#dutch official portrait

[theroyalsandi]

Dutch Royal Family - Queen Maxima in a new official portraits released on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the reign of King Willem-Alexander. The photos were taken at the beginning of September by Anton Corbijn in the Gallery Hall of Noordeinde Palace. | November 10, 2023

Bonus:

[royalchildreneurope]

The Dutch Royal Court shared these two pictures of Princess Catharina-Amalia of The Netherlands riding a horse on the occasion of her 21st birthday -December 7th 2024.

📷 : Koninklijk Huis.

[jordanianroyals]

Official Portrait: King Abdullah II, Queen Rania, Crown Prince Hussein & Princess Rajwa of Jordan with distinguished guests (including foreign royals & political leaders) & family members ahead of the official dinner banquet held at Al Husseiniya Palace on the occasion of the Crown Prince’s wedding on 1 June 2023.

Who's who from left to right:

King Philippe of Belgium; Tunku Azizah & Abdullah of Pahang, the queen and king of Malaysia; First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed & President Abdul Latif Rashid of Iraq; Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Prince Theyazin of Oman; Crown Prince Haakon of Norway; Crown Prince Frederik & Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; Princess Hisako of Japan; Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi. Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg; Princess Beatrice of York; Ilham Yassin; Princess Salma; Barham Salih, former president of Iraq & wife Sarbagh Salih.

U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda & wife Jeannette Kagame. Prince Mateen of Brunei; Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha & Margarita Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Bulgaria; Princess Elisabeth of Belgium; Princess Muna; Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein; First Lady May Mikati of Lebanon; Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein; Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Lebanon; Sheikha Moza of Qatar; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prime Minister Masrour Barzani of Iraqi Kurdistan; Prince William; Khalid al-Saif.

Azza al-Sudairi; Queen Máxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands; Queen Sofía & King Juan Carlos of Spain. Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan; Sheikha Muna Al-Klaib & Sheikh Ahmad Al Abdullah Al Sabah of Kuwait; Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prime minister and crown prince of Bahrain; Crown Princess Victoria & Prince Daniel of Sweden; Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands. Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania & Prince Radu; Princess Iman; Princess Felicitas of Liechtenstein; Jameel Thermiotis; Prince Johann Wenzel of Liechtenstein; Prince Pavlos of Greece.

[volkswagonblues]

a bibliography for us Daniel Malloy freaks

(a loosely pulled-together reading list about print journalism, New York, the 1970s & 80's, and the AIDS Crisis. Most of the credit goes to @islandbetweenrivers who started this)

On Daniel Molloy, California Boy

The show never explicitly states if Daniel went to college, but since college students were exempt from the Vietnam draft, which ended officially in 1973, it could be interesting to imagine Daniel in Berkeley.

Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion

The White Album by Joan Didion

Berkeley Barb archives (link) -- weekly underground newspaper that ran in Berkeley between '65 to '80

The Daily Cal First 150 Years (link) -- student newspaper at Berkeley

On Journalism

Iphigenia in Forest Hills by Janet Malcolm

From her reporter's seat, Malcolm observes that a trial is merely "a contest between competing narratives". (Guardian review)

The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm

“"Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible," wrote Malcolm in an opening sentence that caused a sensation in the tiny, self-referential world of posh American journalism.” (Guardian review)

The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice by Trisha Romano

“The Voice’s origins were proudly amateurish. One early contributor was a homeless man recruited from a local street; equipment consisted of two battered typewriters, an ink-splattering mimeograph machine and a waste paper basket for rejected submissions. Morale spiked when a staff member discovered that dried pods used in fancy flower arrangements contained opium, which was boiled up in the office when the time came for a coffee break.” (Guardian review)

Note: The Village Voice was THE alt-weekly newspaper and it was run out of Greenwich Village in NYC. Lots of incredible writers start there and then move onto the Times, Vanity Fair, etc. Very much the sort of crowd a young Daniel would be mixed in circa 70's and 80's.

The Night of the Gun, by David Carr

David Carr redefines memoir with the revelatory story of his years as an addict and chronicles his journey from crack-house regular to regular columnist for The New York Times. Built on sixty videotaped interviews, legal and medical records, and three years of reporting, The Night of the Gun is a ferocious tale that uses the tools of journalism to fact-check the past. (amazing rec from @archive-z)

Note: imagine if Daniel did this and then fact-checked his way into remembering that vampires existed

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

Keefe can paint complicated portraits of victims and vigilantes alike while covering their lonely pursuit of justice. He intuits why a Dutch woman who has exposed the crimes of her gangster brother might lie about her present whereabouts. He understands why a man who lost his brother in an aeroplane bombing might spend the rest of his life trying to find the culprit. Again and again, Keefe surmises that even the most detailed of investigations can only speculate about human motives. (Guardian review)

Note: the sort of deeply human longform profiles that feels like the sort of writing Daniel does, based on his masterclass clip and what he reveals in his interactions with Louis

On New York, New York (in the 70s)

Notes from Underground, by Eric Bogosian + Perforated Heart, by Eric Bogosian

In four billion years the sun will explode. But before that we'll run out of fresh water and before that we'll all die of some mutation of AIDS that's spread by coughing. It's not my fault anyway. I can't think about this any more today. I'm going to masturbate.

Note: The OG. What else is there to say.

Ladies and Gentleman, the Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler

In the long sweep of American history, of course, 1977 is not exactly 1865, 1941, 1968 or 2001. Yet from porn shops to gay bathhouses, from Yankee Stadium to City Hall, from the blackout to Son of Sam, from Rupert Murdoch's New York Post to the rise of SoHo and Studio 54, the city was living through what Mahler convincingly calls "a transformative moment . . . a time of decay but of rehabilitation as well.” (New York Times review)

Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina, by Chris Franz (2020)

Frantz’s account of the early days, when the Heads lived in the pre-gentrified Lower East Side of New York, an almost literal war zone. While searching for a loft to live in, they viewed one building that was on fire. One spring afternoon, Frantz walked over to the now-legendary club CBGB to ask for a gig. The place smelt of “beer, roach spray, dog doo [the owner, Hilly Kristal, had a free-roaming saluki] and Chanel No 5”.

Winter’s Journal, by Paul Auster

Note: To me, Auster is one of the closest real-life Daniel Malloy analogues: born around 1950, literary career in NYC, moved to Paris in the 1970s for a few years, troubled middle-class background. Novelist though, not a journalist. There’s an anecdote in this book about a car crash that feels like a deadass Devil’s Minion fever dream. Crazy stuff. One of my personal favourites

On the AIDS Crisis

And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts

The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a special emphasis on government indifference and political infighting—specifically in the United States—to what was then perceived as a specifically gay disease

The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts, by Andrew E. Stoner

Biography of Randy Shilts that’s very helpful for imagining Daniel in the early 1980s newsrooms covering Karposi’s sarcoma

How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France (2017)

It’s not easy to balance solid journalism with intimate understanding of a subject, and even harder to write eloquently about a disease that’s killing your friends and loved ones. France pulls it off, in his own words (his description of finding a college roommate’s panel in the AIDS Memorial Quilt is heartbreaking) and in letting his articulate sources speak for themselves. (SF Gate review)

Timeline of AIDS (link)

Overview of HIV (link)

And some films, just for fun

The Panic in Needle Park (1971): Drama film directed by Jerry Schatzberg. Al Pacino is a heroin addict and small-time dealer in Manhattan who falls in love with another addict.

Serpico (1973): biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. Al Pacino is a hippie cop (yes, I know, its part of the plot) with one foot in the 1970s bohemian art scene

American Graffiti (1973): teen movie set in 1973 Modesto ("I'm just a shitty kid from Modesto"--Danny Malloy)

The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974): More grimy 1970s NYC stuff

All the President’s Men (1976): THE ABSOLUTE JOURNALISM MOVIE??

Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Cruising (1980): 1980 crime thriller written and directed by William Friedkin. Al Pacino is a cop (again) but this time he goes undercover in NYC gay leather clubs

Almost Famous (2000): Set in 1973, it chronicles the funny and often poignant coming of age of 15-year-old William, an unabashed music fan who gets the chance to write for Rolling Stone

Spotlight (2015): More journalism movies! The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese

everyone say thank you to @islandbetweenrivers for starting this, I just polished up our google docs and posted it on tumblr.

Also if anyone has something to add please let me know!

[galleryofart]

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Artist: Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632-1675)

Date: 1665

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands

Description

A young woman looks over her shoulder at us. She holds her head slightly to one side, there is a gleam in her greyish-blue eyes, and her lips are slightly parted and moist. On her head is a turban that she has wound from two pieces of material, one blue and one yellow, and she is adorned with a pearl earring. It is from this oversized jewel in the middle of the composition that the painting derives its title.

The painting provides a rich sample of every aspect of Vermeer’s virtuoso painting technique. The face is modelled very softly, not in great detail but with gradual transitions and invisible brushstrokes. The clothing is depicted more schematically and enlivened with small dots of paint suggesting reflected light – one of Vermeer’s trademark features. Even so, the artist has clearly indicated differences between materials – for instance between the white collar, painted in impasto, and the drier paint of the turban, for which he used the precious pigment ultramarine. But the most remarkable detail is the pearl. This consists of little more than two brushstrokes: a bright highlight at upper left and the soft reflection of the white collar on the underside.

Seventeenth-century Dutch girls did not wear turbans. With this accessory Vermeer has given the girl an Oriental air. Images like this were known in the seventeenth century as tronies. Tronies are not portraits: they were not made in order to produce the best possible likeness of an individual. Although there would probably be a sitter, the point of a tronie was mainly to make a study of a head representing a particular character or type. Rembrandt had popularised tronies in Dutch art around 1630. He made dozens of them, often using himself as the model, sometimes wearing a remarkable cap or a helmet.

The pearl is too large to be real. Perhaps the girl is wearing a pearl drop made of glass, which has been varnished to give it a matte sheen. Another possibility, of course, is that the pearl was a product of Vermeer’s imagination. Pearls – both real and imitation – were fashionable in the period from about 1650 to 1680. We often find them in paintings by Frans van Mieris, Gabriel Metsu and Gerard ter Borch.

Girl with a Pearl Earring has been known to the general public only since 1881, when it was put up for auction at the Venduhuis der Notarissen in The Hague. On the viewing day it attracted the attention of the influential cultural official Victor de Stuers, who was there together with his friend and neighbour, the art collector A.A. des Tombe.

[mac-ann-cheese]

Who has a choice like Smarty does?

(tumblr sucks for restrictions with image sizings. the quality is fucked up)

July, 2024

Another addition to my portraits of Alfred.

Um... I don't really know. This time for real. Something hit me on the head, and I got the idea to create whatever this pink abomination is.

I have a habit of making things that make my eyes sore, though.

Confession: I love Alfred's Cold War era uniform (well, it's actually a variation of the WWII uniform). I depicted him wearing an Airborne one 'cause of the eagle patch on official artwork—the trademark of division. I've seen the other creators playing a guessing game with uniforms, so there really isn't a "canon" tradition to follow.

And also it's cunty-- I mean, the Ike jacket, the boots, the silly cap. Giving fierce.

I'm sorry... (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

Personally, I always try to make clothing historically accurate. Then I should explain a few details. The long shoulder thingies—fourragères, left one—Belgian (it correlates with the red ropes that most artists drew on Alfred's uniform. It's the closest I could find that would be time-appropriate, and I saw that it could also have arm loops. More strings. So, a tricky fact: it should be worn on the left, but I read that it could be worn and was usually worn by soldiers on the right if there is a French Croix de Guerre 39/45 on the left, which is... the same-looking fourragère as Belgian. No braided strings staking!), the right one—Dutch lanyard (it's orange, close call to red! But, one big but, don't take my words seriously, 'cause I read too many different opinions on some 2007 forum discussion that I became confused with placement. I don't really know what is actually right, please don't come for me, I tried my best and it's only a drawing) and the French one, I've mentioned earlier.

Other accessories: on the left pocket—the presidential unit citation award; on the right, above the ribbon bar set (um, I won't specify what ribbons I could've depicted, as this post will become twice as long)—jump wings; and also the M1916 holster (colt is included!) on the leg. Did you know that little strap was used to secure the holster on the thigh? I didn't before diving into the hunt for references. The strap also could be tied in some peculiar knots, but Alfred is a messy bitch/j, and it means messy wrapping on the muzzle.

The autism in me powers the fuel of a research engine for a Hetalia fanart. Yikes.

One thing that I didn't want to change was the neck scarf. Sadly, there isn't one for real uniform, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. It's just too iconic, even for my historical accuracy quirk. And the hat should be larger, however, I wasn't bothered about the right size. It's a mini-cap.

Okay, I need to address the elephant in the room. Yes, mouths. Different emotions (or I tried to make them different). Am I insane for this? Absolutely. They're reminding me of the first colour TV or ibm computers with Warhol's style.

The second ver is just text, which I thought suited him (tbh, Alfred would make great friends with Maxine, iykyk). I had great fun with distortion filters.

Last thing, the expression is supposed to be somewhat confused laughing like someone accused of something very controversial ("me kissing men??? oh nonono, haha... ',:D") and Alfred just laughs it off, like he usually does. At the same time, looking down on us, the viewer. Though you can freely interpret the expression however you want, it's up to you! (⁠~⁠￣▽￣⁠)⁠~

[artsandculture]

Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665) 🎨 Johannes Vermeer 🏛️ Mauritshuis 📍 Den Haag, Netherlands

A young woman looks over her shoulder at us. She holds her head slightly to one side, there is a gleam in her greyish-blue eyes, and her lips are slightly parted and moist. On her head is a turban that she has wound from two pieces of material, one blue and one yellow, and she is adorned with a pearl earring. It is from this oversized jewel in the middle of the composition that the painting derives its title.

The painting provides a rich sample of every aspect of Vermeer’s virtuoso painting technique. The face is modelled very softly, not in great detail but with gradual transitions and invisible brushstrokes. The clothing is depicted more schematically and enlivened with small dots of paint suggesting reflected light – one of Vermeer’s trademark features. Even so, the artist has clearly indicated differences between materials – for instance between the white collar, painted in impasto, and the drier paint of the turban, for which he used the precious pigment ultramarine. But the most remarkable detail is the pearl. This consists of little more than two brushstrokes: a bright highlight at upper left and the soft reflection of the white collar on the underside.

Seventeenth-century Dutch girls did not wear turbans. With this accessory Vermeer has given the girl an Oriental air. Images like this were known in the seventeenth century as tronies. Tronies are not portraits: they were not made in order to produce the best possible likeness of an individual. Although there would probably be a sitter, the point of a tronie was mainly to make a study of a head representing a particular character or type. Rembrandt had popularised tronies in Dutch art around 1630. He made dozens of them, often using himself as the model, sometimes wearing a remarkable cap or a helmet.

The pearl is too large to be real. Perhaps the girl is wearing a pearl drop made of glass, which has been varnished to give it a matte sheen. Another possibility, of course, is that the pearl was a product of Vermeer’s imagination. Pearls – both real and imitation – were fashionable in the period from about 1650 to 1680. We often find them in paintings by Frans van Mieris, Gabriel Metsu and Gerard ter Borch.

Girl with a Pearl Earring has been known to the general public only since 1881, when it was put up for auction at the Venduhuis der Notarissen in The Hague. On the viewing day it attracted the attention of the influential cultural official Victor de Stuers, who was there together with his friend and neighbour, the art collector A.A. des Tombe. Tradition has it that even though the painting had been badly neglected, De Stuers recognised it as a Vermeer. According to a different version of the story, the painting was too dirty to be properly appraised, and the painter’s identity only became clear later on, when the cleaning operation revealed his signature. Whatever the case may be, De Stuers and Des Tombe agreed not to bid against each other, and Des Tombe therefore acquired the painting for the negligible sum of two guilders plus thirty cents mark-up.

Des Tombe’s collection, which included works by contemporaries as well as old masters, was open to visitors at his home, at Parkstraat 26 in The Hague. The future director of the Mauritshuis, Abraham Bredius, was the first to extol the virtues of Girl with a Pearl Earring when he saw it at Parkstraat in 1885: ‘Vermeer overshadows all the rest; the girl’s head, so superbly modelled that one is almost inclined to forget one is looking at a painting, and that single gleam of light, will alone hold your attention’. When he died, on 16 December 1902, Des Tombe turned out to have made a secret will bequeathing twelve paintings to the Mauritshuis, including Girl with a Pearl Earring.

[thevampiricnihal]

Read Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love) if you haven’t already read it.

It is a classic Turkish novel published in 1900 and:

- It has two main female characters: One is in a rivalry with her mother but slowly turns into her mother. The other is “morbidly attached” to her father. This was written before anyone has read Freud.

- The former female main character has a scene where she admires her own naked body in the mirror and (presumably) masturbates. It is presented non-judgmentally and is the best-written part of the book, it is the cornerstone of the book.

- The latter main character is probably one of the best teenaged female characters ever put on paper.

- The former main character is the latter main character’s young stepmother. It has been 124 years and the literary critics still scratch their heads about which one of them is the main character. Their rivalry on-page has bled into the real life. It is always a fun debate.

- It is completely female-centric to the point that it barely passes a reverse Bechdel test.

- The book features a rather in-your-face criticism of Orientalism. To the point that this scene single-handedly inspired an academic to write an entire book about the Turkish reaction to Orientalism.

- It is often considered the first great Turkish novel.

- It is both an atmospheric, beautiful and vivid portrait of the turn-of-the-century Istanbul and the lives of the rich Turkish families of the time period, and it is a book that is very open to symbolic readings and wild interpretations. It is a book that you can always discover new things about.

- It is my absolute favorite book and my passion.

It doesn’t yet have an official published English translation (though it has Italian, German, Dutch and Croatian ones) but there is an English translation on the internet:

It is not a flawless translation, but it is mostly good and readable.

[tiaramania]

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark Abdicates

We got some shocking news on New Year's Eve when Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced in her annual speech that she plans to abdicate in favor of her son, Crown Prince Frederik. It will take place on January 14th, which is the 52nd anniversary of her own accession to the throne in 1972. She is currently the longest reigning monarch in Europe and the only female monarch in the world.

Queen Margrethe has stated many times that she views her role as being for life and that she will not abdicate which is part of what makes this announcement so unexpected. She has had some health problems in the last few years and underwent back surgery last year that she says caused her to rethink some things.

In recent years more monarchs around the world have decided to abdicate as a form of retirement, passing the throne to their child who is younger and more capable of performing their duties. The Dutch have been doing this for several generations and I'm happy to see other monarchies adopting the practice. I know not everyone likes it but I prefer having the new monarch's accession be one of celebration and not because their beloved parent died. Queen Margrethe is a big reason I feel this way because I always think of her still mourning her father during her proclamation as Queen.

Denmark has one of the simplest forms of accession with the prime minister declaring the new monarch from the balcony of Christiansborg Palace. There are no grand events with tiaras but we could get an official portrait of the new king and queen.

For her proclamation, Queen Margrethe wore her wedding earrings and a ruby horseshoe brooch that was a gift from her father in 1953 when the constitution was changed to allow women to inherit the throne. I expect similarly sentimental jewelry to be worn this time around.

[hssrarepairs]

🕯️ Gifts for @apricitydays-lazynights ! 🕯️

—

🔔 TRANSLATION: Chromatische Afwijkingen

Ship: Astoria Greengrass/Ginny Weasley Rating: Mature Length/Medium: 9.2k words, Dutch Inspired by: Chromatic Aberrations by @apricitydays-lazynights Tags: Soulmates, Epistolary, Diary/Journal, EWE, Quidditch Player Ginny Weasley, Artist Astoria Greengrass, Astoria's Blood Curse, Color Blindness Summary:

Astoria Greengrass, an up-and-coming painter with congenital monochromia, records her days as the official portrait artist for the 2006 Quidditch World Cup Team. When she forms an unexpected connection with the star player, Ginny Weasley, her relationship to her art is changed forever. Astoria Goedleers, een kleurenblinde opkomende schilder, beschrijft haar dagen als de officiële portret schilder voor het 2006 Zwerkbal Wereldtitel Team. Wanneer ze een onverwachte connectie aangaat met Ginny Wemel, de sterspeler van het team, is haar relatie met haar kunst voorgoed verandert.

—

🔔 FIC: Some Rivalries Never Die

Ship: Cho Chang/Ginny Weasley Rating: Mature Length/Medium: 3.2k words Tags: Mild Smut, Post-Canon, Canon Divergent, Rivals, Getting Together, There Was Only One Bed, Quidditch Rivalry, Rival Relationship, Quidditch Player Ginny Weasley, Quidditch Player Cho Chang Summary:

Cho Chang might be on Ginny's team now, but she's still snobby, arrogant, insufferable. At least, that's what Ginny tells herself.

—

View all gifts on AO3! 🎶

[theroyalsandi]

Dutch Royal Family - The Royal House of Netherlands released new official portraits of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the reign of King Willem-Alexander. The photos were taken at the beginning of September by Anton Corbijn in the Gallery Hall of Noordeinde Palace. | November 10, 2023

Bonus:

[royalchildreneurope]

King Harald V of Norway, Queen Sonja of Norway, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, Durek Verrett, Maud Angelica Behn, Leah Isadora Behn, Emma Tallulah Behn, Princess Astrid of Norway, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Prince Daniel of Sweden, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Princess Sofia of Sweden, Prince Constantijn of The Netherlands and Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands pose for an official portrait to mark the wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Durek Verrett, in Vinjevollen in Geiranger, Norway -August 31st 2024.

[beardedmrbean]

Denmark's historic old stock exchange building in the centre of Copenhagen has been engulfed by fire.

The 17th Century Børsen is one of the city's oldest buildings and onlookers gasped as its iconic dragon spire tumbled into the street below.

Culture minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said 400 years of Danish cultural heritage had gone up in flames.

Members of the public rushed to rescue historic paintings and it took hours before the fire was under control.

The building, dating back to 1625, is a stone's throw from Denmark's parliament, the Folketing, housed in the old royal palace of Christiansborg castle. Danish media said the nearby square was being evacuated and the main entrance to Christiansborg was closed because of smoke.

The old stock exchange was being renovated and had been shrouded in scaffolding and protective plastic covering.

It currently houses the Danish chamber of commerce, which described the scenes on Tuesday morning as a terrible sight. Its director, Brian Mikkelsen, said as much as half of the old stock exchange had burned down but vowed that it would be rebuilt "no matter what".

Local craftsman Henrik Grage told Danish TV that it was a tragic day. "This is our Notre-Dame," he said, comparing it with the fire that engulfed the roof and spire of the cathedral in the centre of Paris almost exactly five years ago.

The Paris fire broke out under the eaves of Notre-Dame on 15 April 2019 when it was also shrouded in scaffolding as part of extensive renovations. Investigators have blamed either a short circuit in the electrics or a worker's cigarette butt that was not properly put out.

The cause of the fire in Copenhagen is also for the moment unknown but emergency services said the scaffolding made their operation more difficult. Officials said the fire was most intense around the tower.

One of the craftsmen replacing brickwork on the building saw the fire break out on the roof while he was on the scaffolding. Ole Hansen said he shouted to his colleagues they needed to get down and that he left the door unlocked for firemen to get in.

Fire department chief Jakob Vedsted Andersen said firefighters faced an almost impossible task accessing the area under the old copper roof. It was not until Tuesday afternoon that he said the fire had been brought under control, although much of the building was burned out.

"Furniture, floor partitions and everything that could burn has been affected by the fire," he said.

"I'm completely speechless - this is an unparalleled tragedy," one onlooker told Danish media.

Members of the public joined emergency services as well as the head of the chamber of commerce in rushing into the building to save the Børsen building's substantial art collection.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke of "terrible images" and of a piece of Danish history going up in flames.

Local museum inspector Benjamin Asmussen told Denmark's TV2 that the fire was difficult to watch, as the old stock exchange was filled with paintings of Danes who had played important roles since the 17th Century.

Camilla Jul Bastholm from Denmark's National Museum said that several hundred works had been rescued and taken into storage under escort. Among the prized works rescued was an 1895 portrait by PS Krøyer of 50 Danish men of commerce standing inside the building in their top hats. Ornate chandeliers, mirrors and some clocks were also recovered.

King Frederik X said the fire was a "sad sight" for such an important part of Denmark's cultural heritage: its characteristic dragon spire had helped define Copenhagen. He succeeded Queen Margrethe II in January and events for her 84th birthday planned on Tuesday were being toned down because of the fire.

The Dutch Renaissance-style building on the city's Slotsholmen, or palace island, was commissioned by Denmark's King Christian IV with the aim of turning Copenhagen into a major trading centre.

The famous spire featured four dragons whose tails were twisted into a spear and three crowns, symbolising close ties with neighbours Norway and Sweden.

[moon-swag-tourney]

Propaganda below!

Luther Hargreeves

He is a weird huge monkey man with daddy issues. What’s not to love 

Spaceboy!

Della Duck

just look at her shes badass she amputated her own leg and made a prosthetic out of spare rocket parts shes not perfect but shes trying her goddamn best to be a good mother okay she is The character ever

greatest character of all time!

dear tournament runner i am so so sorry for the essay i'm about to write but i am not normal about my girl della

della duck is donald duck's twin sister and huey dewey and louie's mother

the whole history behind her is so interesting bc she unintentionally became the greatest mystery of the disney duck comic verse

one of disney's many weird rules is that their main 6 characters are not allowed to have children or parents. this rule is kinda wobbly in the sense that on one hand, it does get broken (goofy has a son in some canons & donalds mother is shown in some comics (though only in scrooge's flashbacks, she's never allowed to interact with donald)), on the other hand, it also tends to sometimes get applied to characters who are not part of the main 6 but still main characters. this rule meant, that when they wanted their main characters to interact with kids, they invented nieces and nephews. which had the added bonus that when they wanted to stories without them, they didn't have to explain the kids' absence (like for example mickey's nephews, which barely ever appear and, fun fact, were actually invented before huey dewey and louie). so, in one newspaper comic strip, huey dewey and louie were introduced and with them, della was mentioned for the first time, in a letter asking donald to take care care of the boys while their father is in a hospital from a prank they pulled. (said father was never mentioned again btw.)

after that, della didn't appear again for a while, and several shorts and comics revealed that donald has legally adopted the kids. different comics implied that donald has been taking care of the triplets their entire life, instead of just since recently like in their first appearance.

later comics actually showed della for the first time - however, only in flashbacks to donald's childhood. these comics also made her donald's twin. the only piece of media that showed her as an adult was her portrait in the duck family tree.

that is, until 2014 the first comic showing adult della and her fate was released - a dutch comic that was only reprinted in brazil, germany and the netherlands, and even in those countries, anything containing this story is pretty hard to get. it was never officially translated to english (thank god for fantranslations, tho). this comic showed della as a pilot, who tested a rocket and got lost in space when huey dewey and louie were babies. this is where her association with space and a lot of her ducktales 2017 characterisation originates from.

so, let's get into her biggest ever appearence - the ducktales reboot!

from the very beginning of this show, she's set up as the big overarching mystery - a little bit like the author from gravity falls. the pilot ends with dewey discovering a painting of her. it's a very shocking moment and for most viewers the first time they've ever seen della.

so like in the comic, she's a pilot, and she's been going on adventures with donald and scrooge for years. scrooge builds a rocket for her as a surprise gift for when her children hatch but she finds out about it and decides to take it for a test ride, during which she crashes it on the moon. so, she's stuck there, but nothing can stop della duck! she spends the entire 10 years fixing the rocket until she finally manages to get back to earth to her kids.

della is funny, strong, determined and just one of the best characters in the entire show. and she tries so hard to be a good mom to her kids after being absent for a decade even though she struggles so much to adjust back to life on earth.

i just love della so so much

[royalty-nobility]

Double Portrait of Frederik Hendrik (1584- 1647) and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602- 1675)

Artist: Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656)

Date: c.1637-1638

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands

Depicted People:

Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau 

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

Description

This portrait of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik and Amalia of Solms was painted by their court painter, Gerrit van Honthorst. It is clearly an official state portrait: the couple are depicted in all their finery, life-size and full length. It was made to mark Frederik Hendrik’s recapture of Breda in 1637.

Van Honthorst painted the portrait for the Grote Zaal (Large Hall) at Huis ter Nieuburg, one of the stadholder’s residences near Rijswijk, but the painting was later lost. The painting here is a copy made by Van Honthorst for Constantijn Huygens, Frederik Hendrik’s secretary. It originally hung in Huygens’s home on the Plein, opposite the Mauritshuis.

[mathsandwhiteroses]

Tiara Predictions - State Visit from Spain to the Netherlands

King Felipe and Queen Letizia will be in the Netherlands today and tomorrow. The visit will focus Spanish-Dutch diplomacy, sports, energy, business, mental health, young people, the arts and technology.

Now to the predictions…

Tiara I want Maxima to wear: Dutch Sapphire Parure Tiara. I expect both Queens will bring out the big guns tonight and this is my favourite gigantic tiara so I’d love it if Maxima wore it! She last wore it in November 2021 for the State Visit to Norway.

My Prediction: Stuart Tiara. Maxima has worn this tiara six times out of nine when attending events with more than one royal family since debuting this tiara in 2018. She last wore it in an official portrait in November 2023 to mark the 10th anniversary of the accession of Willem-Alexander.

The tiara I want Letizia to wear: the Pearl Loop Tiara. This is my favourite large Spanish tiara and was last worn in November 2021 for the State Visit from Italy.

My Prediction: the Fleur de Lys Tiara. Similar to Maxima, Letizia has worn this tiara every time she has attended a multi-royal event ever since she debuted this tiara in 2017. She last wore it in November 2023 for the State Visit to Denmark.

The Tiara I want Amalia to wear: Dutch Diamond Bandeau Tiara. My favourite Dutch tiara! This would also coordinate beautifully with the Stuart Tiara if Maxima wears it. The tiara was last worn in October 2019 by Queen Maxima for the State Visit to India.

My Prediction: Sapphire Necklace Tiara. Amalia has attended 4 tiara events and has worn 3 different tiaras so this is the prediction that I’m least confident about. I really hope that Amalia wears this tiara if Maxima wears the larger Sapphire Parure Tiara. The tiara was last worn by Amalia in October 2023 for the birthday celebrations of Prince Christian.

I don’t have any strong opinions on the tiaras that Beatrix and Margriet will wear and this post is already long enough so I have only provided predictions.

Queen Beatrix: Antique Pearl Tiara

Princess Margriet: Laurel Tiara