Maybe once you hit a certain age, it is normal to become nostalgic. We look to the past, longingly remembering those simpler times, when no one worried about the safety of a five-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother walking to the corner drugstore to spend their nickel allowance on a candy bar. Those kids grew … Continue reading Out of Time; Out of Place: Nostalgia, Time Travel, and Ernest Haslehust’s Enchanted England
Author: RGilbert
A Controversy in Color: Finding Harmony in Art
The world had grown too chaotic to navigate. Manhattan held an allure for me, ever since my first visit as a wide-eyed 16-year-old. But maybe it wasn’t the best place to go in search of refuge. When I was barely 19, I moved there anyway, only to see my troubles multiply. My uncle, a Madison … Continue reading A Controversy in Color: Finding Harmony in Art
From Tampongate to Taxpayer Beggars: How 18th-Century Royals Invented Modern Messes
Queen Elizabeth II stood as a pillar against the endless stream of royal scandal. Although she presented herself as a stalwart role model, she couldn’t reliably steer her own children onto a noble path. As much as we wish we could forget the screaming banner headlines in 1993 about Tampongate, it’s hard to purge the … Continue reading From Tampongate to Taxpayer Beggars: How 18th-Century Royals Invented Modern Messes
The St. Leger Stakes: A Historic Race Rooted in Yorkshire and Nobility
Today, on the 249th anniversary of its debut, the St. Leger Stakes is the oldest horse race in the prestigious British Triple Crown, a series for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts and fillies, that is considered the pinnacle of British flat racing. (The other races making up the Triple Crown are the 2,000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket … Continue reading The St. Leger Stakes: A Historic Race Rooted in Yorkshire and Nobility
Downcast Eyes, Defiant Heart: A Daughter’s Plea in a Revolutionary Storm
A daughter's desperate plea saves her father from the guillotine in Ouless's haunting depiction of 1792's horrors—explore the Revolution's tragic irony.
Lessons from Proust: Love and Deception
“Don’t stop. Keep moving. There’s nothing to see here.” You look away and continue about your business. But who are you kidding? If there was nothing to see, why did you drop your gaze? Genre artist Berthold Woltze (1829-1896), who was born on August 24, 1829, in Havelberg, Kingdom of Prussia, often portrayed scenes that … Continue reading Lessons from Proust: Love and Deception
Decoding Truth: History, Perception, and Reality
The truth hurts. The ugly truth. Your truth. My truth. Truth is messy. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yours truly. A grain of truth. True enough. Truth will out. The obvious truth. Tried and true. Gospel truth. Naked truth. True blue. Unvarnished truth. Ain’t it the truth? Or, in the immortal words … Continue reading Decoding Truth: History, Perception, and Reality
Keeping It Real: The Bad Boys
In 1886, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was forced to resign his position as an instructor at the Philadelphia Academy of Art. At the time, it was unthinkable for a fully nude male to pose for female students in a life drawing class. While their male counterparts would be in a room with a naked guy, the … Continue reading Keeping It Real: The Bad Boys
London Views
Three years ago today, I was sitting in a pleasant apartment on Goodramgate in York, England, just down the street from the Old White Swan. Old White Swan, photo by RGilbert My plan had been to go watch the thoroughbreds run that afternoon at York Racecourse. But I awoke in the morning with severe back … Continue reading London Views
Love and Devotion: The Queen and Mr. Brown
Balmoral Castle, a residence of the British Royal family in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, belonged to the Farquharson family in 1848, when Prince Albert (1819-1861) first leased it for the use of himself and his wife, Queen Victoria (1819-1901). They enjoyed themselves so much at this beautiful Highlands estate, that they purchased it in 1853. Balmoral Castle … Continue reading Love and Devotion: The Queen and Mr. Brown
Art*Connections 