Subject: ‘Superstition’

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The best pictures from educational trade cards, 75

Posted in Africa, Ancient History, Architecture, Best pictures, Bravery, Educational card, Famous battles, Famous landmarks, Heroes and Heroines, Historical articles, History, Law, Music, Mystery, Myth, Politics, Religion, Superstition, War, Weapons on Wednesday, 25 November 2015

We have selected three of the best pictures from our large collection of 19th and early 20th century educational trade cards.
The first picture shows Cardinal Richelieu sending Francois de Montmorency-Bouteville and the Comte de Chapelles to be executed for defying his ban on duelling, in 1627.

Cardinal Richelieu, picture, image, illustration

Cardinal Richelieu sending Francois de Montmorency-Bouteville and the Comte de Chapelles to be executed for defying his ban on duelling, 1627

The second picture shows Orpheus in Egypt.

Orpheus, picture, image, illustration

Orpheus in Egypt

The third picture shows the death of Lord Talbot and his son.

Talbot and son, picture, image, illustration

The Death of Lord Talbot and his Son

High-resolution scans of all educational cards can be found in the Look and Learn picture library.

The best pictures from educational trade cards, 38

Posted in Ancient History, Best pictures, Communications, Customs, Educational card, Famous crimes, Heroes and Heroines, Historical articles, History, Inventions, Legend, Myth, Nature, Plants, Religion, Superstition on Tuesday, 24 November 2015

We have selected three of the best pictures from our large collection of 19th and early 20th century educational trade cards.
The first picture shows the sacrifice of Iphigenia.

Iphigenia, picture, image, illustration

The sacrifice of Iphigenia

The second picture shows the world ash tree called Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil, picture, image, illustration

The ash tree Yggdrasil

The third picture shows Quipus, the Peruvian system of communication using knotted strings.

Quipus, picture, image, illustration

Quipus, system of communication using knotted strings, Peru

High-resolution scans of all educational cards can be found in the Look and Learn picture library.

The best pictures from educational trade cards, 12

Posted in Ancient History, Best pictures, Disasters, Educational card, Engineering, Historical articles, History, Myth, Railways, Superstition, Transport, Travel on Monday, 23 November 2015

We have selected three of the best pictures from our large collection of 19th and early 20th century educational trade cards.
The first picture shows the opening of the first French railway, 1832.

 railway, picture, image, illustration

Opening of the first French railway, 1832

The second picture shows the earthquake at Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, 1843.

earthquake, picture, image, illustration

Earthquake at Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, 1843

The third picture shows the Oracle of Delphi.

Delphi, picture, image, illustration

Consulting the Oracle of Delphi

High-resolution scans of all educational cards can be found in the Look and Learn picture library.

Prester John by John Buchan

Posted in Adventure, Africa, English Literature, Historical articles, History, Superstition on Sunday, 22 November 2015

Prester John is an adventure novel by John Buchan set in Victorian Africa at the time of the Zulu Wars. Its hero, a young Scotsman named David Crawfurd, is an early version of his better known protagonist Richard Hannay. The story relates his hairy adventures in South Africa, where a Zulu uprising is for some bizarre reason linked to the mediaeval legend of Prester John, mysterious ruler of a lost kingdom in the East. This spectacular picture portrays Crawfurd’s capture by the Zulus in the grand manner of high Victorian narrative painting, and is most impressive.

Prester John, picture, image, illustration

Prester John

Many more pictures of novels can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

The Burial of Tutankhamun

Posted in Ancient History, Archaeology, Architecture, Art, Arts and Crafts, Famous news stories, Historical articles, History, Religion, Royalty, Superstition on Saturday, 21 November 2015

This highly unusual painting illustrates the elaborate rituals which accompanied the burial of Tutankhamun, the most famous of the Egyptian pharaohs. It pictures the moments which sealed off forever (so it was thought) the funeral chamber containing the precious artefacts in our picture, and the sacred mummy of Tutankhamun himself, wearing the fabled gold and enamel mask. Thousands of years later a man called Howard Carter would see a very similar scene.

Tutankhamun.

Burial of Tutankhamun by Peter Jackson

Many more pictures of Ancient Egypt can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

Michel De Notre Dame – better known as Nostradamus

Posted in Historical articles, History, Magic, Mystery, Oddities, Puzzle, Superstition on Saturday, 21 November 2015

This is a compelling and rather disturbing picture of Michel De Notre Dame – better known to the world as Nostradamus – who gained a fantastic reputation as a man who could foretell the future. It is the darkness of this image which creates an atmosphere of mystery and apprehension. Nostradamus famously predicted the destruction of New York City towards the end of the 20th century, and his wide eyes may even be seeing such an event in our picture.

Nostradamus, picture, image, illustration

Nostradamus

Many more pictures of prophecies can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

The Pequod, Captain Ahab’s battered whaling ship

Posted in America, Animals, English Literature, Heroes and Heroines, Historical articles, History, Sea, Ships, Sinners, Superstition, Travel, Weapons on Friday, 20 November 2015

Captain Ahab’s ship, the Pequod, is pictured in this breezy but slightly surreal illustration for Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby-Dick. We may just discern the silhouetted figure of tormented Captain Ahab himself on the deck of this battered old whaling ship watching the gulls wheel across the sky.

The Pequod, picture, image, illustration

The Pequod

Many more pictures of novels can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

Nicolo Paganini – had he sold his soul to the devil?

Posted in Famous Composers, Historical articles, History, Music, Superstition on Friday, 20 November 2015

This clever portrait of Nicolo Paganini, shows the great composer and virtuoso violinist fiddling away while a diabolical grotesque grins in the background. This is an allusion to the rumour that the only explanation for such performing genius was that he had sold his soul to the devil. In fact Paganini was a kind and generous man; when he heard “Harold in Italy”, which he himself had commissioned, he sent Berlioz 20,000 francs to help the struggling composer. Of his legendary performing genius only his Guarnerius violin remains, preserved by the city of Genoa.

Nicolo Paganini, picture, image, illustration

Nicolo Paganini – had he sold his soul to the devil? by Angus McBride

Many more pictures of composers and musicians can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

The best pictures from ‘The Graphic’, 83

Posted in Architecture, Best pictures, Historical articles, History, London, Politics, Superstition, The Graphic, War on Friday, 13 November 2015

We have selected three of the best pictures from ‘The Graphic’, a nineteenth-century illustrated newspaper and rich source of remarkable engravings.
The first picture shows a model estate for working men in Battersea.

housing, picture, image, illustration

Working Men's Dwellings, the Shaftesbury Park Estate by H Johnson

The second picture shows a nocturnal political gathering.

London, picture, image, illustration

Republicanism by Lime Light by H Woods

The third picture shows a native trophy of human skulls in the Naga Hills.

India, picture, image, illustration

The Outrage in the Naga Hills, a Native Trophy of Human Skulls by Sydney P Hall

High-resolution scans of all the illustrations from ‘The Graphic’ (London 1870-1902) can be found in the Look and Learn picture library.

The best pictures from ‘The Graphic’, 2

Posted in Best pictures, Children, Historical articles, History, London, Superstition, The Graphic on Sunday, 8 November 2015

We have selected three of the best pictures from ‘The Graphic’, a nineteenth-century illustrated newspaper and rich source of remarkable engravings.
The first picture shows autumn in London.

London, picture, image, illustration

An Autumn Afternoon by the Ornamental Water in St James's Park by Henry Lanos

The second picture shows a lady reading tea leaves.

women, picture, image, illustration

And true love knots lurked in the bottom of every teacup by G Sheridan Knowles

The third picture shows London in November.

London, picture, image, illustration

London Sketches, a November Fog by W Small

High-resolution scans of all the illustrations from The Graphic (London 1870-1902) can be found in the Look and Learn picture library.