This is ‘Christ and the Adulteress’. It depicts a scene from the Gospel of John. The painting was one of Hermann Göring’s most prized possessions. Once the war was over, Allied forces set about discovering who had sold this Dutch masterpiece to a Nazi.
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Göring had acquired Christ with the Adulteress, by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (1632-75), from Alois Miedl, a Nazi art dealer & right shit who made a lot of money stealing art from Jewish ppl & selling it on.
Göring gave Miedl 137 looted paintings for Christ with the Adulteress and showcased it at his residence in Carinhall. In 1945, Göring’s vast art collection was discovered by allied soldiers led by Captain Harry Anderson (pictured).
Göring had hidden art in air raid shelters, tunnels, salt mines, castles, & abandoned train cars. Once the works had been recovered, work started on tracing the real owner & punishing those who had aided the Nazis.
The Allied forces questioned Miedl, who quickly confessed he had bought the work from Dutch painter Hans Van Meegeren. On 29 May 1945, Van Meegeren was arrested and charged with fraud, aiding & abetting the enemy, & looting Dutch cultural heritage.
He was detained in jail as a Nazi collaborator. For his crimes against the Dutch ppl, Van Meegeren was looking at the death penalty. And then it happened.
Van Meegeren confessed that although he had indeed sold the Vermeer to the Nazis, the painting was a fake. "The painting in Göring's hands is not, as you assume, a Vermeer of Delft”, he said, “but a Van Meegeren! I painted the picture!"
A team of experts were brought in to examine Christ and the Adultress, and they verified the work was a fake. If further proof was needed, Van Meegeren painted another ‘Vermeer’ while in jail to prove his skills. His final Vermeer was Jesus amongst the Doctors (seen here).
What’s more, Van Meegeren had ben forging art for years & had made millions. His forged works were bought by The Rembrandt Society & exhibited in prestigious galleries & museums. This is his The Last Supper.
Van Meegeren painted over authentic 17thC canvases with lead-based paints her made himself. He researched what kind of brushes the Dutch masters used & made it own. (Evidence used against Van Meegeren)
The collaboration charges against him were dropped, but he was charged with forgery & fraud. In Nov of 1947, Van Meegeren was sentenced to one year in prison. One month later, at the age of 58, after years of drug and alcohol abuse, Van Meegeren died of a heart attack in prison.
Van Meegeren’s legacy is a complex one. He lived a life of luxury, while many suffered dreadfully in the war. He bought properties once owned by Jewish ppl. He swindled, lied, & cheated. He was opportunistic, greedy, & his loyalties were questionable to say the least.
But, his role in deceiving the Nazis has earnt him almost folkloric status. According to one contemporary account, when Göring learnt that his precious "Vermeer" was actually a forgery, he “looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world".
Today, Han Van Meegeren’s "Christ and the Adulteress", (1942), oil on canvas, 39.4 x 35.4 in, is part of the Museum de Fundatie’s collection
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Today is #WorldPenguinDay , so here is a story about the “astonishing depravity" and "hooligan males" of the Adélie penguins recorded in Cape Adare in 1911.
This is George Murray Levick, a scientist with the 1910-13 Scott Antarctic Expedition. He arrived at Cape Adare in 1911 & observed the penguins for a year. He was the first scientist ever to observe the breeding cycle of the penguins.
George photographed the penguins throughout. This is one of his.
I can’t believe I’ve been woken up the for this, but here we go.
1. The historian Strabo (64BCE - 24 ACE) described operations on the clitoris
2. Galen (129-126 ACE) called the clitoris “the nymph” in his “on the usefulness of the parts of the body.”
3. Soranus of Ephesus (1st century ACE) also calls it a “nymph” and describes it as “hidden underneath the labia such as young brides hide under their veil.”
4. Other ancient writers who describe the clitoris include, Caelius Aurelianus, Iianus, Albucasis, and Avicenna. They would call it a “nymph,” a “myrtleberry,” or “tongue bag.” The romans called it “landica.”
5. Although the clitoris is not mentioned in the Kama Sutra, it was in other ancient Hindu texts. The Sanskrit for clitoris is “smart-chatra,” which translates to “umbrella of the love god.” (Best. Clit. Fact. Ever.)
Wewe Gombel is a female ghost in Javanese folklore. It is said that she kidnaps children and hides them under her breasts.
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Wewe Gombel, or “Hantu Kopek" as she’s known in Malaysia, has a complicated legend. It is said that in life, she married the man of her dreams, but they never had children because she was infertile.
Her husband grew resentful and began shagging around. One day, Wewe Gombel caught her husband in bed with another woman. She flew into a rage & killed him.
July 22nd is the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene in the Christian faith. Much has been made of who Mary was, but she almost certainly wasn’t a sex worker. That story came about in 591, when Pope Gregory I got his Marys muddled.
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Mary Magdalene, (who debuts in Luke 8:2) was mixed up with with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39), and the anonymous "sinful woman" who washed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50.
The Mary who washed Jesus’ feet had been up to naughty things & all three were conflated. To be fair, there are quite a few Marys knocking about.
Mary Carleton (1642-73) was the most infamous thief & harlot of Port Royal, Jamaica. She was said to be “A stout frigate … or else she never could have endured so many batteries & assaults … she was as common as a barber’s chair: no sooner was one out, but another was in.”
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Mary was born Mary Moders in Canterbury, England - possibly to a fiddler. There is not much that is certain about her life because she was an exceptional bullshit artist. Most of what we know about her was written in jail reports that were designed to shock, or from Mary herself.
These reports say Mary married a shoemaker called Thomas Stedman, who she eventually left to marry a surgeon called Thomas Day. Her first arrest and trial was for bigamy.
This is the legendary burlesque artist & 'vaginiste', Honeysuckle Devine. She was once described as a 'one woman slum', & had one of the most extraordinary acts in the history of burlesque.
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Honeysuckle was born Betty Allsup in Rock Island, Illinois in 1938. She was one of 14 children & described her father as a 'hillbilly, banjo-playing lumberjack.'
As a teenager she became deeply religious & at 21 she went to Philadelphia to become a postulant at the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart Convent