Happy New 2018/19/20/21 !

Times Square, New York (January 01, 1942)

A happy new 2018/19/20/21 to all my readers!

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Happy Christmas!

Medieval 'Wall Houses' (build on and with the remains of the first city wall)
near the so-called Thief's Tower* in Amersfoort (photo by RfA, 2011)

I wish all the readers a happy and warm Christmas and don't eat too much!

* wiki (translated) and here it is from the other site.

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Rome 1640

Rome 1652. Click to enlarge!

Ca. 1640 bird's eye view of Rome by Matthäus Merian (1593 - 1650).

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Una Merkel & Turkey

Una Merkel

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Portrait of a Young Woman - Domenico Ghirlandaio

Portrait of a Young Woman by Domenico Ghirlandaio, ca 1490. Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448-1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. An enlarged copy of this painting was visible above the entrance of one of the metro stations in Lisbon when I visited this city in 2015. We have seen one of his paintings before over here.

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Maude On The Cover

I discovered that the American post-punk band Protomartyr uses an image of Maude Fealy for the album art of their new album 'Relatives In Descent'. And it appears to be based on one of my own postcards! Here is the original picture:

Check the imprint of the postmark on the album cover and on this postcard in the upper right corner, their artwork designer (Joe Casey) indeed used my card! (the postmark is dated May 27 1906 5:30PM)

And here are some more pictures of Maude posing as a nun:

(all postcards from my own collection)

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Gene Tierney - The Painting Of Laura * Update *

Thanks to John Escobar who provided this recent photo of the portrait of Laura!  

The painting of Laura (Gene Tierney)

Gene Tierney's best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). As the detective assigned to investigate her death, Dana Andrews falls in love with the bewitching portrait of Laura over the fireplace in the apartment. Then, several days after her supposed death, he falls asleep on the sofa only to awaken and find that Laura was not just a dream, captured on canvas, but …

At first a painting was made by the wife of the initial director Mamoulian. After a month of filming he was fired, and Otto Preminger took over. He found the painting unflattering, he said it lacked the mysterious feel that the painting needed to capture the audience. It was flat and boring. Since it plays a large role in the movie, he wanted it to be perfect, it had to have allure and power. 

To replace it, Preminger sent Gene to studio photographer Frank Polony. Several portrait shots were taken, and the best shot was enlarged to the size of a painting. After it was framed it was lightly airbrushed with paint, giving it the appearance of brush strokes.

This painting of Gene Tierney as Laura was later also used in On the Riviera (1951) in color co-starring Danny Kaye, and in Woman's World (1954) starring Clifton Webb. In Woman's World the painting hung on a wall with portraits of several other women who were supposed to have been former romantic interests of Webb's character.

OTMA †

Clockwise: Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia (OTMA)

Today,  99 years ago, they were murdered at Yekaterinburg.

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Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby Catherine Stevens) was born July 16th, 1907.

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Main Street, Littleton

Main Street, Littleton, New Hampshire (ca 1908).

Excerpt from a photo found on Shorpy.com.

Present day situation (source).

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Queen Victoria Receiving News of Her Accession to the Throne

Queen Victoria Receiving News of Her Accession to the Throne by Henry Tanworth Wells, 1887 (Royal Collection Trust)

In the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 20th June 1837 Queen Victoria receives the news of her accession from Lord Conyngham (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury at Kensington Palace.

In her diary Victoria wrote: "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma,who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham (the Lord Chamberlain) then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen."

 Victoria Regina by Henry Tanworth Wells, 1880
(Tate Gallery, London)

The painter, Henry Tanworth Wells (1828–1903), was inspired by the description of the incident he read in the Diaries of Miss Frances Williams Wynn and first attempted a much larger version which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880.

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