Posts Tagged ‘the long 18th century’
Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China
In my last blog post, I mentioned Lord Macartney’s embassy to China in 1793. It was an aside to a post that was itself not much more than an aside, but, as so often happens around here, one story led me to another. A beautiful copy of the journal Macartney kept about his time in…
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Master Crewe as Henry VIII
A recent rabbit hole in the peculiar world of “Cute Studies” led me to this unlikely and delightful eighteenth century painting by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792),[1] which was inspired by Hans Holbein’s sixteenth century portrait of Henry VIII. I was temped to share the two images with no commentary, but one rabbit hole led to another.…
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1724: A Year in Review
For those of you who care about such things. 1724 was a leap year, giving us an extra day in which stuff could happen—and happen they did. Royal Heads King Philip V, the first Bourbon of Spain,* abdicated in favor of his sixteen-year-old son, Louis I on January 14. I have read several reasons why…
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