Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

G. C. (after Pietro Santi Bartoli), ‘Sfinge’, ca. 1825, hand coloured engraving, 14 x 12 cm. (page 23,6 x 15,5 cm.) (Decoration from the Tomb of the Nasoni), from: Dizionario d’ogni mitologia e antichità incominciato da Girolamo Pozzoli sulle tracce del Dizionario della favola di Fr. Noel, continuato ed ampliato dal prof. Felice Romani e…

Mannetje, Hans ‘t (1944), ‘Sphinxes’ 1986, marble, Wertheimer Park, Plantage Middenlaan, Amsterdam After the World Tourism Day, the focus on a strange phenomenon: you travel around the globe to see art and exhibitions, while you ‘forget’ the pearls your own home town has to offer. Hereby I shall make it up with Amsterdam sphinxes with…

U&O (Urbi et Orbi), ‘N’en rever plus… allez-y!’ 1960’s for Air France, black and white photocollage advert, full page, 33,6 x 24 cm. It is World Tourism Day: attention for a phenomenon that exists for ages, but our way of enjoying holiday developped at the end of the nineteenth century. In the 1960’s Air France…

Thackeray, Lance (Lot) (1869 – 1916), ‘The Minx by Spoonlight’, 1908, Raphael Tuck and Sons Oilette, from the series: ‘Humour in Egypt-Cairo’, postcard 9547, Engeland This postcard is an ‘oilette’ by Raphael Tuck & Sons of London. They invited artists and, in this case, illustrators, to make artistic souvenirs as an alternative for picture postcards.…

Anonymous‚ ‘Rest on the flight to Egypt‘, ca. 1800, oil on canvas, 37 x 45 cm. A fresh catch, on auction today: the rest on the Flight to Egypt. Joseph reads a book in the shade of the tree, while Mary hold Christ on her lap. He is focused on two winged females, serving food…

Maison Bouasse-Lebel (Paris), ‘Die heilige Familie in der Wüste.’ (‘The holy Family in the Desert’ )  ca. 1910-15, andachtsbild (devotional picture), 11 x 6,2 cm. Herds of desperate people fleeing from their country in numbers so abstract we need a protagonist to emerse ourselves into the dramatic impact. Halas a little boy had the dubious…

Smit, Carolein (1960), ‘Sphinx’, 2011, glazed ceramics, 45 x 63 x 61 cm. The mixture of the alluring figures, with shiny golden lustre diadem, with an unexpected dangerous twist, snakes between the fingers of the chained hand, typifies Carolein Smit’s work. That is why we have asked here to make a sphinx for us. Yesterday, an…

  Lasker, Albert (1880–1952) and Claude Hopkins ( (1866-1932), ‘Cleopatra’s vision’ 1917, advertisement for Palmolive soap from The American Magazine, Vol. 83, p.89 When looking at e-bay, I recognized a familiair reclining beauty in pharaonic context, yet in a new setting and a different context: In the advertisement for soap (related to palm oil and olive oil),  Cleopatra…

  Vannuccini, Enrico (1900–1990), printed by Bolaffio, Italian Ex Libris centre, Milan, ‘Ex libris for Mary Alice Ercolini’, 1950, copper engraving, signed and dated with pencil in the lower right margin, 14 x 16,5 cm. It is Sail in Amsterdam, from last Wednesday the IJ is loaded with boats, tall and small. Every night there…

French, pendentif with sphinx and crescent moon with star, brass and glass, 3,6 x 1,7 x 0,4 cm. Schools are starting again, holiday is over! Pictures of our experiences were apped, shared on facebook. But also in the pre-digital era memories of the journey were wished to keep. Here is a very fine example of…