Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Lamentation of Christ
“Compianto sul Cristo morto” (Lamentation of Christ) by Alfonso Lombardi, 1526
Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro
Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Peter)
Bologna, June 2015
See also: Sorrow over Dead Christ
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Lacoste Boutique
Crocodile outside the Lacoste Boutique
Duke Street, Marylebone
London, September 2014
“Boston, 1923. René Lacoste was strolling through the city's streets with his tennis team's captain, Alan Muhr, before the afternoon's upcoming game. In a store's window display, an elegant crocodile skin suitcase caught his eye. Time for a bet: if René won the match, Alan would buy him the suitcase. As it turned out, René didn't win, but journalist George Carens heard the story and mentioned it in his article in the Boston Evening Transcript: ‘The young Lacoste has not won his crocodile skin suitcase but he fought like a true crocodile.’” (The Story of the Crocodile, Lacoste)
Friday, August 28, 2015
Luisenstraße 48-52
Luisenstraße 48-52, residential and commercial building
Luisenstraße / Schumannstraße
Berlin, September 2011
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Baltasar Lobo
Grave of Baltasar Lobo (1910-1993) with one of his own sculptures, 1943
Cimetière du Montparnasse, Montparnasse Cemetery
Quartier du Montparnasse, 14th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Segways in Florence
Group of tourists on Segways
Piazza della Signoria
Florence, April 2015
See also: Segways - Segways in Berlin
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
San Petronio Basilica
Basilica of San Petronio
Piazza Maggiore
Bologna, June 2015
“Construction on this vast cathedral began in 1390; and the work, as you can see, still isn't finished more than 600 years later. The wings of the transept are missing and the facade is only partially decorated, lacking most of the marble that was intended to adorn it. The main doorway was carved in 1425 by the great Sienese master Jacopo della Quercia. Above the center of the door is a Madonna and Child flanked by saints Ambrose and Petronius, the city's patrons. Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, and Andrea Palladio (among others), submitted designs for the facade, which were all eventually rejected.” (Basilica di San Petronio, Fodor's Essential Italy)
See also: Basilica of San Petronio
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Vous & Metro
“Vous & Metro” pedicabs / bicycle taxis
Metro AG 2014 advertising campaign
Place Saint-Gervais
Quartier Saint-Gervais, 4th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Friday, August 21, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Counter Clockwise
Sign on the jogging track around the
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
Central Park
New York, September 2008
“President Bill Clinton, Madonna, and Jackie Kennedy Onassis (for whom the reservoir was named in 1994) have all run on the 1.58-mile track. For years, an unsightly seven-foot-high chain-link fence obscured the view. But when scuba divers discovered a piece of the original fence at the bottom of the reservoir, Central Park Conservancy commissioned a steel fence with cast-iron ornamentation, closely resembling the original. The current fence was completed in 2003, stands four feet high, and has opened up breathtaking views of the Park and surrounding cityscapes.” (Reservoir, Central Park Conservancy)
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Maréchal Hubert Lyautey
Monument to maréchal Hubert Lyautey by François Cogné, 1985
Place Denys-Cochin
Quartier de l'École-Militaire, 7th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
“Lyautey has been suggested as the author of the aphorism that ‘a language is a dialect which owns an army, a navy and an air force’ (Une langue, c'est un dialecte qui possède une armée, une marine et une aviation), but there is no good evidence for this.” (Hubert Lyautey, Wikipedia)
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Fontanella del Nettuno
Fontanella del Nettuno (Drinking fountain of Neptune)
Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) by Giambologna, 1567
Piazza del Nettuno (Palazzo d'Accursio on the left)
Bologna, June 2015
See also: Fontana del Nettuno
Monday, August 17, 2015
Search for Enlightenment
“Search for Enlightenment” by Simon Gudgeon, 2011
One Hyde Park, Knightsbridge
London, September 2014
“The fact that the figures are displayed outside the Candy Bros Occasional Home for the Stupendously Rich tends to indicate that they were bought off the shelf from the same dealers that supply Ramada hotels with all that stuff they put in their foyers. But that may be my prejudice. The work is called Search for Enlightenment, and is by the British artist Simon Gudgeon. They are male and female, which you can easily see because the male has an Adam's apple the size of Suffolk. Their brains are empty, waiting to be filled with enlightenment.” (One Hyde Park SW1, Ornamental Passions)
See also: Isis
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Lawrence of Rome
San Lorenzo (Lawrence of Rome) by Stefano Galletti, 1865
Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls
Piazzale del Verano
Rome, April 2013
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Square du Croisic
Square du Croisic, résidence fermée (Gated community)
Boulevard du Montparnasse
Quartier Necker, 15th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Friday, August 14, 2015
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Heron Tower Building
Heron Tower Building by Kohn Pedersen Fox
Bishopsgate, City of London
London, September 2014
“Among all the recent and upcoming skyscrapers in London, Heron Tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, is perhaps not the most innovative (the competition after all includes both 20 Fenchurch Street also known as Walkie Talkie, and 122 Leadenhall, already nicknamed The Cheesegrater). It still managed to spark some controversy – one of the reasons was it’s developer Gerald Ronson, once infamously imprisoned for his part in the Guinness scandal of the 1980’s – the tower is considered to be his redemption. The main argument behind the controversy is however the fact that it raised concerns that it would spoil the protected view of St Paul’s cathedral and in 2002 English Heritage run a inquiry to investigate the plan and spectacularly lost the case. The permission was granted and as a result shaped the upcoming London’s skyline, making way for a march of skyscrapers.” (The Heron Tower Building, e-architect)
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Lycée Buffon Sundial
Sundial on a wall of the Lycée Buffon
Rue de Vaugirard
Quartier Necker, 15th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Monday, August 10, 2015
Chimera of Arezzo
Bronze copy of the “Chimera of Arezzo”, c. 400 BC
Giardino della Gherardesca
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
Florence, April 2015
“Over the years, more replicas were cast and hence original size copies of the Chimaera are now commercially available (the one in the picture above is shown here courtesy of Galleria Frilli in Florence). As obvious, an original size bronze cast of the Chimera, ca. 80 cm tall, is not cheap and so the number of such copies made remains limited. To the author's knowledge, besides Italy, original size replicas of the Chimera exist only in Brazil, Mexico and Japan.” (The Chimera of Arezzo, Chimeras)
See also: Chimère - Chimera
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Laurence Olivier as Hamlet
Laurence Olivier as Hamlet, by Angela Conner, 2007
Outside the Royal National Theatre
South Bank, Lambeth
London, September 2014
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Ponte Sant'Angelo
Ponte Sant'Angelo and Via della Conciliazione
With the St. Peter's Basilica in background
Rome, April 2013
See also: Angel with the Column - Angel with the Whips - Angel with the Crown of Thorns - Angel with the Sudarium - Angel with the Garment and Dice - Angel with the Nail - Angel with the Cross - Angel with the Superscription - Angel with the Sponge - Angel with the Lance
Friday, August 7, 2015
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Oldsmobile Cutlass 1967
Rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques
Quartier du Val-de-Grâce, 5th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Via de' Giudei
Stylized map of the former Jewish ghetto
Via de' Giudei (Street of the Jews)
Bologna, June 2015
“The layout of Bologna's 16th century ghetto can still be precisely traced amid the narrow streets in the medieval heart of the city: here, a maze of alleys, covered bridges and small windows tells the story of a whole community forced to live in a specific area of the town by order of the Papal State beginning from 1556. In Bologna, Jews lived in the ghetto until 1569, when they were expelled for the first time. In 1586, they were allowed to come back to town and lived here again until 1593, year of their final expulsion: 900 people left Bologna and no Jewish community was allowed into town for more than two centuries” (The former Jewish ghetto and its workshops, Bologna Welcome)
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Worth Monument
Worth Monument (1857) and Commodore Criterion building
General Worth Square / Madison Square
New York, September 2007
“Not too long ago I was giving an architectural walking tour in the Madison Square Park area when somebody asked me ‘what's going on with the Commodore Criterion building?’ If you've been by the park you've probably seen the building at the intersection of Fifth Avenue, 25th Street, and Broadway with its name fixed atop the tall stone parapet. I had no answer to the question, except that the Christmas display over the front door had not come down in years, meaning the building was most likely vacant. What I did not know at the time was that Spanish tile/kitchen/bath company Porcelanosa bought the building last summer. Since my tour I've also learned that Porcelanosa hired Foster + Partners to transform the six-story building into their US/NYC flagship showroom.” (From Commodore Criterion to Porcelanosa, A Daily Dose of Architecture)
Monday, August 3, 2015
La République
“La République” (The Republic) by Jean-François Soitoux, 1850
Quai Malaquais
Quartier de la Monnaie, 6th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Via dell'Inferno
The corner of Via dell'Inferno (Hell Street)
With Via del Purgatorio (Purgatory Street)
Florence, April 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
The Rush of Green
“The Rush of Green” (or “The Bowater House Group”) by Jacob Epstein, 1959
Edinburgh Gate, Knightsbridge
London, September 2014
“The Rush of Green was Jacob Epstein's last work, completed on the day he died in 1959 and cast in bronze posthumously. It was commissioned to stand outside Bowater House, a monstrous headquarters block for a paper company, designed by Guy Morgan for developer Harold Samuel. The block was huge but cheaply finished and made no concessions to anyone at street level where the dominant accents were the entrances to service courtyards and underground car parks.” (Edinburgh Gate SW1, Ornamental Passions)