From ancient Egyptian religions to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” to the latest I Can Haz Cheeseburger meme, felines, literature, and culture have enjoyed a long love affair. But perhaps no other feline has walked through history in quite the fashion that a Mediterranean cat did when it left paw prints across the pages of a 15th century manuscript from Dubrovnik, Croatia.

While thumbing through the manuscript in July 2011, Emir O. Filipović, a teaching and research assistant at the University of Sarajevo, discovered pages of the book stained with the inky paw prints of a cat and snapped a picture—something he planned on sharing with colleagues and students for a laugh.

Source: National Geographic

Jan van Eyck - The Annunciation (c. 1430-1435)

a BBC documentary

The painting in question in high-res

thanks to redditor ambrosiaceae

Source: youtube.com

Miniature of a man with a sword, clutching a severed head and standing beside the torso of the man he has decapitated. Author: Salomon Trismosin Title: Splendor Solis (an alchemical treatise) Origin: Germany Date: 1582 Language: German Script: Gothic Decoration: 22 full page miniatures of alchemical subjects in colours and gold with full borders
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Miniature of a man with a sword, clutching a severed head and standing beside the torso of the man he has decapitated.

Author: Salomon Trismosin

Title: Splendor Solis (an alchemical treatise)

Origin: Germany

Date: 1582

Language: German

Script: Gothic

Decoration: 22 full page miniatures of alchemical subjects in colours and gold with full borders

Source: bl.uk

The Last Judgment is a triptych created by Hieronymus Bosch. Unlike the alternate triptych with the same name, The Last Judgment, only a fragment of this one exists today. It resides at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. After being damaged, this fragment was heavily repainted, then the paint was removed in 1936. high-res
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The Last Judgment is a triptych created by Hieronymus Bosch. Unlike the alternate triptych with the same name, The Last Judgment, only a fragment of this one exists today. It resides at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

After being damaged, this fragment was heavily repainted, then the paint was removed in 1936.

high-res

Source: Wikipedia

Dagger of the Grand Masters of the Knights of St John, presented in 1565 by King Philip II of Spain to Jean de la Valette. copyright: Musée du Louvre, Atlas database: entry 15597
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Dagger of the Grand Masters of the Knights of St John, presented in 1565 by King Philip II of Spain to Jean de la Valette.

copyright: Musée du Louvre, Atlas database: entry 15597

Early history of the Circus By the time of Queen Elizabeth I most of the earlier problems of invasion, turmoil, and isolation had been resolved and the country settled down to a more secure and prosperous life. Wandering vagabonds were seen as a threat and laws were passed to curtail their gypsy life. Minstrels and other traveling entertainers no longer had a place in Tudor society. They were equated with “Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars”. All were subject to punishment, but performers quickly adapted to this statute and the ever changing needs of developing communities. Instead of performing on street corners and village greens, they began working in new more permanent locations designed specifically for such events.   image: Renaissance Festival 2010, MOSI Science Museum, Tampa, Florida, US. Credit - artisandelimage.
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Early history of the Circus


By the time of Queen Elizabeth I most of the earlier problems of invasion, turmoil, and isolation had been resolved and the country settled down to a more secure and prosperous life.

Wandering vagabonds were seen as a threat and laws were passed to curtail their gypsy life. Minstrels and other traveling entertainers no longer had a place in Tudor society. They were equated with “Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars”. All were subject to punishment, but performers quickly adapted to this statute and the ever changing needs of developing communities. Instead of performing on street corners and village greens, they began working in new more permanent locations designed specifically for such events.
 

image: Renaissance Festival 2010, MOSI Science Museum, Tampa, Florida, US. Credit - artisandelimage.

Source: hanneford.8m.com

Not FROM the Renaissance period, but bear with… Renaissance (Fabergé egg) The egg was made for Alexander III of Russia, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. It was the last egg that Alexander presented to Maria. The 1894 Imperial Egg is described on its invoice as: Agate egg, gold mount, decorated in the Renaissance style, with diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, pearls and rubies. St. Petersburg, May 6, 1894 After its confiscation by the Provisional Government, it was sold by Antikvariat for 1,500 rubles to Armand Hammer. Read on
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Not FROM the Renaissance period, but bear with…

Renaissance (Fabergé egg)

The egg was made for Alexander III of Russia, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. It was the last egg that Alexander presented to Maria.

The 1894 Imperial Egg is described on its invoice as:

Agate egg, gold mount, decorated in the Renaissance style, with diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, pearls and rubies. St. Petersburg, May 6, 1894

After its confiscation by the Provisional Government, it was sold by Antikvariat for 1,500 rubles to Armand Hammer.

Read on

San Francesco al Prato Resurrection Pietro Perugino, 1500 The figure of Christ, holding the crusader flag, has the typical harmony and softness of Perugino’s mature works, with a detailed chest and a bright drapery with deep pleats. The sarcophagus has its cover correctly painted according to geometrical perspective. The soldiers are also painted with attentions and details, such as the fanciful crest of the helmet.  
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San Francesco al Prato Resurrection

Pietro Perugino, 1500

The figure of Christ, holding the crusader flag, has the typical harmony and softness of Perugino’s mature works, with a detailed chest and a bright drapery with deep pleats.

The sarcophagus has its cover correctly painted according to geometrical perspective. The soldiers are also painted with attentions and details, such as the fanciful crest of the helmet.

 

A DECADE AGO, the Library of Congress paid $10 million to acquire the only known original copy of a 1507 world map that has been called “the birth certificate of America.” The large map, a masterpiece of woodblock printing, has been a star attraction at the library ever since and the object of revived scholarly fascination about the earliest cartography of the New World. The research has also rescued from obscurity a little-known Renaissance man, the 16th-century globe maker Johannes Schöner, who was responsible for saving the map for posterity. More - NY Times
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A DECADE AGO, the Library of Congress paid $10 million to acquire the only known original copy of a 1507 world map that has been called “the birth certificate of America.” The large map, a masterpiece of woodblock printing, has been a star attraction at the library ever since and the object of revived scholarly fascination about the earliest cartography of the New World.

The research has also rescued from obscurity a little-known Renaissance man, the 16th-century globe maker Johannes Schöner, who was responsible for saving the map for posterity.

More - NY Times

Colophon of the publisher Aldus Manutius (Italian, 1450-1515), established the Aldine Press in 1493 in Venice to published numerous Greek and Latin classics, greatly contributing to the spread of the Renaissance.
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Colophon of the publisher Aldus Manutius (Italian, 1450-1515), established the Aldine Press in 1493 in Venice to published numerous Greek and Latin classics, greatly contributing to the spread of the Renaissance.

Jean Nicot  (1530— 1600/1604)French diplomat and scholar who introduced tobacco to the French court in the 16th century, which gave rise to the culture of snuffing and to the plant’s eventual dissemination and popularization throughout Europe. At first, the plant was called Nicotina. But nicotine later came to refer specifically to the particular chemical in the plant.
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Jean Nicot  (1530— 1600/1604)
French diplomat and scholar who introduced tobacco to the French court in the 16th century, which gave rise to the culture of snuffing and to the plant’s eventual dissemination and popularization throughout Europe.

At first, the plant was called Nicotina. But nicotine later came to refer specifically to the particular chemical in the plant.

Source: britannica.com

Past the Potatoes: What the Irish Ate Before the Late 1600s Without the potato, there would be no colcannon, no Irish stew, no shepherd’s pie, and certainly no McDonald’s fries to dip in your Shamrock Shake. But the potato is an import - potatoes are actually Peruvian, from thousands of years back, and didn’t make their way to Irish soil until the late 1600s.Which raises the question: What was Irish food like for the 1500 years between Patrick and potatoes? The short answer is: milky. Every account of what Irish people ate, from the pre-Christian Celts up through the 16th-century anti-British freedom fighters, revolves around dairy. The island’s green pastures gave rise to a culture that was fiercely proud of its cows (one of the main genres of Ancient Irish epics is entirely about violent cattle rustling), and a cuisine that revolved around banbidh, or “white foods.” Read on
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Past the Potatoes: What the Irish Ate Before the Late 1600s

Without the potato, there would be no colcannon, no Irish stew, no shepherd’s pie, and certainly no McDonald’s fries to dip in your Shamrock Shake. But the potato is an import - potatoes are actually Peruvian, from thousands of years back, and didn’t make their way to Irish soil until the late 1600s.

Which raises the question: What was Irish food like for the 1500 years between Patrick and potatoes?

The short answer is: milky. Every account of what Irish people ate, from the pre-Christian Celts up through the 16th-century anti-British freedom fighters, revolves around dairy. The island’s green pastures gave rise to a culture that was fiercely proud of its cows (one of the main genres of Ancient Irish epics is entirely about violent cattle rustling), and a cuisine that revolved around banbidh, or “white foods.”


Read on

A painting of Queen Elizabeth I that portrays her in all her aging glory has recently been authenticated and is in now on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. More at The Telegraph
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A painting of Queen Elizabeth I that portrays her in all her aging glory has recently been authenticated and is in now on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

More at The Telegraph

An armchair made in 1540’s by an unknown maker. It is part of the Victoria and Albert’s museum collection.
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An armchair made in 1540’s by an unknown maker.

It is part of the Victoria and Albert’s museum collection.

Battle between Carnival and Lent This is a 16th century copy of now, unfortunately, lost painting by Hieronymus Bosch.  The inscription at the bottom of the painting reads “This is the dance of Luther with his nun”— a (seemingly disapproving) reference to Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora which could not have been made by Bosch who died a year prior to the publication of the 95 theses. *click to slide-view
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Battle between Carnival and Lent

This is a 16th century copy of now, unfortunately, lost painting by Hieronymus Bosch. 

The inscription at the bottom of the painting reads “This is the dance of Luther with his nun”— a (seemingly disapproving) reference to Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora which could not have been made by Bosch who died a year prior to the publication of the 95 theses.

*click to slide-view

Source: superfluae.blogspot.com