I photograph art, architecture & historic artefacts. License my images on Alamy. For prints, mugs, etc., go to Terence Kerr on Fine Art America (link below).
Penzance, Cornwall, UK
Joined July 2019
- Tweets42.8K
- Following6.2K
- Followers3K
- Likes54.4K
#Roman #Sirmione
View across Lake Garda at Sirmione in Lombardy, Italy, through archways of ruined Roman villa known as the Grotte di Catullo. Built between end 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE. fineartamerica.com/featured/…
#Plomin #Croatia
Plomin Tablet on outer wall of church in Plomin, Croatia. May represent either St George or Roman-era god and may date from 11th century CE or much earlier. Inscription above man's head is earliest known example of Croatian Glagolitic, oldest Slavic alphabet. That would point to tablet being carved in 11th century. However, inscription could be addition to much older artwork. fineartamerica.com/featured/…
Terence Kerr retweeted
✨ Another real treasure: the medieval oak door at St. Mary, Higham in Kent. It is less a door but a piece of miniature Gothic architecture. More 📸 here: digest.andymarshall.co/treas…
Terence Kerr retweeted
Hellmouth c. 1420.
Detail from the Krumlov Sborník (Krumlovsky sborník), Bohemia.
Terence Kerr retweeted
The Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela never quite forgot his symbolist past; the zig-zag pattens in the water of his Lake Keitele,' (1919) lend a meditative, tranquil quality to his picture, cleverly holding our attention.
Terence Kerr retweeted
THE FROG IN THE MILK: AN UNUSUAL FOOD-PRESERVATION TECHNIQUE FROM THE PAST
Before refrigerators and modern food-preservation technology, people in parts of Russia and Finland reportedly used a rather extraordinary method to slow the spoilage of milk: placing a live brown frog (Rana temporaria) inside a container of milk.
Although it sounds strange today, this traditional practice has an interesting connection to modern science.
Frogs have highly permeable skin that produces protective chemical substances called antimicrobial peptides. These molecules help defend their bodies against bacteria and other microorganisms in their natural environment.
In 2012, researchers published a study in the Journal of Proteome Research examining the skin secretions of the Russian brown frog. Using advanced mass-spectrometry techniques, they identified 76 individual peptides.
Laboratory experiments demonstrated antibacterial activity against two important bacteria:
• Staphylococcus aureus – associated with various human infections and food contamination.
• Salmonella enterica – a bacterium responsible for foodborne illness.
One peptide, called Brevinin 1Tb, also showed significant antibacterial activity.
The researchers suggested that these natural antimicrobial compounds might help explain the traditional practice of placing frogs in milk.
It is a remarkable example of how observations made by rural communities centuries ago can inspire modern scientific investigation.
Important distinction: Laboratory antibacterial activity does not prove that a live frog reliably preserves milk or makes it safe to consume. This was a historical practice, not a recommended food-safety method.
Sometimes, the most unexpected connections between traditional knowledge and modern science come from nature itself.
Terence Kerr retweeted
When Claude Monet painted his wife for the last time, she was already dead.
On September 5, 1879, Camille Monet died at just 32 years old, leaving behind her husband and their two young sons.
As she lay on her deathbed, Monet took up his brushes and painted her face, capturing the pale blues, grays, and violets of her final appearance.
Years later, Monet recalled something that had troubled him about that moment. Even as he looked at the face of the woman he loved, he found himself instinctively studying the changing colors and tones of her face.
He was disturbed by his own reaction. At a moment of profound grief, his painter's eye had taken over, almost against his will.
Even in the deepest moment of his grief, he could not stop seeing the world as a painter.
Claude Monet, *Camille Monet on Her Deathbed*, 1879. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
Terence Kerr retweeted
Milton Abbas, a historic and picturesque village located in Dorset, England 🏴🇬🇧
The village is famous for its uniform, whitewashed, cob-and-thatch cottages. Originally, each detached pair of cottages was designed to house two families.
In the 18th century, Joseph Damer (later Lord Milton) wanted to clear the old, noisy town from the view of his grand mansion, Milton Abbey. He demolished the original medieval settlement and built the current planned village tucked away in a nearby valley between 1773-1786.
. . . .
The story begins in 934 AD, when King Athelstan, often regarded as the first king of a united England, founded a monastery at “Middletun”. He granted it estates across Dorset, turning it into an important religious and economic centre.
Over time, a busy town grew up just south of the monastery. The main London to Exeter road passed through it, bringing merchants, travellers and trade.
Middletun held a weekly market and two annual fairs, attracting people from across the county to buy and sell goods, find work and sometimes even find a husband or wife.
It is difficult to imagine today, but this quiet valley was once full of noise, commerce and activity.
Then, in the 1780s, everything changed.
Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, wanted to transform his estate into an idealised country landscape. Working with the celebrated landscape designer Capability Brown, he set about creating a grand setting for his house.
There was just one problem.
The old town was in the way.
The historic settlement was demolished and its inhabitants were moved into a newly planned village in the neighbouring valley, largely hidden from the mansion and its landscaped grounds.
The cottages we see today formed part of that new estate village, picturesque now, but originally built for ordinary rural families whose lives were often marked by poverty, hard labour and poor living conditions.
And while the village looks idyllic, living here still comes with its quirks: small, dark cottages, limited sunlight in the valley, steep rear gardens and front gardens open to passing visitors.
#archaeohistories
Terence Kerr retweeted
🇬🇪 The Medea Statue, Batumi, Georgia
The statue depicts Medea, a figure from Greek mythology, holding the Golden Fleece. It symbolises the ancient Kingdom of Colchis, located in what is now western Georgia, and its connection to the legendary journey of Jason and the Argonauts.
#StDamian
St Damian, Arab-born doctor of medicine and Early Christian martyr. Late 1400s fresco by German artist Albert of Konstanz in church in Plomin, Croatia. Damian & brother Cosmas are patron saints of medicine and pharmacy. fineartamerica.com/featured/…
Terence Kerr retweeted
SNEEZING According to European folk belief the soul can fly out of the mouth whenever a person sneezes. 'Bless you' will prevent it being captured by a demon (& death during plague). Worth knowing if you have a winter cold! 🎨Hellmouthes from Books of Hours.
Terence Kerr retweeted
Today's research is into the life of the youngest daughter of King Charles I, Henriette of England aka 'Minette' who became Duchess of Orléans through her marriage to her cousin Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. #Stuarts
Terence Kerr retweeted
Miniatura del Libro de horas de Carlos VIII de Francia, manuscrito iluminado en pergamino, siglo XV. Representa a Luis XII de Francia orante, tras él, de pie, Carlomagno.
Terence Kerr retweeted
British artist Louis Duffy's 'Christ Driving the Money-lenders from the Temple' (1940) shows Christ as a truncheon-wielding everyman confronting business-suited arms dealers, one with talon-like hands, trading on graves of war dead ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/militar…
Terence Kerr retweeted
In 1958, Philco introduced a television with a 25-foot cable that let you place the screen across the room while keeping the controls beside your chair.
Called the Philco Predicta Tandem, it featured a detachable 21-inch screen connected to a separate wooden cabinet housing the electronics, speaker, and controls.
The screen could be lifted off its stand and moved to another spot in the room, while the wooden cabinet stayed beside the viewer.
Philco summed up the idea in its original advertisement:
“Keep the set beside your chair. Put the picture anywhere.”
