https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/la-normandie-veut-parachever-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux-20241027

French artist Hélène Delprat was selected to complete the famous, 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Made of 58 different scenes of embroidery on linen, 230 feet long and 20 inches tall, the Unesco-classified work is widely believed to have been made in England, and thought to be missing the final scene, showing the coronation of William the Conqueror in Westminster Abbey. Now Delprat will have a go at it. [Le Figaro]

https://archive.ph/KbKUQ

And while debate about its authenticity is expected (the piece has some unusual qualities) the Morgan Library “has total confidence” in their conclusion that it's the real deal, said McClellan. For now, at least, the public can listen and enjoy it right here.

“I thought, ‘What’s going on here? What could this be?’” He told the NYT . After sending a copy to a leading Chopin scholar, testing and analyzing the manuscript’s paper, ink, handwriting, and musical style, experts are now saying the piece is “likely” a waltz by Chopin.

When curator Robinson McClellan came across a scrap of music the size of an index card in the library’s memorabilia collection, he froze at the sight of a small notation marked “Valse” or waltz, and the name “Chopin” written across the top. McClellan, who is also a composer, didn’t recognize the music.

Nearly 200 years after it was composed, an unknown waltz thought to be by the Romantic-era composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)has been discovered in the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, reports The New York Times.

Well, I had already killed my WAPO subscription when I found out how awful Bezos' new man in charge was. Yesterday I killed my LA Times account due to its billionaire owner. Today I signed up for the Philadelphia Inquirer and restarted my Boston Globe subscription.

Today's progress

https://www.getty.edu/news/medieval-hell-art-imagery

https://www.getty.edu/news/everything-you-know-about-medusa-is-wrong

#CoSoArt
#Mythology
#Medusa

Here nonprofit Archeologia Arborea is simultaneously working to help farmers preserve and bring back these forgotten fruits. What, we wonder, does she think of Cattelan’s banana?

Dalla Ragione wants to restore Italy’s “disappearing fruit agriculture,” once was widely cultivated in the 16th century, but since vanished, as Italy’s produce diversity continues to drop. Slowly, through her study of 15th and 16th century paintings, Dalla Ragione has been rediscovering lost fruit, which have led her to track down often strange-looking, missing apples, cherries, and other produce in vegetable gardens and orchards across the country.

FRUIT DETECTIVE LOOKS TO RENAISSANCE PAINTINGS. Isabella Dalla Ragione studies Renaissance paintings, but not the way most art historians do. The Italian scholar is a so-called "fruit detective" who combs through historic paintings for any signs of rare fruit and vegetables that are no longer eaten today, because of industrialized changes to agricultural practices, the Smithsonian Magazine writes.

But a new look at documents from the period “shows their contributions right across society, that they weren’t silent, and their lives were rich and interesting.” The show titled “Medieval Women: In their Own Words” is on view until March 2, 2025. [ The Guardian]

A fascinating new exhibition at the British Library illustrates how women in the Middle Ages led armies, performed surgeries, wrote sexually explicit poetry, and lead lives of agency, despite discrimination. “Traditional histories have focused on male history, on the stories of kings and wars, and the kind of major events from which women were excluded,” said lead curator Eleanor Jackson.