Art

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7971498

A few months ago, I read an extraordinary article by Imran Mulla. On a hill above the Ellora Caves, he revealed, stands the abandoned Tomb of the Last Ottoman Caliph.

Its a fascinating symbol of Ellora' global past, and in my opinion the Turkish Embassy should try and restore it. It's a fascinating symbol of Turkish-Indian ties.

To understand why it's here, we have to go back to the early 20th century, when Ellora's suburb of Khuldabad was the spiritual centre of the Nizamate of Hyderabad.

In 1931, the Nizam of Hyderabad married his sons to the daughters of the deposed Ottoman caliph Abdulmecid II. Then, a week later, he purportedly secured a deed from the last Caliph, nominating their joint grandchildren as the next Caliphs of Islam.

To signify the revival of the caliphate in Hyderabad, he then began constructing a grand Ottoman tomb for Abdulmecid II at Ellora.

Just as the Nizam and Caliph hoped, Hyderabad soon came to be regarded as “the most prominent Muslim city outside of the Holy Land,” and uttered in the same breath as Mecca and Jerusalem.

But the Caliph would never be buried here. War would soon sweep across Europe, and by 1948 Hyderabad state had itself been extinguished.

The tomb built for the Caliph was all but forgotten, and now lies abandoned on a hill, the last great monument ever built at Ellora.

-Sam Dalrymple. (Full article in his paid substack, would recommend if youre interested in the topics he covers)

From https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255417
You need to see it in 3d to see how big they liked their junk in the trunk

The question of course was… how the hell did a giraffe get to Bengal in the first place?

https://open.substack.com/pub/travelsofsamwise/p/the-sultan-of-bengals-giraffe?r=1wlet9

Paid article.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7915665

Rijksmuseum researchers have identified a painting as the work of Rembrandt van Rijn. Analysis of the wood panel, style, changes made to the details while the work was being painted, the signature applied while the painting was still wet and the overall high quality confirm that it was an autograph work by Rembrandt himself, painted when he was 27 years old and had just moved to Amsterdam.

Vision of Zacharias in the Temple (1633) is a moody depiction of the account in the Gospel of Luke of the high priest Zachariah learning his “barren” elderly wife Elizabeth will bear a son, the future John the Baptist.

Pruitt’s charcoal drawings depict African American subjects adorned with a mix of accessories sourced from the worlds of science fiction, cartoons, hip-hop, and African art. Here, a Dogon figure from Mali—a Dyongou Serou—is connected by wires to a hat that, in the artist’s conception, captures brain waves. This futuristic headdress thus allows a direct, mental connection with the past for its wearer. The composition is also thus a microcosm of the issues that occupy this talented young artist—the "back to Africa" movement, Sun Ra and Afrofuturism, the cultural history of the African diaspora, and astronomy and space exploration.

The particular Dyongou Serou that Pruitt depicts in this drawing was at one time in the collection of Lester Wunderman and was illustrated in The Met’s 1988 exhibition catalogue "Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection," which is the artist’s likely source for this drawing. While the figure’s face-covering gesture is quite common in Dogon works, the interpretation of its significance is still debated and could range from introspection or shame to despair or mourning.

-The met.

This painting depicts Dr. Tulp demonstrating human anatomy to a group of surgeons using the body of a recently executed criminal, Aris Kindt.

A precise archaeological dating of the site isn’t available, but UNESCO says “Bam and its cultural landscape date to the Achaemenid period (6th to fourth centuries BC). “

The fortress was destroyed during an earthquake in 2003 and subsequently restored.

In the early 20th century, excavations in the town of Mansura in Pakistan’s Sindh province revealed four extraordinary bronze knockers.

20 inches in diameter and dating from the 880s, they constitute some of the earliest pieces of Islamic art found in Pakistan.

Yet theyre also so clearly Indic in character, featuring a kirtimukha surrounded by Kufic calligraphy.

Indeed, in these bronze knockers, we witness some of the earliest Indo-Islamic art!

Be the most violent man of your time.

Be the most virtuous man of your time.

Be born to lower nobility.

Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all die in battles for France.

Win a horsemanship contest in front of the King at 13.

Win a tournament in front of the King at 18.

Capture an enemy standard in battle at 19. Knighted immediately.

Fight a public duel to the death against giant Spanish warrior at 26.

Hold off 250 enemy Spanish knights on a bridge by yourself so your army doesn't get obliterated. Survive.

Pope asks you to command his armies and offers immense salary.

Write the Pope to say you'd rather be a humble soldier for your King than a foreign Prince.

Win the battle of Genoa by leading a seemingly impossible cavalry charge uphill.

Put in charge of a small contingent of French army. Revitalize the army with the discipline and skill of your own men.

Hang out with Emperor Maximillian at the failed siege of Padua (not your fault).

Nearly capture the Pope in a raid near Ferrara.

Oversee a duel as Master of the Lists for The Italian Thunderbolt Gaston Le Foix.

Lead dismounted men-at-arms in repeated charges to win the siege of Brescia. Suffer bad thigh injury.

Allow your men to take you to a commoners house to recover.

Need to leave before you are fully recovered because a huge battle is brewing at Ravenna.

Leave the commoners, a mother and her daughters, with a thousand gold pieces when you leave.

When the enemy discovers you have personally arrived at Ravenna, they exclaim your value on the field is equivalent to 2,000 men.

Your personal bravery in leading decisive charges carries the day at Ravenna but the last minute loss of your captain and friend Gaston Le Foix is strategic catastrophe for France and devastating personal loss for you.

Many of your friends and associates become mercenaries, chasing wealth far exceeding your own.

You are disinterested in chasing wealth.

Among savages, earn a reputation for (aside from your supreme savagery) your kindness and light-heartedness.

Captured by the King of England in battle.

Released on the sole promise to not fight for six weeks.

Don't fight for six weeks.

Battle of Marignano with new King Francis I. Carry the day with the King. King asks you to knight him on the field of battle afterwards.

You are now lieutenant-general of the French army.

Hold the city of Mezieres with 1,000 men against 35,000 Holy Roman Empire besiegers.

All of France celebrates your achievement.

Named to the Order of St. Michael.

King orders you are allowed to command 100 knights in your own name, a privilege reserved for Princes of the Blood.

When the army is on the march, ride at the front of the vanguard and forbid your troops from looting and pillaging the locals. Placing sentries at churches to guard the women taking shelter inside from being raped as the army passes.

When the army is retreating, ride at the very back putting out fires and helping villagers recover from the passing of the front of the army.

Paid peasants from his own pocket whenever he needed anything on campaign.

Wherever you pass, locals and peasants rush to the army to bring you gifts. Unheard of.

In your own lifetime given many nicknames and epithets, including "beyond fear and reproach".

Prefer to just be called "Le Bon Chevalier" (The Good Knight).

At the Battle of the Sesia River, be fighting at the back of the rearguard as the army retreats.

Hit with an arquebus ball.

Left to die under a tree.

Enemy surrounds you, including Italian captain Pescara and your old comrade the Duke of Bourbon who defected to the Italians.

Duke of Bourbon says to you, "Ah! Monsieur.. I am very sad to see you in this state; you who were such a virtuous knight!"

Respond to the Duke of Bourbon before you die, "Sir, there is no need to pity me. I die as a man of honor ought, doing my duty; but I pity you, because you are fighting against your king, your country, and your oath."

Be one of the best who ever did it.

Be The Chevalier Bayard.

-Memory Medieval (substack)

Be one of the most successful mercenaries of all time.

Set the stage for a kingdom that lasts over 700 years.

Be virtually unknown.

Be the third oldest of your father's twelve sons.

Father is very low knight.

No inheritance coming.

Travel a thousand miles to Italy with your two younger brothers.

Become so good at fighting and raiding, everyone wants to hire you.

Profit.

See your fellow Norman mercenary Rainulf exchange his services for land.

Activates the almonds.

Continue fighting in Italy for the Lombards, Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), the Pope, HRE, or anyone who pays the bills.

Muscle your way to the top, becoming one of the twelve local leaders of Norman mercenaries.

Eastern Roman Empire wants to bring some Norman mercenaries on campaign to recover Sicily.

Accompany Romans with Varangians (and Harald Hardrada) to Sicily with 300 of your fellow Normans.

Campaign going well.

Besiege Syracuse.

City looking doomed.

Emir of the city rides out to destroy the siege machines.

Jump on your horse with your brothers and ride straight for the Emir.

Emir sees you and turns, you both ride at each other full speed.

Smash the Emir at full gallop with a single blow, knocking him out of his saddle, dead before he hits the dirt.

The enemy scatters.

Siege is over.

Everyone starts calling you Bras-de-Fer.. "Iron Arm" for the way you powerfully sent the Emir into the afterlife.

You and your friends don't seem to be getting any loot.

Complain to the general.

He has your Lombard captain stripped naked and beaten in the camp.

Time to get out of there.

Return to mainland Italy.

Lombards in full revolt against the Eastern Romans.

Normans across Italy are now the muscle for the Lombard revolt.

Lombard leaders keep selling you out. Dangerous stuff, need new leader.

Normans say that you should be leader.

Eastern Romans send army to kill you immediately led by Italian Catapan (governor) and as many troops as he could quickly muster, including Harald Hardrada and some Varangians.

Catch your forces in March by the Olivento River.

You have 300 knights and 600 infantry.

The Empire numbers in the thousands.

They send messenger with usual terms. Surrender or die.

One of your captains, Hugh Teudoboef punches the messengers horse, knocking it out, and tumbling messenger to the ground. He's fainted.

Your men drag off his horse. Put the messenger on new horse and slap him awake, sending him back to enemy camp. Everyone laughing.

Enemy scared of what happened to messenger, everyone ordered to not speak of it.

Battle next morning.

Empire lines up in a bend of the river so your cavalry don't have room to move.

Charge into them anyway.

Empire's army quickly breaks but there is nowhere to run. Total Norman victory.

Somehow Harald Hardrada and Catapan escape though.

Your numbers swell, now you have 700 knights and 1,300 infantry

Catapan puts together newer, larger army. Still outnumbering you several times over.

Hunts you down again in May by the Ofanto River, near Cannae.

No messenger this time.

But you are quite ill.. maybe too ill to fight.

Battle next morning. Empire lines up again in a corner of the river.

You have to watch, very sick, from a stretcher on a nearby hill.

Cavalry charging.

Not quite working this time.

Thick fighting ensues. Your men look stuck. You are yelling! "Push harder! Charge!"

Empire starts surging.. things looking not so good.

You've had enough.

Get out of stretcher. Jump on horse. Can't be too sick to leave this to your men alone..

Ride straight into the thick of the fighting.

Men bolstered to see their leader joining them!

Few more charges and the Empire's army breaks again.

Total rout and great slaughter of the enemy.

Somehow Harald Hardrada and Catapan escape again! wtf?!

Now the Empire sends a new army to just besiege Melfi in September.

You rally your army and ride to relief.

Quickly catch the Empire's army besieging the city.

A long day of hard fighting but you rout them and kill many again.

Capture enemy commander.

Empire completely driven out of Italian interior.

1041, great year to be a Norman in Italy and you are the champion of the Normans.

Defeat the Empire three times in one year. Varangians and Harald Hardrada twice!

Lombard ally Gaimar IV of Salerno acknowledges you as "Count of all the Normans in Apulia" with your capitol city as Melfi.

Marry Gaimar's niece Guida.

Acquire the city of Ascoli as your personal fief.

Consolidate your power. Begin solidifying your holdings. Keep rascally Normans under control.

Generational run.

Die a couple years later of illness.

Your next younger brother will succeed you as Count and will be officially invested by Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire in the next year as "Duke and master of all of Italy, and Count of all the Normans in Apulia and Calabria"

Your oldest half-brother (Robert) will become the Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily.

Your youngest half-brother (Roger) will become Grand Count of Sicily.

Your youngest half-brother's son (Roger II) will become King of Sicily and Naples, which lasts, later as the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, until 1861.

Start as a mercenary with nothing.

Become the most powerful man in southern Italy.

But always be remembered for that time you killed the Emir of Syracuse in single combat, in a single blow.

Be William Iron Arm.

-Memory Medeival (substack)