Hospital, world’s first incorporated charity. Portrait 1740 by William Hogarth, died #OTD 1764. Foundling Museum

Noble simplicity: Ange-Jacques Gabriel, principal architect of Louis XV, born #OTD 1698; known for Le Petit Trianon at Château de Versailles and l'École Militaire. Portrait by Greuze c.1750, Musée du Louvre

An opening scene in Taylor Swift’s video for her latest single release ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ is based on Friedrich Heyser’s 1900 painting ‘Death of Ophelia’ ~ and has led to a large spike in visitor numbers to the Wiesbaden museum where it’s hung www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

Haven’t posted any Gabriele Münter for a while. Here’s her: Dame im Park, Mariahalde, 1914

Good Morning from the #Trenitalia 🇮🇹 #InterCityNotte from #Sicily to #Milan. Breakfast ist served in the sleeper cabin at dawn as we pass the Cinque Terre hilltop villages. What beautiful day at the Riviera di Levante. No opening windows on the train, yet last night’s rain did some good cleaning.

Camille Pissarro played a major role in developing impressionism, and was father figure to many impressionist artists. But, like many others, he sold little during his lifetime. Here’s his View of Studio, Éragny, Pear Trees in Bloom ■ Rue Saint-Honoré, Afternoon Rain (1890s)

We miss these views over winter! That's the last of the @n-t-s.bsky.social #StKilda team off the island now, after a fabulous last couple of days birding to cap off an excellent autumn and an excellent season. Thanks to all that enjoyed it with us and helped make 2025 a special year! 🙏

Checking out the Viking-Age hall reconstruction in Lejre, Denmark

Decorative mosaics from the dome of Hagia Sophia

Brera Madonna: early Renaissance altarpiece 1472, of faultless architectural proportion, with symbolic suspended egg; for donor Federico da Montefeltro,Duke of Urbino (kneeling) by Piero della Francesca, whose mastery of perspective drew on mathematics & geometry; died #OTD 1492. Pinacoteca di Brera

“Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way” - Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

Probably my favourite long late antiquity piece of art. The so-called "palimpsest" fresco in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome shows consecutive layers of paintings from the sixth century (Mary as empress of heaven) all the way to the seventh and early eight century. The level of detail is just amazing.

🏛️ Beautiful mosaic floor of the Roman baths at the Sanctuary of Poseidon, Isthmia, Greece. The baths were built ca 150 CE and were used by the athletes who performed in the Isthmian Games. The mosaic depicts Triton and sea creatures. Video filmed a couple of days ago.

Manchester Jewish Museum opened in 1984, but is housed in a Grade II listed 1874 (former) Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Cheetham Hill, which has been beautifully restored as part of the development of the museum. www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/collections/...

Astonishing sculpture of 60 detailed figures carved from a single block of Carrara marble ~ Francesco Bertos’ Fall of the Rebel Angels (c 1730). Suspicion that his skill was beyond human ability led to his being questioned by the Inquisition. Tks @JonathanMendel1 gallerieditalia.com/en/vicenza/e...

The Emperor Aurelian. Won an unbelievable series of victories against the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians & Carpi. Conquered the Gallic Empire & reunited the whole Roman Empire. If he had lived on I suspect the Roman Empire would have been strengthened & its collapse delayed.

This beautiful glass bowl looks modern, yet it’s about 2,250 years old! 🤩 Made using an innovative technique in which thin threads of twisted glass were spiralled over a convex mould. Wonderful example of the skill of ancient artisans! Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart 📷 me #Archaeology

1/ The losses suffered by the Wermacht in the so-called “great battles” of the WWII, were pretty modest. The Germans lost 350 Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) in the first ten days of the Battle of Kursk. Yet in 1943 Germany produced a total 12,000 AFV.

The 3,000-year-old gold Shropshire sun pendant was dicovered in 2018. Crafted with incredible skill and decorated with intricate geometric patterns, it symbolizes the importance of the sun in Bronze Age society. As scientific analysis has indicated, the pendant...🧵1/2 📷 me #archaeology 🏺

Stunning Fountains Abbey near Ripon. A Cistercian House, it was founded in 1132. It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. Now in the care of @nationaltrust.org.uk #fountainsabbey #dissolutionofthemonasteries #cistercians

It's 2000, & wreck diver Rod Macdonald has discovered something terrifying: "Dave and I couldn’t resist the temptation to fin over to the edge of the pinnacle & look over the side, down into the 200-metre deep abyss. [Then] I became aware that my exhaled bubbles had stopped rising upwards..." 1/

Slightly diminish a book Lord Of The Ringtones

In 1996, highway construction in Lod (in present-day Israel) uncovered impressively well-preserved Roman mosaic floors from a 3-4th century luxury villa. Here are panels depicting wildlife & marine scenes metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at...

The magnificent nose guard ('nasal') on the 8th century #York Helmet, found in 1982 during building work for the Coppergate shopping centre. It is one of six surviving Anglo-Saxon / early English helmets, and is on display at the #Yorkshire Museum. #FindsFriday #Helmet 📷 Mine

Wonderfully-decorated main gate of the 1824 Swaminarayan Temple in Bhuj, Gujarat, India ~ sadly destroyed in the tragic earthquake of 2001 (photo: Christophe Boisvieux)

Small touches of brilliant colours evoke the effect of sunlight filtering through the foliage on the pergola where women sit knitting or sewing, in this painting by post-impressionist Henri Martin (1913, Musée d'arts de Nantes)