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Evil spirits, called Aygnan, tormenting Brazilian Indians (Esprits malins, appelés Aygnan, tourmentant des Indiens du Brésil) — Illustration from the 1580 edition of Histoire d’un voyage faict en la terre du Brésil, autrement dite Amérique, by Jean de Léry. Another version of this interesting picture can be found on the website of Confins, a Franco-Brazilian geographical publication.

L’Arc de Triomphe, Paris, circa 1852.

What is notable is the absence of buildings at that time; in the pure Roman tradition, the arch was set up to welcome the triumphant army, back from campaigns, before entering Paris. But Paris swallowed the arch.

Prise de la Ville de Venise le 3 Floréal An 5.

Tout un côté de la Place St Marc à Venise alloit être incendié par les Barcaroles et autres gens du peuple que soudoïoit la Seigneurie, quand les Français y sont entrés le 3 floréal An 5 (13 mai 1797) sous le Commandement du Général Baraguey d’Hilliers, conduisant avec eux deux Pièces de Canon, pour foudroïer ces Scélérats qui se sont dispersés à leur Aspect; à peu près à cette Epoque et de l’autre côté de la même Place, une foule de Citoyens portoient en Triomphe le Négociant Spada, qu’ils venoient de délivrer des Plombs et qu’accompagnoient ses fils âgés l’un de 18 et l’autre de 20 ans, aussi retirés recemment de ces infernales Prisons et rendus à la Liberté.

(A whole side of the San Marco Piazza was going to be burnt by the barcaroles and other members of the populace bribed by the Doges, while the French entered there on 3 floreal an 5 (13th may 1797) under the command of general Baraguey d’Hilliers, with 2 cannons, to blast those rascals who flew at their sight; more or less at this time, on the other side of the same Piazza, a crowd of citizens were carrying in triumph the merchant Spada, recently freed from the Piombi, with his sons aged 18 and 20, also recently removed from those infernal prisons and given back to freedom.)

The bible is not nominalist: Adam makes the names, but God makes the categories. (Adam naming the animals, English miniature, XIIIth century.)

fsebmat:

Johannes Jelgerhuis, De winkel van boekhandelaar Pieter Meijer Warnars op de Vijgendam te Amsterdam, 1820 (The bookshop of Pieter Meijer Warnars in Amsterdam)

On all depictions of ancient libraries and bookshops, I always notice how they were not (yet) optimized for serendipity.

The System of the Universe, from Robert Fludd’s Utriusque cosmi, maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia (the metaphysical, physical, and technical history of the two worlds), 1617-1621. On that picture, God commands to Nature, which in turn commands to Humanity (depicted as a geometer ape). Angels, stars, planets, elements, animals, plants, minerals, sciences and arts are concentric parts of the diagram. The influence of planets on innermost spheres is also depicted according to Fludd’s theories.

Correspondance between the macrocosm and the microcosm (the universe and the human body) from Robert Fludd’s Philosophia sacra et vere Christiana seu Meteorologia cosmica (1623).

Phineas Newborn’s rendition of Lush Life on his 1961 recording, A World of Piano, shows in a particularly clear way the influence that early XXth century French composers (notably Debussy and Ravel) had on jazz musicians. Phineas is by far not alone in this position.

It’s not possible to fantasize a garden of Eden that would not be, at the same time, a walled garden — to keep strangers out. It also helps to pretend strangers are not quite like us, or demons. This approach is known to fail as soon as the inhabitants of the garden start asking too many questions. (Illustration from a French manuscript of Saint Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, 1400)

Drawing of Jupiter, from Nouvelles découvertes dans le globe de Jupiter faites à l’observatoire royal, by Jean-Dominique Cassini (1690)