Category Archives: History

Book Podcast: ‘Borough Market – Edible Histories’ Author Mark Riddaway

Award-winning food writer Mark Riddaway travels back through the centuries to tell the fascinating, surprising and often downright bizarre stories of some of the everyday ingredients found at London’s Borough Market.

Discover how the strawberries we eat today had their roots in a clandestine trip to South America by a French spy whose surname happened to be Strawberry, why three-quarters of Britain’s late-18th-century intake of tea was sold on the black market, and what Sigmund Freud found so fascinating about eel genitalia.

From the humble apples and onions that we’ve grown on these shores for centuries, to more exotic ingredients like cinnamon and bananas that travel from across the world to finesse our food, Borough Market: Edible Histories offers a chance to digest the charming stories behind every last morsel.

Profiles: ‘J.M.W. Turner’ – Romanticism’s Greatest Painter (1775 – 1851)

Joseph Mallord William Turner RA, known contemporarily as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings.

Inside Artworks: ‘Marilyn Monroe’ By Andy Warhol

In 1967, Warhol established a print-publishing business, Factory Additions, through which he published a series of screenprint portfolios on his signature subjects. Marilyn Monroe was the first one. He used the same publicity still of the actress that he had previously used for dozens of paintings. Each image here was printed from five screens: one that carried the photographic image and four for different areas of color, sometimes printed off-register. About repetitions Warhol said, “The more you look at the same exact thing, the more the meaning goes away, and the better and emptier you feel.”

Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Murillo’s Self-Portrait’

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” delve into the life and times of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, one of the most celebrated painters of seventeenth-century Spain. Look closely at his self-portrait for clues about the Seville-born artist—a trompe l’oeil stone frame points to his fascination with the antiquities excavated in his hometown, and the sitter seems to be looking forward, into the future, after surviving a traumatic period when Seville was ravaged by plague. Acquired by Henry Clay Frick in 1904, the painting stayed with the family until 2014, when it was gifted to the museum by Dr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II. This week’s complementary cocktail, the Rebujito, conjures the warm spring days of Seville’s Feria de Abril (April Fair) and goes well with Thanksgiving leftovers.

To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/murilloportrait

Travel & History: ‘Inverary Castle’ In Scotland (Video)

Inveraray Castle is home to one of the most important private collections of historical archives in all of Britain – a collection of records, documents and diaries, dating back to the 13th century. The restoration of the private archival documents is a gradual, painstaking and expensive process. In fact, a single damaged page can cost up to a hundred pounds to repair.

Inveraray Castle is a country house near Inveraray in the county of Argyll, in western Scotland, on the shore of Loch Fyne, Scotland’s longest sea loch. It is one of the earliest examples of Gothic Revival architecture. It has been the seat of the Dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, since the 18th century. 

Short Films: ‘The Smithy’ – A Blacksmith In Northern England At His Old Forge

Filmmaker Brendon Tyree

The word Smithy is a middle English word from Old Norse Smithja : meaning a blacksmith’s workshop or forge. In Sheffield and other parts or Northern England, blacksmiths themselves are often referred to as smithies.

Follow this Smithy on his gloomy walk to work and witness the dark forces, skill and energy that go into giving a new blade its shape, form and life. Filmed using a mixture of 16mm film and digital.

The feel and sound tip their cap to the old world view of the craft but in reality the subject is a non fictional blacksmith working at his beautiful old forge today in Sheffield.

Blacksmith David Southgate
Soundscape Jordan Hatfield
Atmospheres GYerro & Max H
Locations Sheffield UK

Profile: German Painter & Engraver Albrecht Dürer

‘Saint Eustace’ by Albrecht Dürer depicts the popular medieval legend of a Roman General becoming a saint. In this episode of Anatomy of an Artwork, discover how Dürer captured the intricate detail of the story through the arduous medium of engraving.

Albrecht Dürer (1471 -1528), sometimes spelt in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints.

Egyptian History: ‘Secrets Of The Sphinx Of Giza’

Join Egyptian historians and archeological experts on a mission to decode the mysteries of Egypt’s Great Sphinx. Season 1 Episode 2 “Secrets” from the series: Secrets https://bit.ly/31xTgju

The Great Sphinx of Giza, commonly referred to as the Sphinx of Giza or just the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature. Facing directly from West to East, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the pharaoh Khafra.

Video Tour: ‘Castello Torinese’, Piedmont, Italy

Located on top of a hill overlooking a historic center of Piedmont, we find this imposing medieval castle for sale in Italy, masterfully restored and converted into a luxury 28-bedroom hotel. In a very panoramic position, the castle is also the ideal location for weddings, ceremonies and congresses thanks to a set of beautiful conference halls (up to 250 seats) and a welcoming restaurant (400 seats) offering typical Piedmontese and international dishes.