Lately in Polish social media suddenly one of the 19th century paintings made a significant appearance: it is “Jewess with Oranges” by Aleksander Gierymski and I decided to write about it here. It is going to be about relation between painting and photography in the 19th century – I have…
Recently, while I have been preparing my radio programme on “Battle of Grunwald” by Jan Matejko (1878, the National Museum in Warsaw) I have came across an interesting information on the painting’s history. That information was given by rather a respectable source, that is a blog of conservators of the…
There is a Facebook page in Polish called The Brief – co znosi psychika grafika; they publish various funny or frustrating dialogues between graphic designers and clients. Some time ago they posted following image: The dialogue translates: [Designer]: what colours do you prefer for your project? [Client]: It doesn’t matter,…
Medieval literature and art show us that the lovers’ gift back then was not so much a bunch of flowers, but rather a wreath: a ring made of flowers and ribbons. Such a love symbol is mentioned in the 13th-century Roman de la Rose, and we may also see it…
Lately I have written about the western entrance to the Cracow Cathedral, which has been decorated with sculpted depictions of St Margaret and St Michael (post is available HERE). Those two were famous for dealing with dragon, and it became their attribute, just as it is an attribute of St…