Latest on the blog: a look at a classic of the American gilded age. robspence.org.uk/2026/04/20/f...

Loads of great tips there fo all sorts of writers

Good morning! This week's theme is London Sunshine 🌞
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'London Cherry Tree in Sunlight' by Melissa Scott-Miller
scottmillerart.com

Every time I feel like I screw up as a parent, I remind myself that Hemingway used to leave his kid with his cat as a babysitter.

You seldom know what the beginning is, so don't worry yourself with starting there. If you know, as far as you can, that something will be included later in the piece start with that, whether it's the description of a scene or an object, some biographical information, whatever. You've already begun.

Say her name: Connie Ballmer. 🔥🔥🔥

Women messing with men's heads du jour: Judith, Abra, & head of Holofernes, 1584. By Paolo Veronese, whose day is today.

Party time! Band is playing, food's on the table, and guest of honor is ready to turn water into wine. Wedding at Cana, 1563, by Paolo Veronese, whose day has been today.

For Daniele Barbaro, Palladio built a totally A+ villa in Maser. And guess who decorated it? Paolo Veronese, whose day is today.

Photo of a Tim Hortons in CDMX under a building that says “pelucas”

Glad to see Canada doing some culinary diplomacy in Mexico

Trompe l'oeil decoration in Villa Barbaro, Maser, provided by Paolo Veronese. One of the seven wonders of the renaissance world. Add it to your bucket list!

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

In this banquet scene, Paolo Veronese (d. OTD 1588) creates a vast tableau of incredible opulence for the lucky Dominican friars of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. But is it Biblical? The Inquisition wants to know!

A young man with flowing hair and an exposed shoulder sleeps in the foreground with a telescope in his lap. Behind him is a landscape and a crescent moon in the sky

The mythological shepherd Endymion was loved by Selene, the goddess of the moon, who observed him as he slept. Here Guercino portrays holding a relatively new invention, the telescope as he sleeps, which allows him to observe the movements of the moon (Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome)

Art & object highlights from the 'In Bloom' #exhibition @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social: 'Orchids' by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1879; 19th-century teaching models of plants; an 18th-century pharmacy jar and a 17th-century floral still life by Rachel Ruysch; a recent tapestry by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Unless you're writing about Wilde or his contemporaries, I don't really care what you have to say about decadence

Did I not spend two classes going over where to find, how to read, and how to integrate secondary sources? Did I simply hallucinate spending two classes going over where to find, how to read, and how to integrate secondary sources?

We will continue to make two-dimensional maps. Because your mind can't handle the truth.

Portrait of a woman with dark hair styled in a low bun, wearing a blue garment with a white collar, facing away from the viewer.

Two fern leaves, one yellowish and one green, displayed on a textured light gray background.

A winding dirt path lined with tall, leafy trees under a partly cloudy sky with a person walking along it.

Read about Joséphine Bowes, a French actress who built a world-class art collection for the north of England.

👉 artuk.org/discover/stories/josephi...

🧑‍🎨 Joséphine Bowes (1825–1874) 📷 The Bowes Museum

It's 75 years since the #festivalofbritain so a great reason to discuss how it represented and influenced #seaside places in my next online talk on 13 May. These pics show the Seaside Section on the South Bank, in front of the Festival Hall. Tickets at www.ticketsource.com/kathryn-ferry

Two younger people enjoy reading at a kitchen table in early spring in a sunny and warm kitchen… on the sideboard table behind them we see spring’s early flowers, such as daffodils, and on the kitchen table, we see snowdrops, cups of tea and coffee, and lots of books being read by the young people reading, including their teddy bear who also has a book & a chair at the table -it’s an inviting and warm scene likely beloved by bookworms.

springtime weekend vibes

Photo of black-bellied whistling ducks. One is facing right, standing in the grass on the edge of a pond. Next to the first duck is the second, facing left, and perched atop a post that has a lifesaving ring and rope hanging from it.

#BirdOfTheDay #DucksOutOfWater
#BlueSkyArtShow #Edge

Because it's at a high elevation?

Astonished to learn that ‘Silence of the Gods’ sold nearly 3k copies in the second half of 2025. These are numbers I'm not used to seeing 😮

Chalkboard reading "Wanted. Patio testers. No experience needed"

Sign of spring!

Green fabric cover with red Chinese characters, red tassels and a green ribbon with gold lettering.

Bright yellow volume with a resplendent dragon.

Fridays I'm in Love

We welcomed Chicago's esteemed Friday Club @newberrylibrary.bsky.social yesterday, and a bespoke woven portfolio set with printed ribbons marking their 1898 gift to the library was my favorite! Full of chromolithographs of ceramics, it marked the start of a beautiful friendship!

Well a few things cleared up by the Irish census including correct birth order of siblings and the real name of my (great) Auntie Cissie - Bella, because, why not? I mean, it makes perfect sense as a substitute! Bless the Irish state for making it all free and easy to use.

Henri Fantin-Latour, French (1836-1904), Still Life: Corner of a Table, 1873, oil on canvas, 96.4 x 125 cm, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Watercolor of a longitudinal double-aisled church cross section. Domenico Tasselli da Lugo, view of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica looking west toward the altar, watercolor in Giacomo Grimaldi, Monumentorum veteris basilicae vaticanae delineationes et exempla picta vel adumbrata, c. 1576–1625 (Vatican Library; MS Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.A.64.ter, folio 12 recto)

It's not easy to write about things that no longer exist, but Dr. Hendrik Dey, one of Smarthistory's over 850 contributors, knocked it out of the park for this info-filled essay on Old St. Peter's. We read it and said, "Finally!" smarthistory.org/old-saint-pe...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that, if you want to feel completely incompetent, try putting a duvet into its cover.