Fury and Cannibalism July 5, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Medieval, Modern
Cannibalism for most of us took place on ‘less happy (is)lands’ in less happy times, when neurologically-challenged Pacific folk loped from side to side suffering from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Others might also recall occasional starving humans on boats, in plane wrecks or beseiged cities obliged to eat each other. But cannabilism does not, surely, figure in […]
Cobblers: a UFO in Palazzo Vecchio? March 4, 2011
Author: Beach Combing | in : Medieval
The Madonna col bambino e san Giovannino was painted in a hazy month sometime at the end of the fifteenth century. It hangs today in a corner room on the highest story of Palazzo Vecchio. Its artist – the work is ascribed to Sebastiano Mainardi, Jacopo del Sellaio or one of half a dozen other […]
The Vasari Phenomenon November 23, 2010
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern
Monsoon season in Italy continues and Beachcombing finds himself trapped far from home while providing three lectures for a sister institution. It is 6.00 in the morning, no one is stirring. As the library is closed and Beachcombing’s cognitive functions seem impaired he thought that he would offer up a cookie-dough post: a hopefully interesting […]
