She painted more than 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette over a six year period. She was accepted as a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783. She left France after the arrest of the royal family during the French Revolution. She lived and worked in Italy, Austria, and Russia. Her work met great critical acclaim in Rome. She was elected to the Roman Accademia di San Luca. In Russia, she painted many aristocrats including Catherine the Great's family. She was made a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Petersburg.
Vigée Le Brun returned to France during the reign of Emperor Napoleon I. Her relationship with the new regime was not completely harmonious. After all, she was a royalist and the former portraitist of Marie Antoinette. She visited England and painted British notables including Lord Byron. In 1807 she traveled to Switzerland where she was made an honorary member of the Société pour l'Avancement des Beaux-Arts of Geneva. She published her memoirs in 1835 and 1837. She lived in Paris, and died there on 30 March 1842. Vigée Le Brun's legacy includes 660 portraits and 200 landscapes.
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion (Chinese: 中国 民间 信仰 (simplified spelling) or 中國 民間 信仰 (traditional spelling), "zhōng-guó mín-jiān xìn-yǎng") is a religion that has been practiced in China, and in areas inhabited by Chinese people. It is difficult to make a clear distinction between Chinese folk religion and other beliefs, because Chinese folk religion has elements of veneration of the dead, local spirits, clan spirits and traditional Eastern religions, such as Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, but also superstition, geomancy and Feng shui. There is no standarized mythology or clergy: rites are often performed by the father of a family. Since the 1950s, Chinese folk-religion is also sometimes refered to as Shenism or Shénism (Chinese: "Shén-jiào", 神教). In this context, shen refers to a spirit or a deity. The term Shenism was first used by A. J. A Elliot in 1955. The term Chinese folk religion is not used inside China.
Sometimes, it is classified with Taoism: Over the centuries, Taoism became institutionalised. During that time, it tried to use local customs, and to become similar to local religions and beliefs. It would however be more accurate to say that Taoism developed from Shenism, since Shenism was there before. Taoism also developed from Chinese philosophy. With around 454 million adherents, or about 6.6% of the world population, Chinese folk religion is one of the major religious traditions in the world. In China more than 30% of the population adheres to Shenism or Taoism.
During the last 200 years, religion has been heavily suppressed in China, with rebellions such as the Taiping Movement or Cultural Revolution. Today, Chinese folk religion is experiencing a major revival in both Mainland China and Taiwan.
The government of Mainland China has officially supported different forms of Shenism, such as Mazuism in Southern China (officially about 160 million Chinese are Mazuists), Huangdi worship, Black Dragon worship in Shaanxi, and Caishen worship.
Snuff movie
A Snuff movie is a movie that shows the murder of a person, or a group of people, for the entertainment of the audience. Snuff movies are made to gain money. They do not use special effects. The first such movie was "El Angel de la Muerte". It is an Argentine horror movie made in 1976. One of the scenes shows how the makers of the movie kill one of the actresses. The English title of the movie was "Snuff". This turned out to be a marketing ploy. The actress was not killed. Today, no real snuff movie is known.
Since the 1970s, the theme has been used by different movements in the United States. These groups usually argue that the government needs to control the media more than it currently does. The last such debate was about happy slapping. The debate is also fueled by violent pornography or videos of executions and murders.
Natalie Horler
Natalie Christine Horler (born 23 September 1981 in Bonn, West Germany) is a German singer-songwriter of English origin. Her parents David and Christine Horler, are English. She is the lead singer of the Eurodance dance-pop group Cascada.
Evacuate the Dancefloor
"Evacuate the Dancefloor" is a hit song off the album of the same name by German music group Cascada. The single was released as the lead single of the album June 29, 2009, debuting at #1 on the UK singles chart. It was their third hit song in the United States on many music charts. The song also hit Top 5 in Canada, France and certain other countries.
Madonna del cardellino
The Madonna del cardellino (Madonna of the Goldfinch) is an oil painting by Raphael. It was painted about 15051506. It is known as "Madonna of the Goldfinch" in English. The painting is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The painting has been restored.
The three people form a triangle. The Virgin holds a book. St. John holds a goldfinch. Christ reaches for the bird. Raphael gave the painting to Lorenzo Nasi as a wedding gift. Nasi's house was destroyed by an earthquake in November 1548. The painting broke into several pieces. It was restored, but the damage could still be seen.
Riace bronzes
The Bronzi di Riace (), sometimes "Riace Warriors", (460–430 BCE) are two large monumental Greek bronze sculptures. The statues are of nude bearded warriors. It is possible the statues depict two individuals. It is more likely that they represent "types". Rich Romans were collectors of Greek sculpture. It is probable the two warriors were being transported from their original site in Greece to one in Rome. Since the two warriors share so many similarities, they probably formed part of one Greek monument.
The bronzes were found in the Ionian Sea on 16 August 1972 by Stefano Mariottini. He was on a scuba diving vacation near Reggio Calabria, Italy. The sculptures were found not far from shore at Riace Marina, a village near Porto Foricchio. The area was on an important shipping lane between the ports of Rome and the coastal cities of Greece. The bronzes may have been in an ancient shipwreck. They were either ripped from their moorings or thrown overboard to lighten the load.
The eyes are made of bone and glass. The teeth are made of silver. The lips and nipples are made of copper. The warriors once held spears and shields. One warrior once wore a helmet pushed up atop his head. The bronzes are in the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria.
The Blue Boy
The Blue Boy is an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough. It was painted about 1770. The boy in the picture might be Jonathan Buttall, the son of a hardware merchant. The boy wears a 17th-century suit. The painting is large. It measures 48 inches (1,200 mm) wide by 70 inches (1,800 mm) tall.
The painting belonged to Jonathan Buttall until 1796. It was then sold many times. In 1921 it was sold to an art dealer. An American bought the painting from the dealer. The sale caused a furor in England. The British were losing a national treasure. The portrait is now in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. "Pinkie" is a famous painting which hangs near it.
As You Like It
As You Like It is a play by William Shakespeare. It is a comedy.
The play was written in 1599 or early 1600. Shakespeare rarely invented his own plays. He based his plays on stories by other writers. The story he used for "As You Like It" was "Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacy" (1590) by Thomas Lodge.
"As You Like It" may have been first performed in 1603. This is not certain though. The play was first published in 1623 in the First Folio, a collection of all of Shakespeare's plays.