Polish Netflix has recently produced widely acclaimed comedy series entitled “1670”, satirically presenting contemporary Polish society in historical costume of the seventeenth century (trailer in English is available HERE). Opening, however, is a compilation of artworks that do not date back to the 17th century, but have been taken from…
Cleaning Up the Dirty Middle Ages
One of the most irritating misconceptions about the Middle Ages is that people back then bathed once a year or so – it is a myth I keep fighting. I am very happy to say that recently my article on this subject has been published by JSTOR Daily (available HERE)….
Stone Christ that spoke
St Mary’s Basilica in Cracow is probably known all over the world for its magnificent late gothic carved main altarpiece – a masterpiece by Veit Stoss, completed in 1477-1489. It has been restored lately and the restoration project was granted European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2023. Meanwhile, in…
A stolen painting returned to York Art Gallery!
A few years ago I wrote on my blog about two late-Gothic panels from the workshop of Hans Pleydenwurff, that I researched during my stay at York Art Gallery. Those are the posts: http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2020/04/14/late-gothic-panels-in-york-art-gallery-part-1/ http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2020/05/02/late-gothic-panels-in-york-art-gallery-part-2/ Unfortunately, as I wrote, one of the panels was stolen in 1979. It was on…
UNDERWEAR MYSTERY IN “THE DECAMERON”
Many years ago, when I had an honour – still being a student – to present my paper on certain medieval manuscript on a Very Serious Meeting of the art historians, the Very Serious Audience got themselves into a discussion: was it acceptable for a young aspiring scholar (i.e. me)…