Author: Ivana Tucak

News Stories

Trojan War from Biblioteca Ambrosiana: The Secret of the ‘Bleeding Iliad’

The Ambrosian Iliad. This mysterious, illuminated manuscript circa 500 AD is an object of interest to many scholars, but also to art history lovers. Held today in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy, the Ambrosian Iliad is a real treasure, not only for historians and art historians, but also for every true art lover who appreciates the rare and the beautiful.

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News Stories

Did Gothic Romanticism Criticize the Early 19th Century World?

Although escapism was in fashion, there was one interesting subgenre of Romanticism where the development was a source of inspiration for the story usually set in the past. That subgenre is Dark or Gothic romanticism.

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Down the Avenue News

Dangerous Middle East Adventure led him to Writing Desk: The Story of a Former Cold War Spy

“I didn’t have a writing career and didn’t think in those terms. I still don’t. I’ve never really wanted a career in anything. Life’s too short and sweet for that grim, mortgage-in-the suburbs approach”, says John Fullerton, the former spy and journalist who lived and worked in 40 countries and covered a dozen wars.

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News Stories

Medieval Dresses: The Mirror of Medieval Society

There are many ads on the internet offering medieval dresses for sale. That means they are quite popular and have their fans that like to buy them and wear them on certain occasions. What are the reasons for such a fascination with medieval dresses? Well, everyone has their motives, but it’s definitely interesting to immerse in the medieval era and see that medieval dresses weren’t just clothes. Wearing a certain dress meant much more. A dress was a status symbol that defined a woman and who she was. Wearing a certain dress meant showing within which class you belong and how rich and powerful your family was. But, “medieval fashion” was also a reflection of the whole political and social situation during the Middle Ages.

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Down the Avenue News

The Mind Creates the Beauty: The Editor’s Commentary on Neoclassicism

Rococo, or in French Rocaille, ended the period of baroque in grand style. Asymmetry, numerous decorations, diverse motifs – they were all parts of this style whose purpose was to impress and evoke fascination, awe and admiration. The generation that grew up in the mid- 18th century had different interests. These were the artists and students who went on a Grand Tour through Greece and especially Italy where they acquired experience and knowledge about the antiquities of Ancient Greece and Rome. The period of neoclassicism that commenced during the mid-century coincided with the scientific discoveries and the Age of Enlightenment that also marked this period.

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