Giambattista della Porta was an Italian scholar and playwright perhaps best known for his esoteric work Natural Magic. The illustrations I have for you today are taken from his 1586 publication De Humana Physiognomonia.
Phisiognomy is the is the assessment of a person’s character or personality from their outward appearance, most notably, their face. Della Porta’s serious and [...]

Journal des Dames et des Modes was a French fashion periodical published in the 1910’s and illustrated by some of the finest illustrators of the Art Deco period. Featured here are a selection of illustrations from what appeared to be a regular feature of the magazine - Costumes Parisienes. Many of the images are by George [...]

Browsing the Internet Archive this week, I came accross an Italian book with the magnificently long title: Le guerre festiue delle reali nozze de’ serenissimi e cattolici re di Spagna Carlo secondo e Maria Luisa di Borbone : celebrate nella felice e fedelissima città di Palermo, dall’ Illustrissimo Senato della medesima citta … nell’anno M.DC.LXXX [...]

I found these magnificent posters on the Library of Congress’ ‘Prints & Photographs Online Catalog’ They were commissioned by the Austrian government during World War One to encourage Austrian citizens to subscribe to various Kriegsanleihe or ‘War Loan’ schemes.

These 2 posters are my favorites. The artist is Thomas Fasche - I find it interesting that posters produced, [...]