Discovery in Pompeii - 2025

The Italian Ministry of Culture revealed the discovery of the hall with its large, colorful frescoes on February 26, 2025. These frescoes depict initiation scenes, are almost life-size, and have a deeply religious significance. They were designed to decorate banqueting areas and are believed to date from 40 to 30 BC.

It's a megalography, a large painting, similar to the famous painting in the Villa of the Mysteries. The house is located on insula 10 of Regio IX and was named by archaeologists as House of Thyasus, referring to the retinue of Dionysus.

“For the ancients, the figure of the Bacchante represented the wild and untamed side of women, in contrast to the idealized image of Venus, the goddess of love and marriage,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. “The frescoes in the House of Thyasus and the Villa of the Mysteries show women caught between these two extremes, reflecting the different ways in which femininity was conceived at that time.”

Archaeologists have identified more than fifty rooms, a laundry (fullonica), and a bakery.

All photos by archaeologist Silvia Vacca

Instagram : silvia_vacca_

In these bewildering landscapes (ca. 1689) by Ferdinand van Kessel, 64 cities across 4 continents are depicted as mere backdrops to the antics of animals — the built environment of the human world almost superfluous. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/kessel-four-parts-of-the-world

My favorite 1972 Rod Ruth art from Tom McGowen’s ‘Album of Dinosaurs.’ Love the earthy 70s-era colors.

Yazep Drazdovich (b. 1888) The Theatrical Carpet, 1952. Oil on Canvas. History and Culture Museum-Preserve "Zaslaŭje", Zaslaŭje, Minsk, Belarus.

I︠A︡zėp Nartsyzavich Drazdovich. The Celestial Threads. 1931.

Yazep Narсyzavіch Drazdovich (October 13, 1888 - September 15, 1954) - Belarusian artist (painter and graphic artist), teacher, archaeologist, writer, ethnographer, folklorist and amateur of theoretical astronomy.

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I︠A︡zėp Nartsyzavich Drazdovich. Nature of the Moon, Cosmopolis, The Catcher, Landscape Under the Rings of Saturn, Evening in the Dessert on Mars, Residents of Saturn for Inspection of Caves for Hibernation, Triveh Panorama of the Lunar City, Space, Spring meeting on Saturn, (top to bottom). 1930s-1940s.

Roman bow. 1st Century BC

Another fantastic that debuted in 1931 was Clayton’s own STRANGE TALES OF MYSTERY AND TERROR, edited by Harry Bates. The pulp was probably the most successful of WEIRD TALES’ competitors. It was able to attract some of the leading contributors to “The Unique Magazine,” again due to the higher word rate it was able to pay.

Pictured here is the October 1932 number of the Clayton pulp, featuring cover art by Hans Wessolowski. https://www.instagram.com/p/B8-EWIFAsRw/?igshid=27o6xcbu4sj5

Three Masks, 1928

Designer Oliver Messel

Photographer George Hoyningen-Huene for Vogue

Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra in the 1945 film “Caesar and Cleopatra”. Costume design by Oliver Messel.

"Methinks, a million fools in choir are raving and will never tire", from Goethe's Faust by Harry Clarke (1927)

Bela Lugosi as Jesus Christ on stage in Hungary. 1909.

Tomáš Andraškovič (1871–1944) - “Totalitarianism”, 1920

oil on canvas

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Thomas Woodruff - The Source and the Sprite (from the chapter “The Legends of the Mysterious Rocks” from “Francis Rothbart”), 2013.

Time masters, directed by Rene Laloux?