The Wunderkammer of the Mild Colonial Boy, Esq., a Reactionary Tory Gentleman, who armed only with a Steampowered Babbage Engine and Pure Intentions, wanders the Time Streams and Aetheric Plane gathering an Eccentric Hodgepodge of Curiousities, Frivolities, Whimsicalities and Nonsense.
Q. Why is your Tumblelog called "My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning"?
A. Because "My Grandmother's Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck by Lightning" wouldn't fit in the available space.
January 2013 has marked the 150th Anniversary of the first of the London Underground lines – the Metropolitan opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon. The event was marked by the running – in passenger service – of steam-hauled trains through the tunnels over the original route, through Baker Street station.
Photo credit to Peter Zabek
~ The American Gentleman’s Guide to Politeness and Fashion, Henry Lunettes, 1863
http://archive.org/details/theamericangentl00luneuoft
(via perstephsanscouronne)
President & Tad Lincoln’s Christmas of 1863
During the Christmas season of 1863, the Lincolns’ son, Tad, had accompanied his father on hospital visits and noticed the loneliness of the wounded soldiers. Deeply moved, he asked his father if he could send books and clothing to these men. Packages signed “From Tad Lincoln” were sent to area hospitals that Christmas.
Lincoln voted in favor of keeping Christmas day a workday, because he felt he would be wasting taxpayers’ money if he took the day off. It was not until 1870, when then President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the bill that made Christmas Day a national holiday, that the day was actually considered anything special.
What a sweet little boy <3
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Déjeuner sur l’herbe[Luncheon on the Grass] 1863 | Oil on canvas | 208 × 265 cm | Édouard Manet [Es]
In 1863, Manet shocked the French public by exhibiting his Déjeuner sur l’herbe Luncheon on the Grass] It is not a realist painting in the social or political sense of Daumier, but it is a statement in favor of the artist’s individual freedom. The shock value of a nude woman casually lunching with two fully dressed men, which was an affront to the propriety of the time, was accentuated by the familiarity of the figures. Manet’s wife, Suzanne Leenhoff, and his favorite model, Victorine Meurent, both posed for the nude woman, which has Meurent’s face, but Leenhoff’s plumper body. Her body is starkly lit and she stares directly at the viewer. The two men are Manet’s brother Gustave Manet and his future brother-in-law, Ferdinand Leenhoff. They are dressed like young dandies. The men seem to be engaged in conversation, ignoring the woman. In front of them, the woman’s clothes, a basket of fruit, and a round loaf of bread are displayed, as in a still life. In the background a lightly clad woman bathes in a stream. Too large in comparison with the figures in the foreground, she seems to float above them. The roughly painted background lacks depth – giving the viewer the impression that the scene is not taking place outdoors, but in a studio. This impression is reinforced by the use of broad “photographic” light, which casts almost no shadows: in fact, the lighting of the scene is inconsistent and unnatural. The man on the right wears a flat hat with a tassel, of a kind normally worn indoors.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9ucbcLihd1rfp47xo1_500.jpg)
Déjeuner sur l’herbe[Luncheon on the Grass] 1863 | Oil on canvas | 208 × 265 cm | Édouard Manet [Es]
In 1863, Manet shocked the French public by exhibiting his Déjeuner sur l’herbe Luncheon on the Grass] It is not a realist painting in the social or political sense of Daumier, but it is a statement in favor of the artist’s individual freedom. The shock value of a nude woman casually lunching with two fully dressed men, which was an affront to the propriety of the time, was accentuated by the familiarity of the figures. Manet’s wife, Suzanne Leenhoff, and his favorite model, Victorine Meurent, both posed for the nude woman, which has Meurent’s face, but Leenhoff’s plumper body. Her body is starkly lit and she stares directly at the viewer. The two men are Manet’s brother Gustave Manet and his future brother-in-law, Ferdinand Leenhoff. They are dressed like young dandies. The men seem to be engaged in conversation, ignoring the woman. In front of them, the woman’s clothes, a basket of fruit, and a round loaf of bread are displayed, as in a still life. In the background a lightly clad woman bathes in a stream. Too large in comparison with the figures in the foreground, she seems to float above them. The roughly painted background lacks depth – giving the viewer the impression that the scene is not taking place outdoors, but in a studio. This impression is reinforced by the use of broad “photographic” light, which casts almost no shadows: in fact, the lighting of the scene is inconsistent and unnatural. The man on the right wears a flat hat with a tassel, of a kind normally worn indoors.
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Carl Bloch - Samson and the Philistines [1863]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcnat5Du1j1qaz0bso1_500.jpg)
