It’s rather early for Magi, but we* here at Clamorous Voice Towers refuse to be bound by convention. When this painting was sold at Christie’s on 18 April 1985, it cost £8,100,000, making it (at the time) the most expensive painting in the world. The artist, Andrea Mantegna (c. 1430-1506) was born near Padua, married…
This image shows Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most famous icons of the Virgin Mary, and Mexico’s most celebrated religious image. I’ve included it because it displays Mary as Christians think of her during Advent: pregnant with the baby Jesus. I am not an authority on art, but the reason we know she’s…
Provided in the comments to my previous post, “Born This Way” and the Sanctity of (all) Marriage was a link to the following petition: Petition to allow Anglican clergy to bless civil partnerships in church. In December 2011, it became legally possible for civil partnerships to be blessed in houses of worship. Currently, Anglican clergy…
Read more Petition to allow Anglican clergy to bless civil partnerships in church
With most of the media overtaken by the horror that is the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, the General Synod is – understandably – quite low on the news radar. For the Anglican Church, this is a good week to bury bad news – or, indeed, bad theology. Following the Guardian‘s liveblog yesterday, I…
Read more A religious rant: General Synod & offering the Eucharist to all
Ages ago, the nice people at methuen drama very kindly offered to send me a free book (I forget why, but thank you very much and please, more of the same). In an excess of irresponsibility, I decided NOT to choose anything vaguely useful to my course, and to instead pick, at random, the work…
Previous Thursday retrospects can be found below! Some were even published on Thursdays. Travel plans are afoot; Berlin in June/July, Kent in August and (I so hope) Positano (with Ravello and Sorrento, oh my god) in November. Recommendations for Berlin & Positano extremely welcome! It was my birthday! I am now 24, which is older…
Fellow dead Victorian things enthusiasts may well enjoy photographer Ingrid Newton’s latest, absolutely beautiful post on London memorials. I am a big fan of Ingrid’s work, but particularly enjoyed this photograph. Ingrid describes the Postman’s Park memorial to those who have died via acts of self-sacrifice. The designer, as the above image shows, was George…
Read more In Memoriam: Postman’s Park and George Frederic Watts
The garden at Hall’s Croft first came to my attention when I learned you could get married, or have a civil partnership in the grounds – it’s a shame you can’t do the same at the Birthplace, but we’re a lot closer to traffic and you’d run the risk of your wedding being papped by…
We are in Paris, having survived the tender mercies of Eurostar’s ‘special assistance’ (v kind, v helpful, v unpleasant experience of being a kind of disability Prince Phillip), a terrifying cab driver (who, I am sure, called us ‘whores’ all the way to 1st), our equally terrifying German landlord, and the deathspiral that is our…
A quotation from Michael Berg, co-director of the Kabbalah Centre: Being addicted doesn’t make us bad, weak or hopeless. Just the opposite. It means we have a unique soul that wants more. Wow. No wonder bastardised Kabbalah has become so popular with crazy celebrities – you’re an alcoholic because you’re special! You do too much coke and…
