Albert Weale
@albertpweale.bsky.social
Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and Public Policy, UCL. Brighton born and bred. No longer resident, but still liberal. Expressed views mine only.
The Waterseller of Seville, 1618, by Diego Velázquez, great Spanish Baroque artist, died #OTD 1660. A waterseller passes a full glass of water, containing a Seville fig, to a boy; his left hand rests on a large thrown clay pot, glistening with water drops in the harsh light. ALT Apsley House, London
A beautiful poem about not giving up in old age, interestingly written when young and on the occasion of the death of a young friend, Arthur Hallam.
Dr Anna Clark@drannaclark.bsky.social · 1h ago”…that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” Ulysses, composed 1833, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate, born #OTD 1809. Trinity College Cambridge Chapel @trincolllibcam.bsky.social
In October, the Sheldonia Theatre in Oxford hosts English Melodies, including RVW's Lark Ascending. With the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Roderick Williams, baritone, Ruth Rogers, violin & Anthony Robb, flute. Conducted by Martyn Brabbins Details 👇
English Melodies - Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
No country’s music embodies a pastoral spirit quite like England’s. Join the Orchestra for their first symphonic concert of the season.
oxfordphil.com
View of Amsterdam, Oude Kerk from South, c. 1670, by Jan van der Heyden, Dutch Golden Age artist, engineer & inventor (1637-1712); painted detailed cityscapes, pioneered practical innovations in urban lighting, drainage & firefighting. Mauritshaus den Haag
Chiswick House, English Palladian villa completed 1729, inspired by Palladio’s Villa Rotonda; designed by ‘architect Earl’ Lord Burlington, friend of Handel, patron of Pope, governor of Foundling Hospital. Chiswick House | Foundling Museum
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster...For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, influential German philosopher (1844-1900). Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 | Portrait by Edvard Munch 1906, Thielska Gallery
In this 2012 episode of BBC Radio 4's Great Lives, Matthew Parris talks to writer, broadcaster and 6Music presenter Stuart Maconie about the life of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Great Lives - Ralph Vaughan Williams - BBC Sounds
Matthew Parris and Stuart Maconie celebrate the life of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
bbc.co.uk
Cupola of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italian Baroque masterpiece, built 1668-1694, designed by Guarino Guarini, architect, mathematician & priest (1624-1683), known for his use of complex geometry & innovative structural engineering techniques.
Émilie du Châtelet, French Enlightenment mathematician & physicist (1706-1749); author of Institutions de Physique (1740), acclaimed translator of Newton's Principia. Portrait by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour, c. 1740 Château de Breteuil
Finding beauty in everyday life: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), French painter of tranquil, luminous still-life & genre scenes, admired by Manet, Cézanne, Matisse and Proust. La Fille de Cuisine 1738, NGADC | Panier de Pêches, avec noix, couteau, verre de vin 1768, Musée du Louvre
The Logic of Chance: John Venn, influential English mathematician, logician & philosopher, who advanced understanding of probability, born #OTD 1834. President of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; created Venn diagram. Portrait 1899 by Brock @caiuscollege.bsky.social Venn diagram: Stephen Wildish
🎻 One of Britain's best-loved pieces, The Lark Ascending, was written just before World War I, then set aside during the war, giving it an almost haunting quality as a musical farewell to a vanished England.
Sacred harmony: Pieter Jansz Saenredam, Dutch Golden Age architectural painter & draughtsman (1597-1665); pioneer of ‘church portraits’, whose subtle, tonal compositions foreshadow abstract modernism. St Bavo Haarlem, 1635, Gemäldegalerie Berlin
Le Destin, exceptional lacquered screen 1914, by Eileen Gray (1878-1976), avant-garde Irish designer & architect, a pioneer of Modern Movement. Student at @sladeschoolucl.bsky.social, she learnt the art of lacquer from Japanese master Seizo Sugawara. National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social
Cat and Flowers, 1977, painting by Elizabeth Blackadder, Scottish artist (1931-2021).
#Hibiscus, from the Flowers of the Twelve Months: August, 1690-1710, by #YunBing (#Qingyu 清於; Haoru 浩如; Chinese, Qianlong era, active late C17th–early C18th). Held by the Asian Art Museum, searchcollection.asianart.org/objects/5438... #artherstory #womenartists #hernaturalhistory
Helicoidal staircase at Palazzo Barberini c.1630, by Francesco Borromini, great Italian Baroque architect, died #OTD 1667. Palazzo Barberini, Rome
Perspective view of a young woman reading a letter c. 1670, by Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Dutch Baroque artist, pupil of Rembrandt, born #OTD 1627. He was known for experimental perspective views of interiors, with light & shadow defining architectural space and mood. ALT Mauritshuis, den Haag
Master of the poetic landscape: Thomas Gainsborough, English artist, died #OTD 1788; trained by Gravelot, associate of Hogarth & rival of Reynolds, he became a fashionable late 18th Century London portraitist. Mrs Richard Sheridan 1787, NGADC; Morning Walk 1785, National Gallery London
Woman in pearl necklace in Loge: artist’s sister Lydia Cassatt at Paris Opera in 1879 by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), American artist, exhibited with French Impressionists. Known for intimate paintings of women & children, admired by Degas. Philadelphia Museum ALT #Centenary @museeorsay.bsky.social
On #YorkshireDay, enjoy this lovely railway poster of the Yorkshire Dales by Ladybird artist Ronald Lampitt
The month of August Août, Château d’Étampes Falconry scene: elegant cortège à cheval leaves for hunt led by falconer; rustic haymakers & river swimmers in background. Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Painted on vellum, 1412-1416 Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly
A courtyard in Delft, c. 1658, by Pieter de Hooch, Dutch Golden Age painter, whose domestic scenes with perspective views reveal subtleties of light & mood; a contemporary of Vermeer, he lived 1629-c 1679, worked in Delft and Amsterdam. National Gallery London
Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, c. 1776, oil on canvas, 1774, by ‘the Welsh Claude’, Richard Wilson born #OTD 1713; inspired by Italian travels & Claude Lorraine’s landscapes, he returned to Wales to paint sublime scenery; inspired Constable, Crome & Turner. Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
In this BBC 2026 Proms season showcase, Georgia Mann introduces specially recorded performances from this year's Norfolk and Norwich Festival, including Vaughan Williams's Five Mystical Songs in the seldom-heard version for chamber forces. 📻 👇
BBC Radio 3 - New Generation Artists, 2026 Proms season showcase - Elizaveta Ivanova and Andrew Hamilton
Debussy, Poulenc and and Vaughan Williams from the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
bbc.co.uk
Master of opulent still life: Willem Kalf, Dutch Baroque artist, died #OTD 1693; known for dramatic, glittering works, including this 1653 composition of lobster, glass goblets, oriental rug & Renaissance silver-mounted St Sebastian Horn of Archers Guild. ALT National Gallery | Amsterdam Museum
Denis Diderot, French Enlightenment philosopher, savant, encyclopédiste, died #OTD 1784; co-edited first volumes of the Encyclopédie, a landmark work (1751-1772) in the secularisation, and democratisation of knowledge. Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767, Musée du Louvre
