Tag Archives: 18th Century

1784: First Woman to Fly

Posted on August 18, 2017 by corvusfugit

On June 4, 1784, at the age of 19, a French opera singer named Élisabeth Thible became the first woman aeronaut in history by ascending in a hot air balloon in Lyon. A painter named M. Fleurant had been scheduled … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Art, Aviation, Élisabeth Thible, Balloons, Flight, France, Montgolfier Brothers, Opera, Printmaking, Women | Leave a comment

1726: Definition

Posted on August 13, 2017 by corvusfugit

THUNDER: a Noise known by Persons not Deaf. —Nathan Bailey: An universal etymological English dictionary, comprehending the derivations of the generality of words in the English tongue (1726)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Books, Dictionaries, Meteorology, Nathan Bailey, Words | 1 Comment

1789: The Bastilles Made from the Bastille

Posted on August 13, 2017 by corvusfugit

Pierre-François Palloy owned one of the largest building firms in Paris when the Bastille fell on July 14, 1789, and, after some debate over the fate of the prison that had come to symbolize tyranny in the city, he acquired … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Architecture, France, French Revolution, Miniatures, Pierre-François Palloy, Revolution | Leave a comment

1776: The Resurrection of the Universal Friend

Posted on August 12, 2017 by corvusfugit

Born in Rhode Island in 1752, Jemima Wilkinson would become, at the age of 25, the first American-born woman to found a religious group—following what she claimed was her death and resurrection. She abandoned her birth name, asked to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Art, Gender, Jemima Wilkinson, LGBTQ, Painting, Portraits, Quakers, Religion, The Universal Friend, USA, Women | Leave a comment

1756: Allegory

Posted on August 7, 2017 by corvusfugit

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Allegorical Frontispiece of Rome and its history from Le Antichità Romane (1756)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Architecture, Books, Cities, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italy, Printmaking, Rome, Sculpture | Leave a comment

1793: Charity

Posted on August 7, 2017 by corvusfugit

William Beechey: Portrait of Sir Francis Ford’s Children Giving a Coin to a Beggar Boy (c. 1793)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Art, Painting, Portraits, Poverty, William Beechey | Leave a comment

1703: Forseeing Things to Come

Posted on August 4, 2017 by corvusfugit

In 1703, the Scottish writer Martin Martin published A description of the Western Islands of Scotland. : Containing a full account of their situation, extent, soils, product, harbours, bays, tides, anchoring places, and fisheries. The ancient and modern government, religion … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Books, Children, Cows, Geography, Great Britain, Horses, Oddities, Prose, Scotland | 1 Comment

1793: In Saddam Hussein’s Basement

Posted on July 3, 2017 by corvusfugit

Title page of a volume from a multi-volume Talmud set published in Vienna in 1793 by Yozef Hroshontsḳi and recovered from the flooded basement of the Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s intelligence headquarters, in 2003. Tens of thousands of Jewish documents were … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, 20th Century, 21st Century, Archives, Books, History, Iraq, Israel, Judaism, Saddam Hussein | Leave a comment

1789: Gifts from the Ebb Tide

Posted on June 25, 2017 by corvusfugit

Kitagawa Utamaro: Pages from Gifts of the Ebb Tide (probably 1789) (source)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, Books, Japan, Kitagawa Utamaro, Printmaking | Leave a comment

1710: Anonymous Violin

Posted on June 23, 2017 by corvusfugit

Then indeed the marvellous instrument appeared in all its unrivalled splendor. Its graceful curves, its fugitive lines of beauty were such as might drive a Stradivarius wild. Its glaze was of an incomparable limpidity, and the blue in its design … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Anonymous, Ceramics, Champfleury, France, Music, Netherlands, Novels, Prose | Leave a comment