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Des physiciens britanniques ont récemment accouché d’une nouvelle théorie sur les interactions entre la matière et la lumière au niveau quantique, et ces travaux ont aussi fait émerger une très intéressante : pour la première fois, ces chercheurs ont réussi à définir la forme précise d’un photon isolé.
Les photons, ce sont les particules qui servent de vecteur à la force électromagnétique, et par extension, à la lumière visible grâce à laquelle nous sommes capables de visualiser notre environnement. Mais même s’ils sont incroyablement abondants, ce sont des objets qui, paradoxalement, sont encore loin d’être parfaitement compris par les physiciens.
La façon dont ils interagissent avec la matière, en particulier, est extrêmement complexe. Pour en appréhender toutes les nuances, il faut d’abord réussir à conceptualiser puis à associer une myriade de phénomènes souvent très difficiles à manipuler, notamment parce qu’une grande partie d’entre eux se déroulent dans le domaine quantique.
« La nature de ces interactions ouvre des possibilités infinies par rapport à l’existence et à la propagation de la lumière à travers son environnement. Ces possibilités illimitées rendent les interactions exceptionnellement difficiles à modéliser, et c’est un défi que les physiciens quantiques cherchent à relever depuis plusieurs décennies », expliquent les auteurs de l’étude dans un communiqué de l’Université de Birmingham.
Un nouveau cadre théorique sur le comportement des photons
Pour simplifier l’équation, ces chercheurs ont donc décidé de regrouper toutes ces possibilités dans quelques ensembles bien définis. Grâce à cette approche, ils ont réussi à établir un modèle certes simplifié par rapport à la réalité, mais tout de même cohérent et très complet : il décrit non seulement la relation entre le photon et l’objet qui l’émet, mais aussi le comportement de l’énergie qui résulte de ces interactions.
Il s’agit donc de travaux importants, car ils permettent de définir précisément comment ces particules exceptionnellement importantes interagissent avec les différents éléments de leur environnement.
« Ces travaux nous aident à approfondir notre compréhension de l’échange d’énergie entre la lumière et la matière », explique Benjamin Yuen, co-auteur de l’étude. « Il y a de nombreux signaux que l’on considérait auparavant comme du simple “bruit”, mais qui contiennent en fait énormément d’informations auxquelles nous pouvons désormais donner du sens », se réjouit-il.
Par extension, cette étude défriche donc de nouvelles pistes que les physiciens pourront emprunter pour faire progresser des disciplines comme la physique quantique ou la science des matériaux. Les auteurs citent notamment des « nouvelles technologies nanophotoniques » qui pourraient « changer notre manière de communiquer, de détecter des pathogènes, ou encore de contrôler des réactions chimiques à l’échelle moléculaire ».
Le premier portrait-robot d’un photon
En parallèle, ces travaux ont aussi fait émerger une autre nouveauté relativement anecdotique dans le contexte de ces travaux, mais néanmoins fascinante : pour la première fois, les auteurs ont réussi à modéliser la “forme” d’un photon. Dans leur papier de recherche, ils présentent en effet une forme vaguement circulaire qui fait un peu penser à une cellule vue au microscope, entourée d’un étrange halo en forme d’étoile.
Ce concept de “forme” d’un photon est assez perturbant au premier abord. À l’inverse des neutrons et des protons qui constituent les atomes, les photons ne sont typiquement pas décrits comme des objets physiques. Contrairement à ces derniers, il faut passer par plusieurs couches d’abstraction pas toujours très intuitives pour les étudier.
En effet, on considère généralement que les photons n’existent qu’à travers leurs interactions ; ils sont régulièrement décrits comme des ondes plutôt que comme des particules tangibles (voir la notion de dualité onde-corpuscule). Par extension, la plupart des modèles physiques leur attribuent une masse nulle, et considèrent qu’ils n’ont pas de taille ou de forme bien définie.
Physique : l’étau se resserre autour de la masse de la lumière
Comment les auteurs ont-ils donc réussi à visualiser une forme qui, selon ces interprétations, n’existe tout simplement pas ? Pour le comprendre, il faut reconsidérer la définition même de la forme. Car ici, nous ne parlons pas des frontières d’un objet matériel comme une sphère ou un cube ; il s’agit plutôt d’une question de répartition d’énergie.
Pour visualiser cette notion, on peut l’aborder en faisant un détour par le monde de la musique. Chaque note (Do, Ré, Mii…) est construite autour d’une fréquence fondamentale qui détermine sa hauteur. Mais elle est rarement seule : la fréquence fondamentale est presque toujours accompagnée d’autres fréquences plus discrètes que l’on appelle les partiels, et ce sont eux qui déterminent les autres paramètres d’un son — comme son timbre. C’est précisément à cause de ces partiels qu’un do joué par un piano est beaucoup plus riche que celui qui sort d’un diapason, par exemple ; la répartition de ces fréquences change la manière dont l’onde sonore interagit avec nos tympans.
De la même façon, l’énergie des photons est distribuée sur plusieurs modes de fréquences différents. Comme avec une note de musique, cette répartition joue un rôle crucial dans la manière dont le photon interagit avec son environnement, et notamment avec les champs électriques.
En d’autres termes, cette image ne représente pas une forme physique que l’on pourrait toucher ou observer au microscope. La « forme » en question est en fait une carte de la distribution de l’énergie véhiculée par le photon sur différentes fréquences du spectre électromagnétique ; c’est une manière de représenter visuellement le résultat des interactions entre le photon et la matière qui sont décrites dans le modèle des chercheurs (voir plus haut).
Quoi qu’il en soit, il s’agit tout de même du premier portrait d’un photon. Et même s’il ne s’agit que d’une représentation abstraite, il sera très intéressant de garder un œil sur les travaux ultérieurs qui se serviront de ce nouveau cadre théorique pour faire avancer des disciplines fascinantes telles que la physique quantique.
Stocks are devices used internationally, in medieval, Renaissance and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by.
The stocks are similar to the pillory and the pranger, as each consists of large, hinged, wooden boards; the difference, however, is that when a person is placed in the stocks, their feet are locked in place, and sometimes as well their hands or head, or these may be chained.
With stocks, boards are placed around the ankles and the wrists in some cases, whereas in the pillory they are placed around the arms and neck and fixed to a pole, and the victim stands. However, the terms can be confused, and many people refer to the pillory as the stocks.
Since stocks served an outdoor public form of punishment its victims were subjected to the daily and nightly weather. As a consequence it was not uncommon for people kept in stocks over several days to die from exposure.[citation needed]
The practice of using stocks continues to be cited as an example of torture, cruel and unusual punishment. Insulting, kicking, tickling, spitting and in some cases urinating and defecating on its victims could be applied at the free will of any of those present. The hapless feet were also taken advantage of by such savage cruelties as inserting burning materials between the toes or by such nuisances as carefully rubbing feces all over the feet and hair.
One of the earliest reference to the stocks in literature appears in the Bible. Paul and Silas, disciples of Jesus, were arrested. Their treatment by their jailer was detailed in the Book of Acts: "Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." The Old Testament's book of Job also describes the stocks, referring to God: "He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths."
The stocks were also popular among civil authorities from medieval to early modern times, and have also been used as punishment for military deserters or for dereliction of military duty. In the stocks, an offender's hands and head, or sometimes their ankles, would be placed and locked through two or three holes in the center of a board. Offenders were forced to carry out their punishments in the rain, during the heat of summer, or in freezing weather, and generally would receive only bread and water, plus anything brought by their friends.
The stocks were popular during the Colonial days in America. Public punishment in the stocks was a common occurrence from around 1500 until at least 1748. The stocks were especially popular among the early American Puritans, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the "lower class."
In the American colonies, the stocks were also used, not only for punishment, but as a means of restraining individuals awaiting trial.
Photo taken at Bewdley Museum, Bewdley Worcstershire.
The Desert Channels Region is a largely unmodified environment with robust pastoral, mining, and tourism industries. Home to 14, 500 people the region covers 510 000 square kilometres, (about one-third of the state of Queensland) and incorporates the Queensland section of the Lake Eyre Basin. This region is valued for its unique and healthy inland river systems, landscapes, cultural heritage, sustainable communities and production.
The Thomson River forms part of the Lake Eyre Basin. The river was named by the explorer, Edmund Kennedy, in the 1840s. The northernmost headwaters of the river begin at Torrens Creek, inland from Charters Towers. The watercourse becomes the Thomson just north of the town of Muttaburra, where the channels of Landsborough Creek, Towerhill Creek, and Cornish Creek meet. The river continues in the southwesterly direction, passing the towns of Longreach, Stonehenge, and Jundah, before joining with the Barcoo River north of Windorah to form Cooper Creek. This is the only place in the world where the confluence of two rivers forms a creek. As with all the rivers in the Lake Eyre Basin, the waters from the Thomson never reach the sea, and instead either evaporate or, in exceptional flooding, empty into Lake Eyre. Floods are not uncommon along the river, and, due to the flat nature of the country traversed, the river can then become many kilometres wide. The area which the river flows is semi-arid blacksoil plains.
Declared pest plants and animals have an enormous impact on the Longreach Region. Competition between these invasive pest plants and native Flora has seen the destruction of habitat. The loss of feed and breeding areas has seen rapid declines in some animal species. Longreach Regional Council is committed to the eradication of pest plants and animal species and has formulated a comprehensive Pest Management Plan.
Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ) is a community-based non-for-profit group and a government-endorsed regional body. Their board membership represents landholders, Indigenous groups, the Great Artesian Basin, conservation and local governments. DCQ works with all the sectors of the community to sustainably manage the natural resources in the region. Together with the land management community, they develop projects to address the issues identified in the community-endorsed natural resource management plan, Protecting Our Assets. Assets include land, water, biodiversity, and community. Major issues DCQ considers are weeds and feral animals, vegetation management, grazing pressure, water management, land degradation, and viability and economics. The DCQ's mission is a community group dedicated to improving the quality of the life of current and future generations through leadership, innovation, knowledge, and partnerships, in the responsible management of their unique natural recourses.
Iningai Nation:
The Iningai people were identified by anthropologist Norman Tindale as the traditional owners of the Barcaldine region, however there have been no Native Title determinations made by the Federal Court. Today, it is believed that there are no Iningai descendants living in the region. However, there is a population of Indigenous Australians who have continued to reside in the area for many generations, and in light of their historical connections, take cultural responsibility for the area, which is now supported largely by agricultural industries.
Longreach, Queensland:
Longreach, Queensland, is 620km west of Rockhampton, at the junction of the Capricorn and Landsborough Highways. The Aramac Creek flows southwards, joining the Thomson River which runs generally south-west through the Longreach district.
The Longreach district was explored by the New South Wales Surveyor-General, Thomas Mitchell (1846) and by Edmund Kennedy (1847). The pastoralist-explorer William Landsborough reported favourably on the district's pastoral prospects, and in 1863 the first pastoral lease was taken up by the vast Bowen Downs station. Several others followed soon afterwards. The district's centre was Aramac (1869), and it was governed by the Aramac local-government division (1879).
Railway Boom:
Considerable optimism surrounded the new settlement: town lots were auctioned and sold briskly, and by 1890 there were three hotels, several stores and tradespeople, a progress association, and a police station. The opening of the railway line in 1892 spurred further development, and thrust Longreach into the industrial upheaval of the age; whereas the 1891 shearer's strike had been based at Barcaldine, the 1894 strike was called at the new railway terminus, Longreach.
The town grew with astounding rapidity. By 1896 there were fourteen hotels, a hospital (1893), Catholic, Methodist, and Anglican churches, a school of the arts, a pastoral and agricultural society, and several clubs and friendly societies. From a population of about 150 in 1891, Longreach was approaching 2000 in 1903.
The progress association soon expressed criticism about the Aramac local-government division's neglect of the Longreach district. Aramac agreed, and the Longreach division was severed in 1900.
Apart from Longreach's role as a railhead and district centre, it also became the centre of an area subdivided for closer-settlement farms during the 1890s. Many blocks were too small, however, and the 1902 drought proved a substantial setback. Amalgamation of blocks and the successful drilling for bore water after the drought aided recovery.
Industrial Progress:
Longreach was usually quick to embrace new technology. Motor car hire and repair businesses were opened – the Longreach Motor Co (1910) and Edwards, Martin Ltd (1910) were major businesses in both repair and body-building for vehicles. In 1919 two young airmen, P. J. McGinness and Hudson Fysh visited Longreach while surveying the Darwin to Longreach section of a proposed England-Australia air route. The men later began Qantas outback airlines at Longreach and established a large plane assembly factory. With both a railway terminus and a pioneer air service, Longreach had some claim to being a 'Chicago of the West'. The railway advantage, however, subsided when the line was extended to Winton in 1927.
In 1921 an electricity powerhouse began operation and a rudimentary swimming pool opened. Reticulated water supply was laid on from the river in 1938, replacing the mineralised bore water and enabling trees to grace the city's parks. Despite the progress, Longreach remained a goat town for another two decades, with local herds essential as a reliable fresh milk supply. Fresh vegetables were also a problem, with grasshoppers damaging local crops and the railways sometimes failing to keep up supplies.
Postwar Tribulations:
The 1920s were relatively prosperous, as were the 1950s (apart from some dry years and a shearers' strike). Much of the commercial building stock was replaced, including the shire hall (the previous two, along with local hotels and the Catholic church had burnt down). A State high school and an Olympic pool were opened in 1966 and 1967. Within a few years wool prices declined, and an investment in beef cattle was met with a decline in meat prices. The town's population, which had stayed steady during 1933 - 1947 when other outback towns had fallen by a quarter, faltered badly during the 20 years from 1961 - 1981 falling from 3800 to fewer than 3000. Fortunately, improved roads and transport, which had solved the milk and vegetable supply problem, brought outback tourism. Sensing the tourist opportunity, Sir James Walker, Shire Chair (1957 - 1990), chair of regional electricity supply authorities and of the Longreach Pastoral College garnered national support for the Stockman's Hall of Fame, which opened in 1988 on land provided by the Pastoral College. The Qantas Founders Museum, abutting the original heritage-listed Qantas hanger at the Longreach aerodrome, and a museum based in the old powerhouse (also heritage-listed) are other attractions, particularly popular with 'grey nomads'.
In addition to the aforementioned attractions and facilities, Longreach has a racecourse, showground, a Catholic primary school (1985), a school of distance education, a base hospital (1944), aerodrome, a visitor information centre, an Olympic swimming pool, five churches, several hotels and motels, and an aged persons' accommodation. The elaborate railway station (1916, similar to the Emerald station) and the goods shed (1892) are listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
Source: Desert Channels Queensland (DCQ), Queensland Government, & Queensland Places (www.queenslandplaces.com.au/longreach).
Taken at the Cruising Downtown Winnipeg event held this past weekend.
While I was busy photographing cars this beautiful young lady was set on the wonderful architecture this city has to offer..........
My friend Sharad (see comment below) says she should be The Next Bond Girl, he has a point...:-)
Taken at Route 66 State Park near Eureka, Missouri.
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during my second shoot with Alexis, I happened to lie on the ground to get a different angle, and realized the puddle in front of her was throwing a reflection! Managed to snap this frame when the wind stopped blowing, giving a perfect mirror effect. I'm very thankful it rained the day before :D
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Brown Hare, Kinnordy. Hard frost covered the grass in the field where about a dozen hares regularly hang out. We saw around 7 easily today as they were quite obvious against the white background, tho all hunkered down, apart from one.
Smyth County, Virginia was formed on February 23, 1832, from Washington and Wythe counties. The county is named after Alexander Smyth, a general during the War of 1812 who was elected to the state Senate, House of Delegates, and as a Representative to the United States Congress.
The county courthouse in Marion, Virginia was built in 1905 with the Beaux Arts style of design being done by Architect Frank Milburn. This courthouse is part of the Marion Historic District was listed in the National Register in 1992.
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
Montreal's iconic Olympic Stadium….designed by French architect Roger Taillibert and built for the 1976 Olympics, has had a troubled history…. construction was not completed before the games… it was finally completed in 1987… you can ride to the top of the tower on a funicular…. another feature is the retractable roof, which always struck me as useful, but this design as unnecessarily frivolous.
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La Farmacia La Estrella forma parte de la historia nacional. Fue el Dr. Bernardino Rivadavia el creador de esta primera botica de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, cuando en 1834 encargó a un importante bioquímico y botánico la dirección de la misma. Con el tiempo, y ya bajo otro dominio, se sumó la droguería a la farmacia, llegando a convertirse en la más importante de Sudamérica. Fue en 1885 cuando la farmacia La Estrella inauguró este edificio con una decoración que impactaba por su valor artístico y detalles de gran nivel: cristales de murano, estanterías de nogal, mármol de carrara, y los frescos en los cielorrasos del artesano Barberis que se destacan por los simbolismos que aluden a “la salud”, “la enfermedad” y “la farmacopea”. Su fachada ostentan una herrería original en sus puertas y una cargada ornamentación, en la que tres angelitos parecen dejarse caer hacia la nada. La Estrella tuvo su fama bien ganada gracias a la oferta de prestigiosos productos originales, que aún son recordados con nostalgia: la limonada Roge, el tónico esperidina, y las píldoras para la tos Parodi, entre tantos otros. Además de su actividad comercial, en sus salones se realizaron importantes tertulias por donde pasaron las figuras más destacadas del ámbito político como Carlos Pelligrini, Julio A. Roca, y Bartolomé Mitre, entre otros. Es el comercio más antiguo de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, que aún conserva su estilo y sus detalles originales de gran valor estético, gracias a lo cual ha merecido numerosos premios y reconocimientos. Hoy sigue prestando servicios de laboratorio Homeopático y Alopático de recetas magistrales, y ofrece importantes productos de herbonistería y perfumería.
ubicación: Defensa 201, Monserrat, Buenos Aires
fuente: info.todobuenosaires.com/descripcion/descripcion_lugar.ph...
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The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and defining one edge of Florida Bay. The southern part of Key West is 93 miles (150 km) from Cuba. The Keys are located between about 24.3 and 25.5 degrees North latitude.
More than 95% of the land area lies in Monroe County, but a small portion extends northeast into Miami-Dade County, such as Totten Key. The total land area is 137.3 square miles (356 km2). At the 2010 census the population was 73,090, with an average density of 532.34 per square mile (205.54/km2), although much of the population is concentrated in a few areas of much higher density, such as the city of Key West, which has 32% of the Keys' total population. The 2014 Census population estimate was 77,136. The 2020 Census population estimate was 82,874.
The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County. The county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to Dry Tortugas National Park.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Keys
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Although the National Bus Company was formed on 1 January 1969, it wasn't until 1970 that the country area buses of London Transport (as London Country Bus Services) were added.
It's late October 1974 in this view of London Country's first Leyland Atlantean, AN1. a PDR1A/1 'Special' with Park Royal two door bodywork, and there isn't an NBC 'Double N' logo in sight. In fact its very much as delivered with no visible signs of NBC ownership.
The bus is still in existence, being secured for preservation after many years as a mobile home.
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Street candid taken in Glasgow, Scotland, under the canopy of the Gallery of Modern Art.
PGB Photographer & Creative - © Philip Romeyn - Phillostar Gone Ballistic 2021 - Photo may not be edited from its original form. Commercial use is prohibited without contacting me.
I have always taken back by the grace and sense of drama that is displayed by dancers. This image of Merrique, a Parisian born art model who possesses a background in ballet, personifies the beauty and grace of form in motion.
El Museo Lázaro Galdiano, en Madrid (España), es un museo estatal de origen privado, que alberga una amplia y heterogénea colección, formada con interés enciclopédico hacia todas las artes y técnicas. Este excepcional conjunto, constituido por más de 12 600 piezas, fue reunido por el coleccionista y editor José Lázaro Galdiano, quien al morir en 1947 lo legó al Estado español junto con su residencia madrileña, la sede de su editorial La España Moderna y una biblioteca de 20 000 volúmenes.
Tras crearse la Fundación Lázaro Galdiano y adaptarse como museo la antigua residencia del donante (Parque Florido, en el barrio de Salamanca de Madrid), la colección se presentó al público el 27 de enero de 1951. Desde entonces su prestigio entre los entendidos se ha extendido ampliamente, y sus fondos se consideran indispensables para estudiar muchos aspectos de la historia del arte, por lo que participan en exposiciones tanto españolas como internacionales.
Entre sus obras de arte más valiosas destaca el conjunto de pinturas, dibujos y grabados de Goya, con piezas mundialmente conocidas como El aquelarre o Las brujas, encargadas por los duques de Osuna (1797-1798). También hay que citar ejemplos relevantes de El Bosco, Lucas Cranach el Viejo, El Greco, Murillo, Zurbarán, Claudio Coello, Luis Paret o Federico de Madrazo, así como una miniatura en pergamino de Giulio Clovio y dos bronces de Giambologna. Pero posiblemente la obra más singular del museo es la pintura sobre tabla El Salvador joven, realizada en el taller de Leonardo da Vinci a partir de un diseño perdido del maestro.
Posee además un pequeño conjunto de pintura británica, una escuela muy poco frecuente en España; de hecho el Museo Lázaro Galdiano y el Prado eran (hasta la apertura del Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza) los dos únicos museos españoles con una colección significativa. Incluye ejemplos de Lely (el único del siglo XVII, los demás son del XVIII), Constable, Reynolds y Romney, a los que se suma un retrato del estadounidense Gilbert Stuart.
El museo fue reformado íntegramente entre los años 2001 y 2004 para poder conservar adecuadamente sus fondos y hacer la visita más cómoda y centrada en las piezas de máxima calidad. Hay abiertas al público cuatro plantas, enteramente remozadas respetando los techos y carpinterías originales.
Colecciones
Pintura
El Salvador joven, cuadro del círculo de Leonardo da Vinci, atribuido actualmente a Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio o Marco d'Oggiono.
Especialmente valiosa es la colección de pintura, que incluye piezas relevantes de grandes maestros españoles y europeos entre los siglos XV y XIX. Un metódico estudio de la colección ha ido cribando las atribuciones más dudosas, lo que supuso descartar varias llamativas, como la de un Salvador joven que en vida de Lázaro Galdiano se asignaba a Leonardo da Vinci. Aunque no sea original suyo, es muy relevante y ahora algunos expertos lo atribuyen a un pintor próximo a él, como Boltraffio (atribución que figura en la cartela explicativa de la obra en el Museo) o Marco d'Oggiono, a quien se adjudicaba en la exposición «Leonardo da Vinci: pintor en la corte de Milán» para la que en otoño de 2011 fue prestada a la National Gallery de Londres. También se han barajado los nombres de Pseudo Boltraffio (pintor activo en Milán a principios del siglo XVI) y Ambrogio de Predis. Es la mejor obra leonardesca conservada en España y su alta calidad hace que sea muy demandada para exposiciones en otras instituciones, como la mencionada en la National Gallery o la que en tres sedes (Mantua, Padua y Verona), se celebró en Italia sobre Andrea Mantegna y su época (Palacio del Té, Mantua, noviembre de 2006 a enero de 2007).
La pintura medieval española cuenta con un nutrido repertorio, con varias obras de referencia. Un Autorretrato de Pedro Berruguete sigue recibiendo opiniones divergentes de los críticos respecto a su autoría. Lo superan varias tablas que Lázaro reunió a bajo precio cuando eran despreciadas como «arte bárbaro». Fue una faceta coleccionista que le acarreó críticas, trocadas en elogios décadas después, cuando el arte medieval español fue cobrando estimación. Algún experto afirmó entonces que en esta parcela del arte, la Colección Lázaro Galdiano aventajaba al Prado. En la actualidad exhibe obras de artistas tan renombrados como Miguel Ximénez, Diego de la Cruz, García del Barco, Juan de Soreda, Bartolomé de Castro, Maestro de Astorga, un tríptico firmado por Juan de Sevilla o la famosa Virgen de Mosén Esperandeu de Santa Fe de Blasco de Grañén, único ejemplo del autor conservado en un museo madrileño.
Pinturas importantes de la escuela española del siglo XVI son un Retrato de doña Ana de Austria de Sánchez Coello, y dos obras de El Greco: una Adoración de los Reyes Magos de su etapa veneciana y un San Francisco en éxtasis de su primera etapa toledana. Puede verse además un Noli me tangere pintado por su hijo Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli. También entraña interés una Sagrada Familia de marcado gusto italianizante, debida a Gregorio Martínez (activo en 1565-1598).
Se atribuye a Velázquez una pequeña Cabeza de muchacha de perfil, y el museo dispone además de una buena copia del famoso Retrato de Luis de Góngora cuyo original se conserva en el museo de Boston.
La pintura española del siglo XVII cuenta con más ejemplos: La condesa de Monterrey de Juan Carreño de Miranda, un magnífico San Diego de Alcalá de Zurbarán, Santa Rosa de Lima de Murillo, y ejemplos de Claudio Coello, Mateo Cerezo, Juan Martín Cabezalero, Alonso del Arco, Francisco de Solís, Antonio de Pereda, José Antolínez, Francisco Rizi...
De los siglos XVIII y XIX, destacan: la famosa Tienda de Geniani de Paret, y autores como Miguel Jacinto Meléndez, Joaquín Inza, Ramón Bayeu (Autorretrato), Mariano Salvador Maella, José del Castillo, Agustín Esteve, Zacarías González Velázquez, Luis Eusebi (dos aguadas de tema alegórico), Alenza, Eugenio Lucas Velázquez, su hijo Eugenio Lucas Villaamil, Vicente López, Antonio María Esquivel (Autorretrato), Juan Antonio Ribera (Retrato del escultor Antonio Solá), Ricardo Balaca, Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer, Francisco Lameyer, Emilio Sala y Francés, y los Madrazo: José (El Papa Pío VII),[4] sus hijos Federico (Retrato de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Retrato de señora) y Luis (La marquesita de Roncali), y Ricardo, hijo de Federico (Retrato de Consuelo Gaztambide Aguader).
El grupo de obras de Goya bastaría por sí solo para abrir un pequeño museo monográfico. Entre las siete pinturas reconocidas como autógrafas destacan: Las brujas y El aquelarre de 1798, un Entierro de Cristo pintado para el oratorio privado de los Condes de Sobradiel en Zaragoza y una Magdalena penitente de su etapa juvenil. También posee el pequeño lienzo La trilla, modelo reducido para el famoso cartón de tapiz La era (Museo del Prado), así como grabados de todas las series del autor —con numerosas pruebas de estado—, además de dibujos o cartas autógrafas.
De las escuelas extranjeras destaca la Flamenca y de los Países Bajos, con cuatro tablas de Adriaen Isenbrandt, una interesante Virgen con el niño de Gérard David, antaño creída del denominado Maestro del Follaje Dorado, así como una de las pocas pinturas atribuidas a Michel Sittow (La Virgen con el Niño y san Bernardo) y diversas obras de Hans Memling y Quentin Massys. Hay también retratos de Antonio Moro (El rey Juan III de Portugal), así como los creídos de Joos Van Cleve y Bernard Van Orley. Dentro de la época barroca se pueden destacar El archiduque Leopoldo Guillermo en su gabinete de pinturas de David Teniers el Joven, una tabla sobre El jardín del Edén de Jan Brueghel el Joven, una gran Virgen con el Niño de Erasmus Quellinus II y un bodegón de Pieter Boel. En 2018 se ha presentado la nueva atribución a Michaelina Wautier de un San Juan Bautista antes creído de Juan Martín Cabezalero; de ser cierta tal autoría, ha de ser el único ejemplo conocido de Wautier en España. Un Retrato de Saskia atribuido antaño a Rembrandt se descartó como copia, aunque el museo guarda un valioso conjunto de cincuenta grabados del artista (expuestos temporalmente en 2018),[5] un San Jerónimo caravaggiesco de Hendrick van Somer y tres efigies femeninas de la Holanda barroca pintadas por Nicolaes Maes, Justus van Egmont y Ludolf de Jongh.
Mención aparte merece El Bosco, con tres ejemplos: un San Juan Bautista en meditación reconocido unánimemente como original del maestro, que figuró como tal en la exposición antológica que el Prado le dedicó en 2016; una gran Coronación de espinas (h. 1516), considerada obra de un seguidor, previa a las versiones más conocidas de El Escorial y del Museo San Pío V de Valencia; y La visión de Tondal, considerada obra de taller.
La pintura italiana incluye una Sagrada Familia de Giulio Clovio (miniatura realizada con destino al rey Carlos I de España), Cabeza de san Juan Bautista de Marco Palmezzano, un monumental Bautismo de Cristo atribuido a Orazio Samacchini, una Estigmatización de San Francisco de Asís de Jacopo da Empoli, dos lienzos de Giuseppe Marullo y Pacecco de Rosa, y el espléndido San Lorenzo de Bernardo Cavallino, obra maestra del autor napolitano (para la colección de pintura barroca italiana, puede consultarse Anexo:Pintura italiana del Barroco en las colecciones públicas madrileñas). Hay también maestros del siglo XVIII como Alessandro Magnasco, Gregorio de Ferrari, y Lorenzo Tiepolo, del cual hay una gran representación de retratos masculinos y femeninos.
Relativamente numerosa es la representación de la pintura británica, muy escasa en España, con obras de Lely, Reynolds, Constable, Romney, etc. Su presencia en la colección se debe al gusto personal de la esposa de Lázaro Galdiano, la argentina Paula Florido y Toledo (1856-1932). La mayoría de estas obras se adquirieron en la primera década del siglo XX en la Galerie Sedelmeyer de París. Hay que citar también la tabla El niño Jesús y san Juanito de Lucas Cranach el Viejo y un Calvario atribuido a su hijo, Lucas Cranach el Joven, así como un Retrato de hombre de Ulrich Apt antiguamente atribuido a Hans von Kulmbach, una efigie de Carlos III pintada por Mengs y una escena alegórica atribuida al francés Charles-François de la Traverse.
Destaca también la rica colección de iluminaciones o miniaturas pintadas, que rivaliza con la del Prado; entre ellas se incluye la ya citada de Clovio y de Giovanni Castello y Juan de Salazar. También hay que mencionar un retrato de George Washington, basado en un famoso retrato de Gilbert Stuart, y otra efigie del I duque de Fernán-Núñez pintada por Jean-Baptiste Isabey.
Escultura y artes decorativas El fondo de esculturas es más reducido, si bien cuenta con piezas singulares como un Cristo atado a la columna del italiano Michelangelo Naccherino, estatua de cuerpo entero esculpida en mármol a tamaño natural. Se cree que pudo formar pareja con una Virgen con el Niño que actualmente preside la fachada de la iglesia de Jesús Nazareno en Cudillero. Hay que citar un busto romano de Lucio Vero del siglo II, dos Santos evangelistas fundidos por Giambologna, la llamada Madonna Cernazai, de Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, que perteneció al magnate William Randolph Hearst, y esculturas en terracota de Juan de Juni (Cristo flagelado), Venancio Vallmitjana (una estatuilla de Velázquez de cuerpo entero) o del francés Carpeaux.
Los esmaltes constituyen uno de los grandes atractivos del museo. La colección cuenta con ejemplares muy valiosos y raros, desde piezas de Limoges de los siglos XIII y XVI a obras neobizantinas sobre oro del siglo XIX. Destacada es también la colección de marfiles, en la que descuellan varios cofres árabes y bizantinos, una caja para café dinastía timúrida del siglo XIV, otra gótica francesa del XIV, además de dípticos de la escuela de París y de altares medievales italianos.
Las joyas cuentan con una representación múltiple de obras helenísticas y romanas, árabes, góticas, renacentistas, barrocas y románticas. Muy importante por la diversidad de tipos es el conjunto de bronces de la Antigüedad, de la Edad Media y, en gran abundancia, italianos del Renacimiento. Igualmente son numerosas y selectas las muestras de orfebrería religiosa de todos los estilos. El fondo de medallas incluye ejemplos de Pisanello, Pompeo Leoni, Jacome da Trezzo y otros maestros del género. Se exhibe en la planta alta del museo, habilitada como almacén visitable.
Existen también valiosas piezas de cerámica, italianas y españolas de distintas épocas, así como ánforas griegas y porcelana oriental. Destacan también los tejidos antiguos, italianos y árabes, y la colección de armas con un riquísimo muestrario de espadas, presidido por el estoque que el papa Inocencio VIII regaló a Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, segundo conde de Tendilla. También se exhiben abanicos y joyas que lució la esposa de Lázaro Galdiano. Todo ello forma uno de los más importantes despliegues de artes suntuarias que se pueden contemplar en España.
En la antigua sede de la editorial La España Moderna, anexa al museo, se custodian la biblioteca y el archivo de José Lázaro Galdiano, con incunables y manuscritos de incalculable valor. Destaca el manuscrito original de Los verdaderos retratos... con efigies dibujadas por Francisco Pacheco.
El solar está dotado de exuberantes jardines, con árboles centenarios, que conforman un rincón inusual por su tranquilidad en un área tan transitada como el barrio de Salamanca.
My personal stay-at-home abstract photography project for today.
Some cheesecloth was used because it is broadly woven and it is easy to see the threads. Some slightly warm toning was added, and there is a little "glow" as well.
Copyright Stan farrow FRPS
Northern & Mid river pylon's (Form Traveller now raised to the Hammerhead on northern pylon)...............Please note ALL pictures on this Photostream are Copyright Protected
Green Forms. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.
Green foliage in spring light.
There are two photographers in our household, and one specializes in close-up photography, especially featuring the plant world. I'm not that photographers. (She would be Patricia Emerson Mitchell, my wife.) Recently I've tagged along a few times when she went to photograph at a couple of botanical gardens, and the exercise stretching by "seeing" skills in interesting ways.
In person you might not have found this plant to be all that interesting. The light was tricky (I used a diffuser to control it) and only a small section of the plant seemed to produce a decent composition. But I moved in close, used a macro lens, and found something that focuses on the gestures of the plant's shape, and on a small, very green world.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Existing outcrops of rock have been modified into similar form all within a 60km radius. These sites are currently under the category of medieval fruit press or sacrificial stone.
Left: Grandmont "pressoir" near Lodeve.
Centre: "Pierre de Sacrifice" du Causse de Lunas.
Right: Haut-Languedoc "medieval village of monoliths".
I propose to remove elements in inverted commas and group the three sites into a commonality. With granite deposits nearby and the skills to surface menhirs; and with all of the sites being in areas known for megalithic activity - or even with high adjacent megalithic activity - I am going to look at these sites from the chronological optic either side of the first age of metal, so either side of the copper age or Chalcolithic - late Neolithic to early bronze age.
If there is too much flat surface for a fruit-press, and not enough local fruit, and if the opposite edges are not aligned or showing the correct wear marks of a fruit press's weight, and if sacrificial stones might struggle to provide so much local wear and edge detail (grooves, curve wear, cups and short ledges all appearing 'episodic' rather being from repeat ritualised behaviours), the question should be asked: what was the reason behind taking the time to carve so large a surface?
Water for drinking, water for cooking and water for making.
Cisterns tend to be much deeper and in summer months, when water is most required on these mid to upper altitude sites, just such a depth would evaporate at speed. The storms of summer months could be collected in just such a structure, and distributed via the lips into large pots for reserves of fresh water - as seen in the prehistoric village of Cambous for example (a site from a similar time scale and not so far away). But, a well run croft should have leather sheeting or abutting huts with loze and gutter management for water collection - again as alluded to in Cambous, so the question remains, why make a water capture surface in stone when sheets and ground holes and managed roofs can all be repeated and replicated in a third of the time? Carving into hard sandstone (probably close to a millstone grit) is a labour intensive prospect and water collection alone does not explain the 'episodic' edge variations.
Maybe there is a detail missing. Each of the three above sites has at least one output lip, and blocking these outputs would either allow water to collect or water to be added to form a shallow pool. In summer months the stone would expose in the sun and quickly heat the water to an agreeable temperature. Removing encircling trees would allow for a simple test of experimental archaeology. Warm water in winter is simply a matter of adding river stones to a fire and then transferring them into the waiting water. If the water gets dirty then the plug can be removed and the procedure started once more.
A shallow pool of warm water is attractive to mothers and babies, children and even adults, and the ludique side of being clean or bathing aching legs does not need to be explained. Late prehistoric sweat rooms and saunas are suspected in sites from Ireland to Spain. Getting up onto the flat top surface 'basin' would need a simple construction of wooden platform and step, and assuring that this does not 'sheer' and fall may be attained by carving mortise trenches into the heavily used "entrance point". These are clearly visible on two examples, with a platform not required on the above left example which is largely close to the ground.
A young toddler may still find the basin's edge too high from the upper wooden platform, and this may explain the diagonal clearly visible on the far side of the centre example.
Now, just such a shallow pool of water can be created aside a river or with an oiled leather 'sheet' wrapped into an indent, so the great effort to carve the stone is still in need of explanation and gravitas.
Riversides have fish and ease all sorts of craft production, and being near to a river is enjoyed by man (apart from, floods, insects, morning frost and less sunlight). Moving uphill to exploit resources of grazing, pigment, shrub and wood has the disadvantage of moving away from the guaranteed flows of water especially if springs are lower down the valley. Providing an upper valley community with a solid point of water may attract a larger crofting population base. Imagine a shallow pool of water and steps and see people positioned around the edge in their regular spaces, shaping their dissect of the monolith's perimeter with their idiosyncratic style and action.
Imagine now that it is not 'playtime', and although there is a baby splashing in the centre, most of the people assembled around the edge are softening sapling and reed bundles in the warm water and are busy weaving baskets, wicker toy animals, roof forms, chicken pens, masks, fish-traps and rug-wacks to keep the village clean of dust. The water is still getting warmer and was only changed late afternoon. Before that, the same "monolithic water-warmer" was being used to soak acorns that had been pounded in a smaller basin - soaked to take out some of their tannin for a future exchange of finest dried acorn flour at the local barter. Now the assembled group has a 'medium' amount of time, as there are men working aside another monolith and others who will put their goats up for the night and will all want to light an oil flame in a couple of the cups that are found around the edge, and have some quality time relaxing for a chat. Other uses of the tough monolithic space pepper their weeks - cleaning, "winnowing" and softening as the seasons come and go, and the people who took the time to convert the stone often say that it was an effort, but worth it in the long run. Now, rather than being at the end of an explanation, this may be the point of a 'dome' when the last stone of explanation is dropped into place...
Of the three sites, there is one detail that is of great interest. The central site has a 'cross bar' carved over the basin space (just visible here but clear in associated posts). It's difficult to see how this can greatly improve the basin (a shallow half basin to warm in winter sun and a specific rinse side?), and rather than being functional, the cross bar may be an example of representation.
The three sites are within a radius of 60km, but 60km of rolling hills, so far from being neighbours - and yet the function and three above examples of model seems so similar and worn into place. Used and used and used. With a solid scattering of neolithic crofts far higher than the three above sites, surely such a good idea for higher crofts away from riverbanks would be taken up elsewhere? Suitable outcrops of sandstone are not available for all crofts, and the stone carving skills of menhir workers were perhaps also a slight speciality, but more to the point, it is perhaps the case that other crofts had the same facility for pools of warm water but simply not in stone, and that the stone versions are representations of structures common at the time, but long faded from the archaeological record. Now the crossbar of the central example may come into light.
The first migrants into the hill will have been met by a landscape of cold humid winters and hot dry summers. Cold winters and big shepherds cloaks (visible in the statue menhirs) and dry summers with flocks often away from overt water. Sleeping under small semi portable leather covered tents of wood frame. In the summer months, the heavy winter cloaks may have been stuffed around the edge of the inner frame of the tent, almost by accident making a rim so that storm rain could be captured into water pots with a smile of happenstance. At this point you can almost hear the conversations: 'I don't mind you using the 'roof pool' for the babies, but I don't want the kids up there as they are too big and will damage the leather as it rubs against the frame" ... And then the same children playing when the father is out with their flock to a point where he decides to make them a stone 'tent' so that nothing can be damaged, with the cross bar being the cross bar of the tent and the lumpy edges being the cloaks stuffed under the leather tarp. "A lot of work, but when you see the smiles and the productivity it was worth it." Other water collection pools and warm water basins may have been apart from tent/huts and lower to the ground and each croft would not bother that someone in the future may need to think through their day to day.
There is an example in recent history that maps a similar visual story of copycat function-style. The very first cars looked like carts without horses as they directly emulated their adjacent world before moving away to perfect new lines apt for the greater subject.
Perhaps second; third, fourth... generation of new rural crofters made this monolithic innovation, which would take the date right back into the neolithic and prior to ideas of Gaul and Celt and in parallel with adjacent menhir and dolmen culture and cups and canals witnessed on the central example.
Rites associated with the site can sit aside the day to day functionality, in the flexible and yet serious way that a school entrance hall can have a jumble sale, an election booth, an art show, an assembly and an informal meeting of parents. One of the rites may include the sacrifice of an animal to a God (although special stones on overlooking hills may have been more adapted). My own feeling is that this 'potential' sub element would give the wrong impression of a years activity, which is why I prefer to call this idea "warm water forms" (a term wide enough to include projected summer hut design and lower tarp models) rather than "Pierre des Sacrifices".
AJM 14.05.20