Willem Hendrik, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and King of England, was born on this day the 14th of November, 1650. It had been a dark week for the House of Orange. William II, aged only twenty-four, had died of smallpox on the sixth of November. His widow, the nineteen-year-old Mary Stuart, Princess of Orange,… Read on
Parliamentarian General Sir Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, husband to Anne de Vere, father of Mary Fairfax, died on this day 12th November, 1671, in Yorkshire, England. Fairfax fought in the English Civil War as a General of the Parliamentarians (Roundheads). And though I think he backed the wrong side, he comes across as a noble, likeable, and good… Read on
No, this is not to do with the Seventeenth Century, but this is Remembrance Day, and an important annual remembrance of fallen heroes. I support the troops, and honour them, past and present. I volunteered at a nursing home for thirteen years since I was ten and I met many men who fought in the Second World War,… Read on
Hogarth is synonymous with the Eighteenth Century, but he was, in fact, born in the Seventeenth. Therefore, in honour of his birth, which occurred on this day the 10th of November, 1697, we shall have a look at some of his most popular and influential works of art. Hogarth was a satirist and an artist, who dealt mainly… Read on
François Couperin, also known as Couperin le Grand, French Baroque composer, was born on this day the 10th of November, 1668 (New Style), in Paris, France. I was first exposed to Couperin’s music when I was a little girl, listening to the radio programme, Sunday Baroque. Later, when I had moved out of America, I listened to Baroque… Read on
Quite a number of people are finding this blog by searching for “portraits of handsome 17th century men,” and since I don’t wish to disappoint by not having an entry about this, here we are! 1. Arnold Joost von Keppel, Earl of Albemarle: I find Arnold the most aesthetically pleasing of all the portraits I’ve ever seen from… Read on
Tous Les Matins du Monde is a beautiful, captivating, heart-rending film about real-life 17th century French Baroque composer Marin Marais. This film, from 1991, which stars Gérard Depardieu as Marais, and Depardieu’s own son, Guillaume as the young Marais is stunning. Marin Marais was born in 1656 and died in 1728, and he was a viol player and a composer of Baroque… Read on
When I opened my Twitter account in late 2009, I had about two or three close friends follow me. I didn’t have fashionable views on things, and I wasn’t funny or anything that is popular. I didn’t talk about anything in particular to begin with, and so it continued in this quiet vein until perhaps the end of… Read on