Footnotes to a Conversation, March 31, 2025
“History is a novel written by the people.” – Alfred de Vigny
Art Crimes
In this month’s newsletter, Kassia St. Clair shares a number of true-life art crime stories. Here’s just one of them. L. G. G. Ramsey, a leading British art expert and editor of a leading art journal, was the picture of respectability. When visiting a stately home, he walked out with a sketch by Anthony Van Dyck. The theft and sale of the painting was finally uncovered 35 years after Ramsey’s death. [Kassia St. Clair, The Guardian]
Floating Cities
Ancient engineering has kept Venice afloat for over 1,600 years. Below every inch of Venice are wooden piles, driven as deep as possible into the mud with 9 piles per square metre in a spiral formation. There are 14,000 tightly packed wooden poles below the Rialto Bridge and 10,000 oak trees beneath San Marco Basilica that was built in 832 AD. Modern buildings with steel and concrete foundations have a life expectancy of 50 years.
“The battipali [pile-hitters] would hammer down the piles by hand, and they would sing an ancient song to keep the rhythm – a haunting and repetitive melody with lyrics that praise Venice, its republican glory, its Catholic faith, and declare death to the enemy of the time, the Turks. On a more lighthearted note, a Venetian expression still in use today, na testa da bater pai (literally 'a head that is good to pound down the piles') is a colourful way of saying that someone is dull or slow-witted.” [BBC]
Have Your Cake and Keep It Too
Heather Rios creates slices of cake using polymer clay and embroidery, pairing them with a vintage plate and a fork. “Enveloped in realistic frosting and decorated with berries, blossoms, and sprinkles, each work evokes pieces you’d be ready to dig into at a birthday or wedding. Rios meticulously embroiders each sponge element, fashioning patterned layers in thread on a hoop before transferring the finished panel to the sculpture.” [Colossal]
Little Free Art Gallery Winnipeg
Isn’t this little art gallery lovely? Passersby are invited to leave art, take art, and enjoy art. There are occasional special exhibits as well as a keychain exchange. [short video, CBC]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.