Alexey Tyranov was born in 1801. Prior to going to the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg he worked alongside his brother as an icon painter. At the Academy he studied under Alexey Venetsianov, and from...
Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva lived all her life in St Petersburg where she was born in 1871. She was born into a family of a high official who eventually became a senator, and later married a renowned Rus...
Prince Grigory Gagarin was born in St Petersburg in 1811. Having spent his youth with his parents in Paris and Rome where his father served as an ambassador, Gagarin went on to study in Siena, at the ...
Alexander Brullov was born on November 29, 1798 in St Petersburg in the family of Pavel Brullo, a sculptor and ornamental artist of French origin. With his brother, Karl, Alexander received a special ...
Edward Lear was not only the author of the famous limericks, but was also a keen traveller and a gifted painter. As I was trying to find any online editions of his works on Italy (as a matter of fact,...
Since spring is now here, I thought I’d share this photo of sunny daisies I took in Southend-on-Sea last July. As I understand it, it should be quite warm already on the south-eastern coast of t...
As far as I can see from my window, the snow has almost gone, not least because of the thick fog that came down on the town this night. To mark the occasion, here is a winter photo my dad shared with ...
I have just seen a few absolutely wonderful photos of sun-filled Sevilla, photographed by the Russian LiveJournal blogger. One photo, featuring an old couple, is accompanied by the caption: “I i...
Many years ago I read the wonderful Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear. My interests lay at that point primarily in the field of Literature, so I never looked at those five-liners from the point of ethno...
To continue with the story of Moscow shopwindows: most of these come from Sretenka and Tverskaya Streets. What you will undoubtedly spot are antique shoes in the window of a footwear shop not far from...