Sometimes I feel that people need to be reminded why there is a very definite reason that we are born with two eyes and just one mouth.
It is entirely possible to, at times, find the answers you are looking for without the need to ask, and in turn prove yourself to be just the tiniest bit resourceful.
“Her eyes are the color of twice-frozen Hershey bars.”
Today I had the absolute pleasure of taking in the Victorian Obsession exhibition at the stunning Leighton House Museum in Holland Park in London. This exceptional exhibition featuring works by Albert Moore, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, John Everett Millais, John William Waterhouse, Edward Poynter, John Strudwick, John William Godward culminates in a spectacular finale featuring Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s breathtaking The Roses of Heliogabalus showcased in a room where the scent of roses is diffused throughout.
I felt incredibly taken with the beauty of the portrayal of the scene playing out on the canvas juxtaposed against its very dark subject matter featuring people being drowned in rose petals.
Although photography is strictly forbidden throughout the museum, I could not resist sneaking just one little snap of this very moving piece…
The Roses of Heliogalabus, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888
A Victoria Obsession is available to view at Leighton House Museum until 29th March 2015.
Today I visited the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House to check out the Egon Schiele exhibition currently on display there. Unfortunately, I was only able to snap one memento before getting my wrist slapped, but The Radical Nude exhibition is totally worth a visit.
Detail from Two Girls Embracing (Two Friends), 1915
Two Girls Embracing (Two Friends), 1915
Egon Schiele: The Radical Nude is available to view at the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA until 18th January 2015. Tickets can be purchased in advance here or at the door upon arrival.
The sun was setting today as I crossed Waterloo Bridge…
Charles “Lucky” Luciano
In Autumn 1946 Charles “Lucky” Luciano in Naples, Italy due to an enforced deportation from the United States, received two passports with visas issue for Mexico, Cuba, and several other South American Nations. In October he set off for Caracas, Venezuela, Mexico City and finally Havana, where he was greeted by his friend Meyer Lansky upon arrival.
Meyer Lansky
Luciano immediately set to work to organise a conference for the week of 22nd December that would bring together La Cosa Nostra, consisting of some of the most prominent mafia leaders in America from New York and New Jersey, Chicago, Buffal, New Orleans and Tampa, and the Jewish Syndicate. After purchasing a $150,000 interest in the Hotel Nacional, a casino and hotel owned by Lansky and his partner, Cuban President Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, the Havana Conference was set.
Hotel Nacional
At the moment I am listening to the Liz ❤ Monty podcast for the third time on You Must Remember This.
Photo courtesy of You Must Remember This
“Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think.”
Elizabeth Milbanke Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne by Richard Cosway
Hardy har har, universe… ,,/,,
Photo courtesy of Les Senteurs
When I first heard the news that Estée Lauder had purchased Frédéric Malle’s Editions de Parfums my first reaction was to go outside wave a lit candle in the air followed by releasing 21 white doves into the sky each marinated in a perfume from the Editions de Parfums line.
And the sky was redolent with the fragrances of Angeliques sous la Pluie, En Passant, and Lys Mediterranee.
bgirl rhapsody 