King Charles Makes His First Christmas Speech as Monarch
Charles III is making the first Christmas speech as King, continuing the tradition his mother upheld for the entirety of her 70-year reign. Queen Elizabeth II’s first Christmas speech was in 1957, at the age of 31.
The Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery in the British Museum
The British Museum’s extraordinary collection of Chinese porcelain and jades is one of the museum’s most significant legacies. Visitors from all over the world are astonished by the Chinese artisans’ ability to convert plain clay into such exceptional items. These exquisite works of art were a part of Sir Joseph Hotung’s collection. Hotung, who passed […]
Layoff Bells Ring Off Christmas
For many workers in the US and around the world, Christmas in 2022 comes with mass layoffs. Following complaints of labor shortages in 2021 and 2022, some companies have laid off workers in mass layoffs as 2022 draws to a close. Job cutbacks in the United States have increased this year, with a 6% increase […]
Norman Rockwell, The Painter of the Feeling of American life, at Christmas
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of the country’s culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over nearly […]
Beijing Meets Over Battered Economy, COVID Cases Rise
Chinese GDP has fallen to an estimated 3%, China’s poorest economic performance in over 50 years. The unrest in China complicates expectations of the country’s path to recovery, which, along with prospects of more moderate Federal Reserve interest-rate increases, had directed sentiment toward riskier assets in recent sessions. Traders also assessed the chances that China […]
James Webb Telescope Reveals More Clearly the Structure of the Universe
The James Webb Space Telescope launched on December 25, 2021, begins to reveal more clearly the structure of the universe. Not a universe full of stars but of galaxies forms the relevant part of the information provided. This has been made clear by employing gravitational lensing, to review certain of the universe. […]
From Creation To Auction: The Journey Of A Masterpiece
“Now painting is dead…” a famous French painter said upon the invention of cameras. However, time has proven him wrong. Artworks in the form of paintings have not gone obsolete as he supposed. On the contrary, they have increased in value through the ages. Art has been a powerful force in the world for centuries, […]
Wen Zhengming, Ancient Chinese Painter and Calligrapher
An outstanding painter and calligrapher and an important trendsetter in his time, Wen Zhengming (1470–1559) was the unrivaled leader of the Wu School for much of its heyday during the first sixty years of the sixteenth century. Born to a modestly successful scholar-official family, Wen was a late bloomer in the arts; he was particularly […]
Willem van de Velde the Younger
Willem van de Velde the Younger, who was born in Leiden, Netherlands, on December 18, 1633, was a prominent painter known for his maritime art. He began maritime oil paintings at a very young age and quickly reached the pinnacle of achievement. Willem van de Velde was a descendent of painters. Willem van de Velde […]
Elegant Master Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (alternately spelled Vandyke) was an influential Brabantian Flemish painter and Baroque artist of the 17th century. He was born in Belgium in 1599. After a prosperous career in the southern Netherlands and Italy, van Dyck became England’s preeminent court painter. Sir Anthony van Dyck was the seventh child of Frans van […]