Guy Sebastian discography(
nominated by
Usfun8991)Guy Sebastian is an Australian singer-songwriter who's had considerable commercial success. He first came to public notice by winning the first series of Australian Idol in 2003. Since then he's gone on to release eight successful albums and seventeen top-twenty singles, one of which, Battle Scars, reached number 2 in the Norwegian charts. He recorded a cover album of soul classics, The Memphis Album, in
Memphis with members of the
M.G.'s- this was Sebastian's "Memphis Soul period", which left traces in his next album, Like It Like That. His later albums show a mix of soul, R&B and pop. Rumours that Sebastian's next album will be covers of
Norwegian death metal songs with a
didgeridoo band are apparently untrue.
Adoration of the Shepherds(created by
Giorgione,
nominated by
Hafspajen) Christmas came and went, and probably won't even call, the bastard, but
Giorgione's beautiful Adoration of the Shepherds passed featured picture in the meantime. Giorgione is considered by art historians to be one of the most interesting, enigmatic and influential of the Renaissance Venetian painters. The theme
Adoration of the Shepherds is different from the similar
Adoration of the Magi. While the Magi are often represented as rich, colorful and exotic magnates bringing with them
myrrh, incense, ivory, camels, monkey and peafowls, the shepherds are poor people. The scene is an intimate one, with the simple shepherds who came to Bethlehem and are the first to recognize Christ's divinity and thus kneel down in front of him. The article spends little time talking about the lovely composition, with brightly-lit fields leading to a dimly lit cave that highlights the holy family, and tiny cherubim hovering around, watching the birth, and occasionally looking disturbingly skull-like, such as the one on the left. Eep. No, the article concentrates on the importance of signing your work: If you don't, you might get your work claimed by
Titian,
Vincenzo Catena, or
Giovanni Cariani, or, worse, have the majority of art experts assign it to
Giorgione when it's actually by you. Add a signature and there'd be no doubt.
Durbar Court(created by
Colin,
nominated by
Tomer T) This magnificent court is part of the former India Office (now part of the main building for the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government). Slated for demolition in the 1960s along with the rest of
Whitehall, it would have been replaced with some concrete boxes designed by
Leslie Martin. Fortunately the plans were abandoned in 1971, due to lack of money and a determined public campaign (though one suspects "lack of money" was the real reason for abandonment). The Durbar Court was designed by
Sir George Gilbert Scott and
Matthew Digby Wyatt. It's got
Doric,
Ionic and
Corinthian columns made from red and grey granites from Scotland, and a gorgeous marble floor with stone from Greece, Sicily and Belgium. A
Durbar court was a place where Shahs and Sultans conducted business in the warm climes of Persia and India; this particular court, under the grey skies of smoggy London, only saw civil servants hurrying from office to office.
La Mousmé(created by
Vincent van Gogh,
nominated by
Crisco 1492)La Mousmé is a painting by
Vincent van Gogh from 1888; a work from the period when he was experimenting with the ways of expression typical of Japanese woodprints and Japanese artwork. La Mousmé is inspired by
Pierre Loti's novel
Madame Chrysanthème - a very fashionable novel at the time. This painting is from a series that represented different aspects of ordinary life, from one of Van Gogh's happier periods of life, a prolific time, when in less than 444 days Van Gogh made about 100 drawings and produced more than 200 paintings. La Mousmé's outfit is a blend of modern and traditional, with the bright colors of the skirt and jacket typical for the southern region of Arles. Van Gogh's painting is focused on the girl's face, depicting her in the colors of a girl from Arles, but with a Japanese influence. The painting is part of the
National Gallery of Art collection in
Washington, D.C.
Gloriette in the Schönbrunn Palace Garden(created by
Thomas Wolf,
nominated by
Tomer T) A
gloriette is a building in an elevated position in a garden, designed to be an outlook over the foliage. This one, at
Schönbrunn Palace, was built in the Early Classicist colonnaded style on the crest of a hill in 1775 for the Austrian Emperor, and has a view over Vienna from the roof. It is basically an
architectural folly:
buildings and other erections given unusual shapes, meant to show off the owners' ability to spend money on frivolous things. While many follies serve little to no purpose, the Gloriette is of the type that are usable despite the eccentric shape, similar to the
Dunmore Pineapple. It consists of a central section built like triumphal arch, crowned with the imperial eagle. The roof is flat with a balustrade and can be accessed by a stairway. Emperors had their breakfasts there until the end of the
Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918. Destroyed in the Second World War, it was reconstructed and now serves as a café, serving unemployed Emperors (and the hoi-polloi) with
Sachertorte.
Eurasian eagle-owl(created by
Carlos Delgado,
nominated by
Jim Carter) With a wingspan of 200 cm (79 in) the
Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the largest species of owl. It is a largely nocturnal owl that mostly chooses to live in mountainious regions, steppes and remote places, preferring to nest on cliff ledges, and other concealed locations. It hunts at night, on the taiga, along rocky coast lines and over steppes and grasslands, catching birds, small mammals, fish, reptiles and (surprisingly) earthworms. Its great size, barrel-shaped build, yellow-orange irises and ear tufts give this owl a distinctive appearance. The beak and the feet are black, while each feather has a buff or cream-coloured edge. The calls they make is a deep resonant OOooh-huu that can be heard at great distance, repeated at intervals. Other calls include a rather faint OO-OO-oo and a harsh kveck-kveck. Annoyance at close quarters is expressed by bill-clicking and spitting, and a defensive posture.
In a Roman Osteria(created by
Carl Bloch,
nominated by
Crisco 1492)In a Roman Osteria is a painting by the Danish painter
Carl Bloch from 1866. The painting depicts the artist in Rome at a restaurant, together with his friend and major supporter
Moritz G. Melchior (facing us). The painter, Bloch, is sitting at a table turning his back to the viewers, talking with his friends. The pretty girls in the foreground are the
couleur locale, together with their "protector", who keeps a
clasp-knife in his pocket, and is giving the viewer a dirty look. They are enjoying a hearty meal of cabbage and crusty
cobs with sweet red wine, which is attracting wasps and flies. The painting was acquired by the
National Gallery of Denmark in 1935, and is displayed there.
Hydnellum ferrugineum(created by
Myrabella,
nominated by
Tomer T)Hydnellum is a genus of fungi referred to as the "tooth fungi", because, instead of the usual
gills that many
mushrooms have under their cap, the tooth fungi have small tooth-like projections. Most of the mushroom species that are tooth fungi are edible and safe - but not this one, apparently. Hydnellum ferrugineum has a white to pink body covered by drops of a red liquid. Yes, the fungus bleeds, and has teeth. Be afraid. Night of the Fungus coming to theatres near you this autumn!
Flaming June(created by
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton,
nominated by
Armbrust) This painting failed to sell at auction in the 1960s (its reserve was $140) yet in 2001 a study for the painting sold for $163,000! Now, critical appreciation has risen even higher - it's a Featured Picture on Wikipedia! Flaming June is a painting from 1895 by
Sir Frederic Leighton. Considered to be Leighton's
magnum opus, it depicts a sleeping
nymph or
naiad covered by a gown made of transparent material of stunningly bright colour. The position of the sleeping woman gave Leighton and the voters at featured pictures a great deal of trouble. Flaming June is displayed at the
Ponce Museum of Art in
Puerto Rico, having been purchased by the museum's founder,
Luis A. Ferré, who was a noted
industrialist, and, for a time
governor of Puerto Rico. In recent years, with the renewal of interest in Victorian art, it has been loaned to important expositions around the world, such as at the
Prado, Madrid, in 2008 and the
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany, in 2009.
The Magdalen Reading(created by
Rogier van der Weyden,
nominated by
Crisco 1492)The Magdalen Reading is a quiet and meditative representation of
Mary Magdalen, one of the women around Jesus, by the
Early Netherlandish painter
Rogier van der Weyden, and the
article on it is well-worth a read. The woman depicted in the painting is identified as Mary Magdalen by the jar of ointment placed beside her, her traditional attribute in Christian
iconography. She is depicted completely absorbed in her reading, the only movement in this contemplative image being the turning page. Mary Magdalen is a figure that is mentioned several times in the stories around Jesus - and there is some learned discussion about whether the stories relate to several women or just one; this figure is based on
Mary of Bethany, the woman who sat at Jesus' feet and "listened to His Word", often seen as contemplative, as opposed to Mary's sister Martha with her active and perhaps superficial life, who scolded her for listening and not working, not being as busy and useful as she was. For Biblical times, for Mary to sit at Jesus' feet, and for him to allow her to do so, was in itself controversial and unusual. A woman in the view of first-century Judaism was regarded as being worth less than a man, and the men usually ignored them, and didn't even talk to them in public.
Discuss this story
I love the unintentional Kock Bloch joke ya guys unwittingly made.
It was in The Signpost- I wrote the section myself. Who cut it out?Xanthomelanoussprog ( talk) 20:39, 12 January 2015 (UTC) replyDon't worry about it, I was being a grinch. Maury Markowitz ( talk) 01:36, 13 January 2015 (UTC) reply