2016: Non Orientable Nkansa II. 1901-2030

Ibrahim Mahama - Non Orientable Nkansa II 1901-2030 (2016)

Ibrahim Mahama: Non Orientable Nkansa II. 1901-2030 (2016) (source)

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1815: The Affair of a Second

Cannonball

George Thomas Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, describes a moment during the Battle of Waterloo:

We halted and formed square in the middle of the plain. As we were performing this movement, a bugler of the 51st, who had been out with skirmishers, and had mistaken our square for his own, exclaimed, “Here I am again, safe enough.” The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when a round shot took off his head and spattered the whole battalion with his brains, the colors and the ensigns in charge of them coming in for an extra share. One of them, Charles Fraser, a fine gentleman in speech and manner, raised a laugh by drawling out, “How extremely disgusting!” A second shot carried off six of the men’s bayonets, a third broke the breast-bone of a lance Sergeant (Robinson), whose piteous. cries were anything but encouraging to his youthful comrades. The soldier’s belief that “every bullet has its billet,” was strengthened by another shot striking Ensign Cooper, the shortest man in the regiment, and in the very centre of the square. The casualties were the affair of a second. (Fifty Years of My Life, 1877)

Image: A cannon ball (round shot) fired at Waterloo; about 42,000 were fired during the battle. (source)

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1349: Wound

69.86

Jean Le Noir: Prayer Book of Bonne of Luxembourg, Duchess of Normandy (before 1349); this page shows the chest wound of Christ. (source)

One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John 19:34)

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1977: Jayaben Desai

Picket

Graham Wood: Jayaben Desai (1977)

Desai lead the 1977 strike at the Grunwick photo-processing factory in Willesden, London. The workers, predominantly Asian women, not only struck for union recognition, but challenged the stereotype of being silent and subservient. They were known as the “strikers in saris.” More pictures here.

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1784: Aranjuez

Antonio Carnicero - Ascent of a Montgolfier Balloon in Aranjuez, 1784

Antonio Carnicero: Ascent of a Montgolfier Balloon in Aranjuez (1784)

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1870: Afternoon by the Ocean

Alfred Thompson Bricher - Afternoon by the Ocean

Alfred Thompson Bricher: Afternoon by the Ocean; 1870 is a complete guess for the date of this painting.

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2017: The Sky

2017-10-19-18

New additions to the gallery.

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5th Century BC: Hermes Kriophoros

Hermes Kriophoros - Roman copy of 5th century BC Greek original

Hermes Kriophoros – Roman copy of 5th century BC Greek original

“Kriophoros” is Greek for “ram-bearer.” The epithet became associated with the god Hermes in connection with a story from the city of Tanagra, here retold by the traveler and geographer Pausanias:

There are sanctuaries of Hermes Kriophoros and of Hermes called Promachos [“champion”]. They account for the former surname by a story that Hermes averted a pestilence from the city by carrying a ram round the walls; to commemorate this, Calamis made an image of Hermes carrying a ram upon his shoulders. Whichever of the youths is judged to be the most handsome goes round the walls at the feast of Hermes, carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

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1573: Self-Portrait

Johan Gregor van der Schardt - Self-portrait (c. 1573)

Johan Gregor van der Schardt: Self-portrait (c. 1573)

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1912: Monument

John Russell Pope - Competition Proposal for Lincoln Monument (1912)

John Russell Pope: Competition Proposal for Lincoln Monument (1912); Pope’s firm designed the National Archives and Records Administration building (1935), the Jefferson Memorial (1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (1941).

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